Your child’s birth should be a cause for celebration. All anyone wants after a long labor and delivery is a healthy child. However, when medical negligence during childbirth results in a birth injury, your celebration can quickly turn to hurt and confusion. You may be at the beginning of a long journey for recovery.
If your child was injured during birth, you might be confused about your legal rights and where to turn for help. The birth injury attorneys at Siniard Law, LLC understand the delicate nature of your case and can guide you compassionately through the legal process. We can handle all the legal aspects of your claim so you can focus on your family. Contact us today for a free, no-obligation initial consultation with an experienced Huntsville personal injury lawyer.
What Is a Birth Injury?
A birth injury is a physical trauma suffered during the birthing process, usually in the process of passing through the birth canal. The term “birth injury” can also refer to maternal injuries that occur during the birth or labor process.
Birth injuries are distinct from congenital birth defects, which are abnormal changes in the body that occur during fetal development. However, medical malpractice can be responsible for both birth injuries and birth defects.
Common Types of Birth Injuries
Birth injuries can include various types of injuries. Common birth injury cases are based on the following medical conditions that may indicate medical malpractice:
- Cerebral palsy – Cerebral palsy is not a single medical condition. Instead, it’s a group of neurological disorders caused by damage to or abnormal development of the brain during infancy. It affects a person’s ability to move, balance, and maintain posture.
- Erb’s palsy – Erb’s palsy causes weakness or paralysis in the arms. This condition occurs during delivery if a baby’s neck is stretched unnaturally while the head and shoulders pass through the birth canal.
- Bells palsy – Bells palsy is paralysis or weakness on one side of the case.
- Perinatal asphyxia – This medical condition occurs due to the deprivation of oxygen that lasts long enough to cause brain damage.
- Caput succedaneum – This injury involves the swelling of the soft tissues in a newborn’s scalp. It often occurs during vacuum extraction.
- Infant cephalohematoma – This condition involves bleeding that occurs under a skull bone.
- Hypoxic-Ischemic encephalopathy – This medical disorder affects the brain and causes motor deficiency. This injury can occur due to oxygen deprivation during childbirth, infection, or trauma.
- Bone fractures – Fractures to the collarbone may occur in breech births. Shoulder dystocia can also cause shoulder or arm breaks.
- Spinal cord injuries – Blunt force trauma, excessive traction, and abnormal birthing positions can cause spinal cord injuries.
If your child suffered any of the above injuries or any other injury you suspect was caused by medical negligence, contact our birth injury attorneys for an initial consultation to discuss your case.
What Causes Birth Injuries?
While pregnancy complications, large babies, and congenital predispositions can contribute to birth injuries, a leading cause of these injuries is medical malpractice, which occurs when medical professionals fail to act within the standard of care. Common causes of birth injuries related to medical malpractice include:
- Failure to recognize signs of fetal distress
- Failure to recognize pregnancy complications, including fetal distress
- Failure to diagnose gestational diabetes or a maternal infection
- Failure to monitor the baby or mother during labor
- Improperly performed cesarean section
- Delayed c-section
- Improper use of assisted birthing instruments or medical devices, including vacuum extractors or forceps
- Improper or insufficient training
- Inability to resuscitate a baby after birth
Our Huntsville medical malpractice lawyers can review your case to determine if your child’s medical care deviated from the standard of care. If so, we can file a medical malpractice claim against the healthcare providers responsible for their care.
Who Is Responsible for Birth Injuries?
Because various healthcare providers can make medical errors that jeopardize the health or safety of babies and mothers, multiple people can be responsible for resulting injuries. Our birth injury lawyers can investigate if any of the following parties are responsible for your child’s injuries:
- Obstetricians
- Doctors
- Hospitals
- Birthing centers
- Nurses
- Other members of the medical staff
To prove responsibility for a birth injury, you must establish the following legal elements:
Doctor-Patient Relationship
By showing that you had a doctor-patient relationship with the negligent healthcare provider, you can show they owed you a duty of care. This duty is the generally accepted set of standards that other medical providers would apply under similar circumstances. Doctors and other healthcare providers are expected to deliver babies safely and avoid injuring babies or mothers during pregnancy.
