3 Situations That Can Lead to a Birth-Injury Lawsuit
Bringing a new baby into the world is a joyous and wonderful event, but when something goes wrong during delivery, the day can turn into a nightmare. Birth injuries can range from broken bones in cases when the baby's shoulders are too large to fit through the birth canal to more serious injuries like oxygen deprivation or nerve damage that occurs during a delivery involving forceps. If your baby suffers a serious birth injury, he or she may end up suffering from lifelong consequences and require many years of expensive medical care. You may be entitled to a financial settlement if any of the following occurred.
Failure to Properly Treat Medical Conditions and Complications
Doctors and other medical staff in the labor and delivery department have the duty to properly recognize and treat medical conditions and complications during labor and delivery. Fetal monitoring should take place during labor in order to promptly discover if the baby is in fetal distress. When a doctor chooses to deliver a baby with a vacuum or forceps, he or she is expected to execute the procedure properly, but unfortunately many birth injuries occur when a doctor makes a mistake during the procedure.
Delayed Treatment
As a patient, you should be able to count on your OB/GYN to know how to proceed when there is a complication, such as prolonged labor. Many babies suffer from oxygen deprivation during prolonged labors when their head becomes stuck in the birth canal but is too big to pass through. Your doctor and nurses should closely monitor you if your labor is excessively long or fails to progress after the baby's head is engaged in the birth canal. Failure to arrange an emergency c-section in this type of situation can lead to a baby being born after being severely oxygen deprived, and this can result in lifelong brain damage.
Cesarean Section Complications
C-sections occur often in the United States and have risks to the mother and baby. Birth injuries can happen when a c-section is not performed properly or when a doctor waits too long to do a c-section when the baby shows signs of distress. It is also possible for a child to suffer birth injuries because the doctor did not order a c-section even though there were signs that the baby was unable to pass through the birth canal and be delivered vaginally without trauma.
If your child suffered a birth injury, it is essential to contact a birth injury attorney for assistance. A good lawyer will let you know if you have a case and will then examine both your medical records and those of your baby to see if there was negligence or recklessness on the part of your doctor or anyone else who was treating you. Contact a birth-injury lawyer in your area, such as Snyder & Wenner, P.C.
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