Birth Injuries
The birth of a child is a wondrous event. It is a time of celebration and a time to welcome a new member to the family.
Yet in about three percent of births, it is a time of sadness and tragedy, because the newborn has suffered a serious birth injury. These injuries can mean a lifetime of physical disability and mental handicap for the baby and financial catastrophe and emotional hardship for the family.
Advances in medicine over the past 100 years have allowed doctors to anticipate and avoid many problems that can lead to birth injuries, or to immediately and successfully treat injured newborns. These advances are recognized by expectant mothers, who go to prenatal visits, take prenatal vitamins, abstain from smoking and drinking and deliver at hospitals under the care of an Obstetrician and Neonatologist. Mothers understand that the health of their children is worth the time, effort and expense.
All too frequently, mothers and families are disappointed by doctors and hospitals when proper medical procedures are not followed, and medical malpractice occurs. In birth injury cases, medical malpractice may include:
- Failure to recognize and treat a high risk pregnancy;
- Delay in delivery by Cesarean Section;
- A slow response to a mother's bleeding;
- Delay or failure to respond to fetal distress;
- Poor technique in delivering the baby manually, with forceps or by vacuum extraction;
- Improper resuscitation of the newborn;
- and Failure to have the Obstetrician or a Neonatologist present at the birth.
The resulting injuries can be devastating. The most serious injuries are:
- Cerebral Palsy;
- Mental Retardation;
- Erb's Palsy;
- Shoulder Dystocia;
- Brachial Plexus injuries;
- Klumpke Palsy;
- Maternal death;
- and Fetal death.
Children with these injuries require years of therapy, including physical, occupational and speech therapies. They may also need special equipment in the home and for transport. The most serious cases may require round-the-clock nursing, frequent hospitalizations and surgeries. Caring for a child injured at birth is a tremendous financial burden on the family. While taking care of these children is a labor of love, it is also heartbreaking to know that the child - the son or daughter - would have been normal but for another's negligence.
If the injuries resulted from medical malpractice, Patty and Clark Raymond believe the insurance companies for the negligent doctors and hospitals should help pay for the expenses and ease the burden on the family. The attorneys at Raymond & Raymond, Ltd. have successfully recovered Millions of dollars for families that have experienced the tragedy of a birth injury.
Call us for a free, no obligation consultation at (800) 331-5753.