The birth of a child should be a joyous event, unmatched by much else in the world, but if something were to go wrong and a birth injury occurs, there’s nothing much else that’s more sorrowful. Birth injuries can be inherited or otherwise unavoidable, but they can sometimes be the result of medical malpractice by a doctor or hospital. If your child has suffered a birth injury due to the misconduct or negligence of a healthcare professional, don’t hesitate to contact an experienced Hartford birth injury lawyer today such as those at Baber Law.
Examples of Medical Negligence During Birth
Here are some common examples of medical negligence during birth:
- Misuse or improper use of birthing tools during a forceps delivery or vacuum extraction
- Delay in ordering or failure to perform an emergency C-Section when necessary
- Exerting too much force to twist or pull babies during delivery
- Failure to control and prevent hemorrhaging and tearing in the mother
- Failure to monitor the baby’s heartbeat and detect distress
Types of Birth Injuries
Five types of birth injuries may occur, but it is worth noting that the list below is far from exhaustive. Birth injuries can range from mild to severe and include the following:
Brain Injury (Damage)
Brain damage is a type of birth injury that occurs when a baby suffers a serious injury to the head during delivery. It varies with each case and is determined by the extent of the injury along with the part of the brain that was affected.
Brachial Plexus Injury
Damage to the peripheral nerve, which is also referred to as a brachial plexus injury is the second type of birth injury that’s commonly reported. It can prevent arm and hand movement and usually improves in time unless the nerve was torn during birth.
Spinal Cord Injury
Damage to the spinal cord and cranial nerve is the third commonly reported type of birth injury. It may result due to improper pulling, rotating, and stretching of the baby during birth. It can cause facial paralysis or other injuries to the spinal cord as well as paralysis in other parts of the body too.
Bone Fractures
Bone fractures typically occur when the baby being delivered is large in size or during breech births. Babies are born with 300 bones as opposed to adults who have 206 bones since some bones fuse together as we age. A baby’s bones are soft, particularly in the head where they still haven’t set, and they break easily.
Vacuum Extraction Injury
A vacuum extraction injury occurs due to the misuse of a vacuum extractor. Injuries from a vacuum extractor include skull fractures, brain damage, brachial plexus injuries, internal bleeding, and scalp wounds. Some of the conditions above can heal on their own without medical intervention while other serious complications may result in permanent damage to both the mother and baby.
How do I Know If a Birth Injury Was Caused by Medical Negligence?
If your child suffered a birth injury or died during labor and delivery, you are probably seeking answers desperately. You may question whether there’s anything that could have been done to prevent the injury or death from occurring. While many birth injuries are usually unavoidable, others are directly caused by medical negligence.
Medical negligence refers to the improper or unskilled medical treatment of a patient by a medical professionally. Specifically, medical negligence occurs when a medical professional fails to provide the same quality of a treatment that a professional with similar educational qualifications and experience would have in similar circumstances.
If your child’s birth injury was caused by medical negligence, it is usually not hard to tell because the symptoms usually start immediately or soon after birth. Your child may recover from a non-serious birth injury with treatment and time, but some birth injuries result in life-long health complications.
Still, it can be complicated to find out how a birth injury is linked to medical practice. Symptoms that appear shortly after birth or later in your child’s development could be indicative of the fact that labor and/or delivery was not done properly. Such symptoms include:
- Silence or unusual behavior immediately after birth
- Limp or floppy tone at birth
- Baby born with a blue color
- Lack of movement or use of an extremity
- Speech challenges
- Issues with muscle contraction
- Learning delays
- Difficulty walking
- Difficulty chewing, eating, and/or swallowing
At Baber Law on Hartford, Connecticut, we will listen to your story, review your child’s medical records and help you determine whether medical negligence is responsible for your child’s developmental delays. If we find out that it is the case, we can help you move forward and seek damages for you and your child’s suffering.
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What Kind of Damages Do Birth Injury Claims Cover?
If medical negligence is determined to be responsible for a mother or her infant’s birth injury, that healthcare facility or professional can be ordered to compensate the child and his/her parents for damages suffered, which include:
- Loss of future earnings
- Diminishments of life’s enjoyments
- Pain and suffering
- Past, current, and future medical expenses
- Disfigurement
Punitive damages may also be awarded in some instances. People often assume that the delivering obstetrician is the only medical professionals that can be held accountable for a birth injury. However, the reality is that any negligent member of the medical team can be held accountable for a birth injury that’s a result of that medical professional’s negligence.
What’s the Statute of Limitations When It Comes to Birth Injury Claims in Connecticut?
Connecticut, like all states, has a strict statute of limitations with regards to filing birth injury claims. If you fail to file a lawsuit within that timeframe will result in the court’s refusal to hear the case. In Connecticut, plaintiffs have 2 years from the date of the injury to file a medical malpractice lawsuit.
However, that can be extended by 1 year under the “discovery of harm rule”, which defines when a child’s injury should have been reasonably discovered. That means that the maximum statute of limitations when it comes to birth injury claims in Connecticut is 3 years.
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How Soon Should I Contact an Attorney for a Birth Injury Claim?
Connecticut imposes an absolute deadline of 3 years for all medical malpractice claims including birth injury claims. Since that timeline is so short, it is extremely important that you get in touch with an attorney for a birth injury claim soon after it is discovered.
How Can a Lawyer Help?
Settlement Negotiation
Personal injury claims, including birth injury claims, are often settled before ever filing a lawsuit. If the lawyer thinks that the case can be settled, he/she will make a demand to the other lawyer or the other side’s insurance company. If settlement talks stall the case moves into the “litigation” phase.
Case Preparation/Filing a lawsuit
The litigation phase begins when you file a lawsuit in court. Filing the lawsuit gets the clock running on when the case is likely to go to trial. A lawsuit must be filed within a strict deadline set in law known as the statute of limitations, which is a maximum of 3 years in Connecticut for birth injury claims.
Trial Preparation and Representation
If the case proceeds to trial, a birth injury lawyer provides representation in court. Birth injury lawyers such as those at Baber Law are familiar with court procedures and customs and will ensure that these steps are followed carefully.
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How Much does a Birth Injury Lawyer Cost?
Birth injury cases are some of the most expensive medical malpractice cases. You can expect to spend anywhere from $50,000 to $100,000 to properly pursue a birth injury claim. Fortunately, if Baber Law accepts your birth injury case, you won’t have to pay a retainer fee or pay for legal services by the hour.
Instead, our legal team will handle your birth injury claim on a contingency fee basis. When you get into a contingency fee agreement, you are agreeing that your attorney will be paid a percentage of the amount recovered in your case.
The lawyer’s fees are deducted from the money recovered for your claim before receiving any compensation for your claim.
Contact a Hartford Birth Injury Lawyer at Baber Law
If you suspect that your child’s birth injury was the result of medical negligence, it can be a good idea to get in touch with an experienced birth injury attorney. You may be entitled to financial compensation for your child’s injuries.
An experienced Hartford birth injury lawyer can review your case to determine its validity. Contact a Hartford birth injury lawyer on our legal team today for your free initial consultation and case evaluation.
We look forward to helping you pursue the compensation that you and your child are rightfully entitled to following a birth injury.
