Toledo Birth Injury Lawyer

Birth injuries refer to any type of injuries to a newborn child out of the birthing process. Those can include cerebral palsy, breathing injuries, orthopedic injuries, neurological injuries, or any type of injuries that the child has during childbirth. If your child has been injured during the birthing process, it is vital that you seek the services of a skilled Toledo birth injury medical malpractice lawyer. A compassionate and capable medical malpractice attorney can fight for justice for you and your child.

Potential Causes of Birth Injuries

Birth injuries can result from a variety of actions. It could be, for example, because of a doctor not doing a cesarean section delivery during the birthing process or not providing the correct oxygen to the mother or the child. It could be the incorrect use of forceps during the birthing process, the doctor not being there in a timely manner, or a situation where there is specific high-risk characteristics to the mother and those are not taken into consideration. The doctor may not be giving the proper drugs or giving the improper drugs to the mother or the child during the birthing process.

What Should a Parent’s Next Steps Be?

A person’s best option is to contact a Toledo birth injury medical malpractice lawyer who has done a large number of medical malpractice cases for an extensive period of time. Then the individual should have the attorney review the medical history of the mother and the child, and get a capable doctor to review the records. All medical doctors are not created equal and neither are all reviewing experts.

The important thing is to get the best expert possible to review the medical records and determine what the standard of care is. In effect, it is like solving a mystery or a puzzle to try to determine whether this was a bad result in an unfortunate situation or whether there was a departure from the standard of care, and if so, was it in the birthing process, the first six months of life.

Legal Claims Parents Can Pursue

The first type of claim a Toledo birth injury medical malpractice lawyer can help a parent pursue is a regular medical malpractice claim, which is a negligence claim. That means the doctor violated the standard of care and that the violation of the standard of care caused the approximate injuries, the death of the child and substantial future, economic loss, and non-economic loss of injuries and pain and suffering.

There is also a loss consortium claim, which is a loss of services claim in future economic and non-economic loss by the parents. There could be potential future medical care, like putting the child in a facility or the home if there is a permanent brain injury. It could have a massive, extensive impact on the entire family.

Plaintiff and Defense’s Use of Negligence in a Case

The plaintiff’s attorney is going to try to argue that negligence is the primary cause of the birth injury but for the departure from the standard of care, the birth injury would not have occurred and could have been prevented. On the other hand, the defense is going to argue that there was either a bad result or it was an act of God. It was just something that happened through no fault of the hospital or the medical doctor.

One typical defense is to blame the victim. They could argue, for example, that the mother had used alcohol, used illegal drugs, had not mitigated damages by attending all of the prenatal medical treatment, did not follow the prenatal care and take the proper medicines, did not get the proper arrest, did not follow the proper orders of the doctor, or smoked cigarette. They are  going to do whatever they can to put the blame on anybody else other than the hospital and the medical doctor.

What Makes Birth Injury Cases Different From Other Personal Injury Cases?

Birth injury cases are different because typically, the injuries are horrific. It could be death or a situation where the child is going to have a lifetime of injuries that are going to impact the life length and quality of life of the child. It could also be a situation where it is going to impact the parents and the entire family unit on a daily basis.

Secondly, the doctors’ insurance companies tend to fight these cases with all they have got. There is no expense, but because the damages are so tremendous. The economic damages alone could be millions of dollars.

Thirdly, they are difficult cases, because there are also non-medical malpractice causes of cerebral palsy or the birth injuries, in general. The insurance companies can afford to hire highly-qualified experts to fight these cases at the highest level. However, a Toledo birth injury medical malpractice attorney can fight just as hard in the pursuit of justice.

Shoulder Dystocia Injuries

When excessive lateral traction is applied to the fetal neck region during delivery, shoulder dystocia can result. This can cause child’s muscles to be torn, resulting in a limp arm. Improper use of forceps, turning the baby during its passage through the birth canal, and breach births are frequent causes of shoulder dystocia, and can usually be prevented. If your baby has been injured because of obstetrical malpractice before, during, or after birth, contact a Toledo birth injury attorney to discuss your options. Dedicated birth injury lawyers in the firm also practice in Maumee, Oregon, Perrysburg, and Sylvania.