A birth injury can leave your child facing permanent physical limitations. While birth injuries happen for many reasons, medical negligence can be the reason. If your child has sustained a birth injury, you may need to talk to a medical malpractice attorney.
Our Allentown birth injury lawyers can dig deeper into the circumstances of the incident and explain whether you may have a viable legal case. If so, we can help you hold the responsible parties legally accountable. Ostroff Godshall Injury and Accident Lawyers can help you seek the maximum damages available if a doctor, nurse, or other medical provider’s error caused your child’s birth injury.
Leading Types and Causes of Birth Injuries
There are multiple types and potential causes of birth injuries. While some birth injuries may result from a tragic, unforeseen sequence of events, others may have been preventable had the attending doctor or other members of the medical team not failed in their legal duty. Although some birth injuries may heal with time, other consequences of physical trauma sustained during the delivery process can stay with a child into adulthood and remain with them for the rest of their life.
Common birth injuries include facial paralysis, oxygen deprivation or asphyxiation, brain damage, nerve damage, contusions, fractures, and broken bones. Other frequently reported birth injuries include spinal cord injuries, hemorrhages, Erb’s palsy, cerebral palsy, shoulder dystocia, c-section injuries, internal injuries, forceps injuries, and even wrongful death.
Birth injuries can inflict secondary injuries on the child. These can include speech impediments, developmental disabilities, hearing loss, poor motor skills, and behavioral disorders. There may be multiple instances of errors by the medical team that lead to a serious or fatal birth injury and could indicate medical malpractice.
Our Allentown attorneys can investigate a birth injury to determine whether the physician or other member of the medical team’s action or inaction constituted negligence. For example, improper use of forceps during delivery, failure to respond to signs of fetal dress, the use of excessive force during labor and delivery, or substandard care could be signs of negligence that may entitle you to file a claim.
Filing a Birth Injury Case
When you believe your child’s birth injury was caused by negligence, you should speak with one of our Allentown lawyers as soon as possible so you can better understand your legal rights and options. In order to show the physician or other member of the medical team was negligent, you need to prove the care they provided was below the acceptable standard of care.
A successful birth injury claim could enable you to recover the value of a wide range of economic and non-economic losses sustained by your family. These recoverable damages could include compensation for:
- Pain and suffering
- Emotional anguish
- Past and future medical bills
- Lost wages
- Future diminished earning capacity
- Loss of life’s pleasures
- Cost of assistive devices
- Punitive damages
We can collect medical records, statements from medical experts, as well as other vital evidence to support the most thorough case for compensation and demonstrate that negligence occurred. Doctors, nurses, the medical facility where the birth injury occurred, and other parties could all be considered liable for your child’s birth injury.
Contact an Allentown Birth Injury Attorney
It’s important to act promptly, or else you could risk missing the legal deadline to bring a birth injury lawsuit. Medical providers like hospitals have an arsenal of insurance companies and lawyers who work to devalue or deny claims just like yours.
An Allentown birth injury lawyer with a wealth of experience managing these notoriously complex claims can help you build the strongest possible claim. It may be possible to seek compensation for the value of your child’s past, present, and even future projected losses due to their injury. Call our office today to speak with a skilled lawyer about your potential claim during a free, no-obligation consultation.
