Neonatology Malpractice

A serious birth injury can be an unavoidable accident during childbirth, or it can also be a result of negligence on the part of the physician. Brain damage resulting to cerebral palsy is one of the most common birth injuries incurred during childbirth.

Notably, cerebral palsy is not easily detected upon birth; in fact, it can go on for months or years without being noticed. Very low, and sustained, apgar scores shortly after birth are often a strong indicator of significant birth injury.

The cost of care for a child with cerebral palsy can be very expensive, considering that this condition does not improve over time. Your child has to deal with cerebral palsy for the rest of life. Among all personal injury cases, cerebral palsy consistently has the highest future expenses, as the costs of continuing medical care, speech therapy, physical therapy, occupational therapy, rehabilitation, and special educations needs, last a lifetime.

If medical malpractice caused or contributed to the severe birth injury, then you and your child may be eligible for compensation.

Birth injury can result during labor and delivery, but also after the birth.  If there was any sign or symptom from mom or the unborn baby during the labor and delivery process, such as sustained fetal stress on the electronic fetal monitor (EFM), then a specialist in newborn health must be called emergently, or stat. This newborn specialist is known as a neonatologist.

After birth, there may be a very short window within which the neonatologist can take aggressive, corrective medical action.  If the neonatologist on call does not arrive in a timely fashion, or fails to take the proper actions, the results can be devastating for baby and the parents. If the neonatal specialist's actions, or failure to act, fell below the standard of care for neonatologists, then a medical malpractice claim may be appropriate.

If these unfortunate circumstances have befallen your family, then you should contacting an experienced injury lawyer at our law firm who has handled birth injury lawsuits, including defense of some of the most presitigious medical centers from birth injury claims.

Keep in mind that the defense will often argue that the birth injury was not caused by medical negligence, but rather by a congenital defect or impaired parenting.

Contact us today for a prompt, confidential, and honest review of your circumstances. Maybe we can help.