

What To Do If Your Child Suffered a Birth Injury

Birth injuries can be extremely painful to endure, for both the child and the new parents. Nobody wants to see their child in pain, especially if their injury or illness is permanent or long lasting. Even though doctors and midwives successfully deliver countless babies on a daily basis, there are some infants who aren’t so lucky. Due to cases of medical malpractice and negligence, your child might be harmed during the birth or delivery process. If your child was harmed, you might not be sure how to handle the situation. The best thing you can do after a traumatic birth experience is to address the issue head-on by arming yourself with information, investigating the circumstances, and seeking legal help.

If you believe your child suffered a birth injury due to someone else’s mistake or carelessness, follow these steps:

1. Look for Signs

Identifying the injury is the first step in determining whether you have a potential case. Babies can’t tell you when they’re feeling ill, so it is up to parents and medical professionals to watch for potential problems.

There are several different types of birth injuries, and each injury or illness can cause different symptoms. For example, a child with a brachial plexus injury may not be able to move his arm, whereas a baby with a brain injury might be excessively fussy or lethargic. As a rule, look out for any abnormal behavior, fevers, incessant crying, muscle spasms, jaundice, low heart rate, lethargy, loss of muscle control, or weak reflexes. If you notice any of these symptoms, take your child to a trusted medical professional immediately.

2. Find Out How the Injury Was Caused

Once you’ve identified a potential problem, do some investigating. How could these types of injuries be caused and did any of those causes occur during your labor and delivery process? If your child’s arm was fractured, find out what might cause broken limbs in babies. Perhaps your baby was held improperly by a nurse, or the doctor might have used the forceps incorrectly while assisting with delivery. Whatever the case, consider the possibilities and arm yourself with information.

3. Call a Birth Injury Attorney

If you believe your child may have suffered a birth injury, the most important thing to do, after seeking medical attention, is to contact an experienced birth injury lawyer. With a seasoned legal professional by your side, finding the right information and determining liability can be significantly easier and quicker.

Our attorneys at Simeone & Miller, LLP understand how traumatizing birth injuries can be, and we know how difficult it is for parents to watch their children suffer. At our firm, we want to help you seek justice and compensation for your child’s wrongful injury.

4. Determine Potential Liability

An experienced birth injury attorney, will assist you in finding out who might be responsible and what you need to do to preserve and make a claim. Doctors, nurses, hospitals, birthing centers, and other medical professionals could be fully or partially liable for your child’s birth injury. Brain injuries, for example, can occur when the child is deprived of oxygen for too long during delivery. If your baby was in distress and your doctor delayed ordering an emergency C-section, that delay could have caused permanent damage to your baby’s brain. Therefore, the doctor may be liable because he or she failed to act. On the other hand, if your baby suffered an infection caused by improperly sanitized tools, the hospital could be to blame for their negligence. In addition, each state has different rules and deadlines for birth injury cases and an experienced birth injury attorney can determine if you can pursue a case and, if so, how best to do so.

Contact Simeone & Miller, LLP to discuss your birth injury case with our firm.