INJURY LAWYERS

BIRTH DEFECTS AND INJURIES

When a baby is born with an injury, the family may be faced with a future that will involve complicated and prolonged care for that child. Complicating the situation is the fact that parents are often uneducated about the cause of their child's condition. 

 In some cases, a birth injury may go undetected for months or years. The injury may be due to one or more medical mistakes during pregnancy, labor or delivery. Parents are often left with the incorrect impression that their child simply has a birth defect, and that it could not have been prevented. Sometimes this is true, but often times it isn't.

 Most parents have no way of knowing what happened to their child and many do not know where to begin to search for answers.

 Typical Causes of Birth Injury:

Failure to respond to or recognize bleeding (abrupted placenta or fetal bleeding);
 

Causing or failing to respond to umbilical cord entrapment or compression (prolapsed cord);
 

Failure to respond to fetal distress;
Delay in ordering or performing C-section;
 

Misuse of vacuum extractor or forceps;
Misuse of pitocin (labor stimulating drug);                                                                  

Poor resuscitation and newborn care after birth; and
Failure to prevent, recognize or treat infection.

Possible Neurological Signs of Birth Injury:

Floppy, depressed, pale or blue after birth;
Seizures and neurological problems in first days of life; and
 

Permanent damage often including cerebral palsy, cortical blindness and mental retardation or learning deficits.