Birth Injury
Birth injuries might follow a complication during labor and delivery. Sometimes such injuries are unavoidable and can be treated or heal within days. Other times, injuries cause devastating disabilities that could have been avoided, had the medical professionals at hand provided the level of care accepted as standard by the medical community.
Typical birth injuries/traumas include:
- Bruising
- Scalp laceration
- Brain edema (swelling)
- Facial paralysis
- Nerve damage
- Intracranial bleeding
- Cephalohematoma (bleeding between skull and scalp)
- Cerebral hypoxia (lack of oxygen to the brain)
- Subconjunctival hemorrhaging (broken blood vessels in eye)
- Fractured bones
- Brachial palsy (pinched nerves leading to arm and hand impairments)
- Caput Succedaneum (swelling of the scalp)
Often birth traumas result from complications such as:
- Prolonged labor
- Large baby size
- Cephalopelvic disproportion (mother’s small pelvis relative to baby’s size)
- Pre-existing health conditions
- Breech baby
Medical Malpractice Claim
A medical malpractice claim may arise when a doctor fails to anticipate complications during labor due to already known conditions, or fails to respond when interventions would typically be expected when operating according to the prescribed standard level of medical care required of them.
Some examples that might constitute medical negligence:
- Misuse of delivery aids such as forceps and vacuum extraction devices
- Surgical errors during caesarian section
- Delaying caesarian section
- Inappropriately using Pitocin (synthetic hormone used to speed up labor)
- Failure to respond to mother’s bleeding
- Failure to respond to fetal distress (e.g. rapid, irregular heartbeat)
- Failure to respond to breeching
- Failure to respond to umbilical cord entrapment
- Improper postnatal care (leading to infections)
If you, your partner, or your baby, have been seriously injured following your child’s birth, contact the medical malpractice lawyers at Kravitz Law Group in the Tampa, St. Petersburg, and Clearwater, FL.
Call: (727) 362-1234
If lasting and impactful issues that might have otherwise been avoided are due to the medical negligence of the health provider charged with your care, you may be entitled to recover damages for pain and suffering, long-term care, medical costs, and lost wages.
Free Medical Malpractice Consultation
A free consultation will advise you of your rights and is the first step to getting the justice you deserve.