While many birth injuries may heal over time with proper treatment, some birth injuries cause permanent physical or mental damage. Birth injuries occur during childbirth and can affect either the mother or baby. Regrettably, conditions such as cerebral palsy require lifelong care.
When things go wrong during childbirth, a parent’s immediate concern is their child’s survival, even if the mother also sustains injuries. Further, it is doubtful parents will consider whether negligence has occurred while their child’s life is on the line. However, once their child’s health has stabilized, they might want to speak with a Fort Lauderdale birth injury lawyer who can help them determine if negligence played a role in their child’s condition.
Parents Have the Right to Know If Mistakes Were Made During Childbirth
After a birth injury, discussions with health care professionals responsible for mother and baby during pregnancy and childbirth can become extremely challenging. During the initial stages, medical professionals may not have the information available to provide definitive answers about what happened.
Further, where clinical negligence is unclear, medical staff may hesitate to discuss the situation in detail due to concerns about potential litigation. At the same time, parents must come to terms with the devastating news about their newborn’s injury. Families who have not received the appropriate standards of care during the birth of their child may benefit from the support of an attorney who can:
- Investigate what happened and get you the answers you deserve
- Provide advice about the decision-making process during litigation
- Support you throughout the legal process
- Help you determine the ongoing needs of your child to put in place an appropriate care package to provide for their future
What Is Medical Negligence in a Permanent Birth Injury Case?
When a birth does not go to plan, parents may have concerns about the standard of care they have received. As such, an investigation can establish whether a clinician’s actions deviated from what other medical care providers in the same role and situation would consider acceptable.
The most typical examples of an investigation might find a clinician negligent in birth injury cases include:
- Failing to detect fetal distress or asphyxia
- Failing to diagnose low blood pressure, diabetes, or preeclampsia
- Failing to order appropriate tests for congenital disabilities and other serious medical conditions
- Not providing sufficient information about potential risks to the mother or baby
- Failing to reduce the risk of perineal tearing
How do I Prove Clinical Negligence Caused a Birth Injury?
Birth injury litigation falls within the realm of medical negligence. Therefore, to prevail in a lawsuit, you will need to show your health care provider made a mistake that caused you or your child to suffer an injury. Keep in mind, compensation claims for birth injures when a doctor does nothing wrong are nonactionable.
As such, you must demonstrable a link that proves a clinician’s negligence resulted in a birth injury, known in legal terms as causation. Here are some examples of maternity-related negligence cases you could pursue:
- Cerebral palsy
- Erb’s palsy
- Brachial palsy
- Fractured bones
- Spinal cord damage
- Perinatal asphyxia or hypoxia
- Facial paralysis
- Avoidable trauma from the use of forceps
- Mistakes made due to improper use of a vacuum extraction device
What Support Is Available to My Family?
A birth injury attorney from our firm can help you investigate what happened and gather the evidence required to prove how medical negligence caused you or your baby’s injuries. Then, depending on you or your baby’s injury and prognosis, we will pursue the appropriate damages for your situation, which could include:
- Pain and suffering
- Emotional distress or mental anguish
- Temporary or permanent disability
- Medical bills, medications, and other treatments
- Rehabilitation costs to improve quality of life and independence
- Childcare assistance
- Future medical treatments and care
- Any home alterations required to accommodate your child’s needs
- Compensation for lost income
We can also access a network of medical professionals to provide expert testimony to support your case and other sources of assistance to help you adjust to your situation.
To limit any financial risk to you, we provide our legal services on contingency, meaning we fund the cost of building and pursuing your case. We only recover our fees if you receive compensation. Please keep in mind that you will need to file your lawsuit within two years per Florida Statutes § 95.11(4)(b).
Florida Birth Injury Attorneys at Your Side
At the Law Offices of Anidjar & Levine, our attorneys consider avoidable birth injuries one of the most devastating forms of medical malpractice. We understand the fear, confusion, and anger you feel at this most challenging time. As such, our responsive team is committed to helping families pursue compensation to support their child’s needs in the aftermath of a heartbreaking and traumatic birth injury.
Our legal team will shoulder the burden of managing a birth injury lawsuit and fight to ensure you get the legal and financial support you need to help provide your child with a bright future. To learn about your legal position, contact us for a free consultation.
