When a child is injured during, or shortly after, the birth process, they have experienced a life-changing event that will impact the rest of their lives. And from no fault of their own.
Birth injuries and birth defects can change the lives of parents and their children forever. Birth injuries can be caused by a variety of factors, some of which may be genetic, or hereditary, and out of the control of doctors. Other high-risk birth complications can include:
- Diabetes in the mother
- Dystocia: a difficult or abnormal labor
- High birth weight
- Hypoxia: a lack of oxygen
- Pre-eclampsia: a spike in blood pressure
- Prematurity
- Prolonged labor
Doctors and other healthcare physicians are on staff to help if trouble arises and, with their assistance, birth injuries can usually be avoided. But there are occasions where a doctor may not provide appropriate care to a child, including:
- Failure to anticipate complications
- Failure to properly monitor the child
- Failure to respond to fetal distress
- Improper medication, or incorrect dosage of medication
- Improper use of medical devices, such as forceps
Ultimately, negligent acts like the ones listed above can lead to serious injury on behalf of the mother or child, including death. Injuries that occur at birth can range from small cosmetic bruises that heal in a few weeks to lifelong physical or mental impairments that change the course of a child’s life. Some common birth injuries are:
- Brain damage
- Brachial palsy
- Caput succedaneum
- Cephalohematoma
- Cerebral Palsy
- Facial paralysis
- Forcep bruises
- Hypoxia
- Injuries to the spinal cord
- Klumpke’s Palsy
If your child has been born with any kind of birth injury that you feel may have been caused by a medical mistake or error, you need an experienced team of lawyers who can determine whether negligence on the part of a doctor played a role in causing the injury.
Kolsby Gordon’s team of attorneys includes two lawyers who are also doctors. We have the experience and knowledge to fully investigate medical reports and the factors that played a role in your baby’s injury to determine whether a doctor’s error caused harm.
What’s more, these injuries can lead to costly medical bills, life care services and additional expenses that greatly impact the financial health of a family. We are not afraid to go to trial if the hospital or insurance company responsible for the injury does not provide an adequate settlement to cover these costs for the family of the child.
If your child was born with a birth injury, let us help you. Call a Kolsby Gordon lawyer today.
Birth Injuries Cases
$3.5 million recovery for the family of child injured during birth
A baby was born with a twist in his intestines known as a malrotation, apparent through his persistent bile vomit, a clear sign of the medical emergency. Malrotation requires surgery to untwist before a perforation in the bowel occurs. Despite the fact that the infant vomited bile over the next 24 hours and an X-ray showed clear signs of the malrotation, nothing was done. Ultimately, the bowel perforated and had to be removed. Two years later, the child had to undergo a bowel transplant as a result of the delays.
