Broken Bones/Infant Trauma
Birth injuries demand a new set of skills from parents — not only that of care for a new child, but also skill at navigating an unexpected set of challenges.
If your child has suffered a needless birth injury because of the carelessness or negligence of a doctor, nurse, or other healthcare provider, you want an experienced personal injury attorney to help you get the compensation you need. In addition to paying for medical expenses, you may need to radically change your living environment to meet the needs of your child.
At McEldrew Purtell, our Philadelphia birth injury lawyers work closely with parents of children who have been hurt during pregnancy or the birth process, helping you get full and fair compensation for the negligent or careless acts of doctors, nurses, and other medical personnel.
Birth injuries may occur when a physician fails to properly evaluate and respond to conditions during labor, or at the time of birth. Injuries can also occur from the use of pharmaceutical drugs. At McEldrew Purtell, we handle claims involving:
Head injuries are the most common type of birth injury in hospitals today. Of course, head injuries can range from mild scratches and bruising, to serious injuries like bleeding on the brain. Some of the common head injuries seen in infants are:
Any birth can result in an injury to the infant. But birth injuries most commonly occur because of a baby’s position during labor, or the size of the baby. The longer and more difficult labor is for the mother, the more likely a birth injury is to occur. Some common conditions which may lead to birth injuries include:
Babies born over 8 pounds, 13 ounces are more prone to cause long and difficult labor, leading to a higher rate of birth injuries.
Babies born before 37 weeks are more fragile, and thus more prone to injury during labor.
If the size of the mothers pelvis is not adequate for the baby to be born vaginally, this can lead to prolonged labor.
This can lead to a greater risk for preeclampsia and fetal distress during labor.
Breech babies, or other abnormal birth presentations, such as sunny side up, can lead to prolonged labor.
When the shoulder becomes stuck during labor, this can lead to fetal distress and birth injuries.
Certain medical conditions during pregnancy expose the fetus to the risk of shoulder dystocia, a somewhat common problem that occurs when an infant’s shoulder becomes stuck against the mother’s pubic bone or pelvis during delivery. By itself, shoulder dystocia usually will not result in any serious or permanent injury to the fetus or the mother. However, shoulder dystocia does significantly heighten the risk of a range of other birth injuries.
Shoulder dystocia can cause injuries to the brachial plexus, a network of nerves that send signals from the spinal cord into the arm, and can result in permanent damage to the newborn’s shoulder, arm, and hand. Shoulder dystocia can also lead to excessive or badly judged traction by the obstetrician or midwife on the newborn’s head, neck, or shoulder. This excess force exerted while maneuvering the fetus around the mother’s pelvic bone structure is what can lead to permanent nerve damage.
The most important steps that can be taken to minimize the risk of negative outcomes related to shoulder dystocia are often those that can be identified during pregnancy. Doctors should:
If your doctor failed to take steps to minimize the risks associated with shoulder dystocia, you may have standing to file a claim of negligence against them.
Cerebral palsy is a common and permanent type of birth injury that affects the baby’s brain. It can result in a range of disabilities, the severity of which depends on the nature of the brain damage.
Cerebral palsy is a movement disorder, and negatively affects a person’s reflexes, muscle tone, speech, posture, and overall mobility. If the injury to the brain is mild, then usually symptoms of cerebral palsy will also be mild. If the injury is severe, symptoms will typically reflect that severity.
In severe cases, cerebral palsy can cause:
Regardless of the severity of your child’s cerebral palsy, if their condition is a direct result of medical malpractice, we encourage you to speak with a birth injury lawyer.
Around 10,000 infants every year are born with cerebral palsy in the United States. Though not all are caused by medical malpractice during the birthing process, many instances of cerebral palsy are avoidable if not for the negligence of physicians and other healthcare providers.
Medical malpractice can lead to cerebral palsy in a variety of ways, including:
A neonatal birth injury is any type of impairment that affects a newborn’s body function that can be attributed to an adverse event during, or following, labor and delivery. Birth injuries of this kind can range from mild, which heal quickly on their own, to more serious injuries that cause severe and permanent damage to the newborn. Specific neonatal birth injuries include:
Of course, not every birth injury occurs due to negligence. Giving birth can be wildly unpredictable, and not every birth injury is preventable, even with all the medical knowledge we have today. But when negligence does occur, it can often lead to serious birth injuries, ones that may cause months or years of hardships for you and your family.
When this happens, you need someone on your side to help you navigate the complicated legality of filing a medical negligence claim, to help compensate you for your losses, and to help prevent this type of error from happening to someone else.
At McEldrew Purtell, we work closely with medical experts, and can help you to identify and prove negligence by any type of treating physician, including pediatric neurologists, obstetricians, and neonatologists. We also will help you seek compensation for all of your expenses, from the costs of medical care for your child to the expense of retrofitting your home or vehicle to meet your child’s needs. Our attorneys have experience working birth injury cases in both New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
Attorney Jim McEldrew has compassionately helped clients in matters related to birth trauma for more than 30 years. He has been a member of the Birth Trauma Group of the American Association for Justice. All birth injury claims are handled on a contingency basis. We will only bill you legal fees if we are able to recover compensation for your losses. To schedule a meeting for a free consultation, fill out our form or call us directly at (215) 545-8800.