Deviation from the Standard of Care
Once you have established what the appropriate standard of care was under the circumstances, an experienced attorney can work to show how your medical provider deviated from it. This deviation may involve something the doctor did that another doctor with similar training and a similar background would not have done under the circumstances. It could also include something your healthcare provider failed to do.
Causation
Next, personal injury attorneys can try to connect the deviation of the standard of care to your child’s injuries. Your lawyer can review your medical records and consult with medical experts to link the doctor’s actions with your baby’s injuries.
Damages
The final element of your medical malpractice claim is the damages you or your child sustained because of the injury, such as incurring additional medical bills or losing wages for seeking treatment for your child.
Are Hospitals Responsible for Birth Injuries?
Hospitals can be held responsible for birth injuries caused by their own negligence or that of their employees. Hospitals may be negligent when they hire untrained staff, fail to maintain adequate levels of staff or fail to create or enforce sanitary conditions.
Hospitals are also responsible for their employee’s negligence under the legal doctrine of respondeat superior. This legal theory holds employers responsible for their employee’s negligence.
Many doctors and other healthcare professionals are independent contractors instead of employees. If an independent contractor caused the injury, the hospital might not be liable for the resulting injuries. It can be difficult to determine who is responsible for birth injuries but experienced personal injury lawyers may be able to investigate the claim to determine who bears responsibility.
Financial Compensation to Help Ease Your Burden
Birth injuries can require lifelong medical treatment and financial support. By filing a personal injury claim, you may be able to recover compensation for the following:
Economic Damages
These damages cover the financial losses you and your child suffered or will suffer because of the injuries, such as:
- Medical expenses – You can seek compensation for the costs to diagnose and treat birth injuries, including hospitalization, surgery, medication, and other costs. If your child needs ongoing rehabilitation, physical therapy, speech therapy, or occupational therapy, you can include these damages in your request for damages. You can also seek compensation for the future medical expenses you will likely incur.
- Travel expenses – If you have to travel to seek medical care for your child, you can seek payment for these travel-related expenses.
- Lost wages – If you have to miss time from work to care for your child or take them for medical treatment, you can seek compensation for these losses.
- Reduced earning capacity – Birth injuries can affect your child’s long-term earning capacity, potentially preventing them from ever completing substantial gainful activity. We can seek fair compensation for these lifelong consequences.
- Home modifications – If your child’s birth injuries require modifications to your home or vehicle, such as making them wheelchair accessible, you may be able to receive compensation for these modifications.
Non-Economic Damages
You can also pursue damages for intangible losses your family suffers because of the birth injuries, such as:
- Pain and suffering – Birth injuries can cause considerable physical pain and suffering. Your child may endure chronic pain due to the actions of negligent healthcare providers.
- Mental anguish and emotional distress – Birth injuries can be difficult to live with. Your child may feel different and may find it challenging to have relationships with others.
- Physical impairment – Birth injuries can cause physical impairments that decrease your child’s quality of life.
- Disfigurement – Birth injuries can cause scarring and disfigurement, which can negatively affect children’s self-esteem.
Unlike many other states, Alabama law does not set restrictions on the amount of damages that can be awarded in medical malpractice lawsuits. Our award-winning injury lawyers can fight for fair compensation based on your circumstances.
How Can a Birth Injury Attorney Help Me?
A birth injury lawyer can investigate how your child’s injuries occurred and identify who is responsible for those injuries. They can gather evidence to build a strong case on your child’s behalf and seek fair compensation to help pay for future medical expenses, ongoing medical care, and anticipated expenses. Birth injury lawyers negotiate with insurance companies and represent clients in court, depending on how the case is resolved.
What Is the Deadline to File a Medical Malpractice Lawsuit in Alabama?
Alabama has a two-year statute of limitations for most medical malpractice cases. Parents are subject to this time limit to file a personal injury claim on their child’s behalf as well as to seek compensation for their own losses, such as medical expenses and lost wages. If a parent does not take legal action, the child must sue by their eighth birthday. If the parents and child fail to take legal action within this short timeframe, they can lose the right to recover compensation through the court system.
Contact an Experienced Birth Injury Attorney for Help with Your Case
If you suspect your child suffered a birth injury due to a healthcare provider’s negligence, the law firm of Siniard Law, LLC can help. Contact us today for a free consultation with our legal team.