When Is a Birth Injury The Result of Medical Malpractice?
Birth injuries are alarmingly common. While some of these injuries are unpreventable, others are the result of medical malpractice.
As the parent of a child who has suffered a birth injury, understanding the cause of your child’s injury is important. Treatment for birth injuries can be extremely expensive, and many types of birth injuries can have long-term impacts on children’s lives. Tragically, preventable birth injuries can also be fatal in some cases.
If your child’s birth injury was the result of medical malpractice, your family may be entitled to significant financial compensation. A Providence birth injury lawyer at Mandell, Boisclair & Mandell, Ltd. can fight to recover the compensation you and your family deserve.
Forms of Medical Malpractice that Can Cause Birth Injuries
Several different forms of medical malpractice can cause birth injuries. Mistakes at all stages of care, from early pregnancy through delivery, have the potential to cause serious—if not permanent or fatal—harm. Some of the most common malpractice-related causes of birth injuries include:
Failure to Diagnose During Pregnancy
Failure to diagnose during pregnancy can also result in birth injuries. Several maternal and fetal health conditions can increase the risk of birth injuries, and avoiding unnecessary risks requires a timely and accurate diagnosis. Some examples of conditions that can cause birth injuries if not properly diagnosed and treated during pregnancy include:
- Breech presentation
- Fetal distress
- Nuchal cords
Failure to Diagnose During Labor or Delivery
Complications that arise during labor and delivery also require a timely and accurate diagnosis to prevent unnecessary birth injuries. Umbilical cord problems, perinatal asphyxia (oxygen deprivation), and shoulder dystocia are just a few examples of complications that can potentially have serious consequences. However, these complications (among others) can also generally be remedied when diagnosed early enough in the process.
Failure to Monitor
Failure to monitor is another common malpractice-related cause of birth injuries. This includes both failure to monitor the expecting mother and failure to monitor the fetus. The need to monitor a pregnancy is always important, especially when an expecting mother presents with risks for maternal or fetal complications.
Failure to Treat
Along with failure to consult, diagnose, and monitor, failure to treat is another common cause of birth injuries. Once a doctor is aware of an expecting mother’s or fetus’s need for treatment—or should be aware of the need for treatment—the doctor has an obligation to undertake reasonable efforts to administer appropriate treatment promptly.
Birthing and Delivery Errors
In addition to all of the failures discussed above, various other errors during birthing and delivery can also lead to birth injuries. This includes relatively common forms of medical malpractice such as:
- Failing to deliver a baby when fetal distress becomes evident
- Applying too much physical force to the fetus (including fundal pressure)
- Failure to maintain oxygen supply or resuscitate
- Improper use of forceps
- Improper labor induction
- Improper use of vacuum extractors
Talk To a Providence Birth Injury Lawyer for FREE
If you believe medical negligence led to your child’s birth injury, we encourage you to contact a Providence birth injury lawyer at Mandell, Boisclair & Mandell, Ltd. today. These cases can be extremely complicated. They require the knowledge, skill, and resources of an attorney with extensive experience in these matters.
Our firm has helped victims of medical negligence achieve justice for more than 45 years. Attorney Mark Mandell has won more million-dollar and multi-million dollar verdicts and judgments than any other attorney in Rhode Island’s history. Mandell, Boisclair & Mandell, Ltd. has been recognized by Best Lawyers and Super Lawyers as the Best Law Firm and Lawyer of the Year in the areas of medical malpractice, personal injury, and more.
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Call our office now at (401) 273-8330 or contact us online for a FREE, no-obligation consultation. We handle birth injury cases on a contingency fee basis, which means you don’t pay unless we reach a favorable outcome in your case.
