Childbirth is always worth celebrating. It’s an event that represents the miracle of life like no other. For this reason, medical professionals must ensure a safe delivery procedure for both the child and the mother. Anything less can lead to a birth injury.
Birth injuries can be life-threatening for both the mother and the baby. Even at their mildest, injuries at birth can have lasting effects on the baby. A baby can sustain many types of injuries from errors to incorrect procedures during delivery.
If you or your child’s injury occurred at the hands of negligent medical providers, don’t delay. Reach out to our NYC birth injury lawyers to recover compensation for yourself and your injured baby.
By having our New York birth injury attorneys in your corner, you can build a compelling medical malpractice case against negligent medical professionals. Learn more about what a birth injury lawsuit is and how we can help you win your birth injury claims case in New York, NY.
What Is a Birth Injury Lawsuit?
In New York, NY, a birth injury lawsuit falls under the category of medical malpractice lawsuits. As such, a birth injury lawsuit is a civil case, filed by one party against another person.
In birth injury cases, certain elements need to be present. By establishing these elements, you can file a lawsuit with a New York birth injury attorney. Here are the elements that make up a birth injury lawsuit in New York.
Birth Injury
In the context of a childbirth injury case, the injury resulting from the delivery warrants a claim. You can bring your case to an attorney if you or your child suffered an injury during your child’s delivery.
Medical Negligence
Besides your or your child’s injuries, negligence is another condition for a childbirth injury claim. Negligence refers to the failure of a person to act based on a standard of care that ensures the safety of people.
When it comes to birth injury cases, negligence will be on the part of a physician or other medical personnel. These professionals are negligent due to their failure to render their services based on the minimum medical standard of care.
Causation
Proving negligence is a fundamental part of a childbirth injury claim. However, it isn’t the end-all-be-all. To mount a compelling case, you and your New York birth injury attorney must show how the doctor’s negligence led to your or your child’s injuries.
Doing this will be challenging. For this reason, you must always call an NYC birth injury lawyer to represent you in your claim.
Damages
In regards to damages, the Pagan Law Firm doesn’t just look at the injuries you or your child suffered or your medical bills.
When we consider damages, we think about the financial, emotional, psychological, and occupational losses and after-effects resulting from birth injuries. For example, if you suffered emotional trauma after your baby suffered from Erb’s or cerebral palsy, you can file a medical malpractice lawsuit and claim emotional damages.
What Are the Different Types of Birth Injuries in Birth Injury Lawsuits?
Birth injuries can take many forms. Call our NYC birth injury lawyers now if your or your child’s birth injury are any of the following.
Oxygen Deprivation
Oxygen deprivation can occur to the mother if the medical team fails to provide adequate oxygen. The failure to provide the mother with the necessary oxygen can also result in the baby’s oxygen deprivation.
Without sufficient oxygen, the fetus may die in-utero. Also, a baby can develop cerebral palsy if they’re deprived of oxygen for too long.
Oxygen deprivation is preventable with the frequent monitoring of the mother’s oxygen saturation levels. Also, the health team must be alert if the mother verbalizes any difficulties in breathing.
Meconium Aspiration
Meconium aspiration happens when the baby begins to ingest meconium or fecal matter. In large amounts, meconium can choke the baby before delivery, causing brain damage or death.
There are ways to prevent meconium aspiration from occurring. Usually, the doctor orders close monitoring of the mother and baby leading up to delivery. Any failure to do this constitutes negligence on the part of the medical staff.
Abruptio Placenta
Abruptio placenta occurs when the placenta detaches from the uterine wall. The separation leads to bleeding that can place the mother and the baby at risk.
During abruptio placenta, blood vessels rupture from the separation of the placenta and the uterine wall. Because of bleeding, the mother can die of hypovolemic shock.
As a result, the baby does not receive adequate oxygen and may sustain brain damage or cerebral palsy. In the worst-case scenario, the baby and mother can die from abruptio placenta.
As part of a hospital’s maternal and child care protocols, maternal blood pressure monitoring must be regular. If the mother or child suffers injuries from abruptio placenta, it’s indicative of medical malpractice.
Placenta Previa
At times, the placenta can move, blocking the birth canal. When this happens, the mother suffers from placenta previa.
Placenta previa is potentially life-threatening and can result in brain injuries, cerebral palsy, and death. As with abruptio placenta, the health team must look for signs that suggest bleeding like sudden drops in the mother’s blood pressure and vaginal bleeding.
Newborn Seizure
Newborn seizures happen due to erratic electrical signals in the baby’s nervous system. Seizures in newborns manifest as sudden eye movements and twitching of the limbs. If left unchecked, seizures can place newborns at risk for falls and subsequent injuries.
Newborn seizures can occur for many reasons. The cause may be congenital. However, other reasons like bacterial infections and brain injury suggest the presence of medical negligence.
Umbilical Entrapment
Otherwise known as cord compression, umbilical entrapment happens when the vaginal wall, the baby’s weight, and the placenta compress the umbilical cord. Often, cord compression occurs sporadically as the baby moves and lasts no more than a few seconds. However, prolonged umbilical entrapment can cause brain injuries or cerebral palsy to the baby as a result of reduced blood flow.
Monitoring the baby and mother is an important intervention when preventing umbilical entrapment. The development of prolonged compression of the cord is a sign that the medical staff was negligent in their assessment and care of the mother.
Pregnancy-induced Hypertension/Preeclampsia
Hypertension — or elevations in blood pressure — can occur during pregnancy. However, when the mother’s blood pressure remains consistently high, it’s a sign that she has developed pregnancy-induced hypertension (PIH) or preeclampsia.
PIH can lead to severe injuries to the mother and baby. It’s a risk factor for birth injuries like abruptio placenta, birth defects, and severe brain damage. For this reason, the medical staff must monitor and control maternal blood pressure in the hours leading to labor and delivery. If the mother’s blood pressure remains high for too long, it’s a sign that the team failed to check and control her blood pressure.
Gestational Diabetes
Blood sugar can rise during pregnancy due to the increased nutritional needs of the mother and baby. However, a doctor must intervene during hospital care to control the mother’s blood sugar. If left unchecked and uncontrolled, the blood pressure can remain elevated so long that the mother develops gestational diabetes.
Gestational diabetes can be dangerous to the mother and baby. Often, gestationally diabetic mothers give birth to macrosomic babies — babies with abnormally high birth weight. The large size of macrosomic babies can make a vaginal delivery risky. Also, they tend to have physical and mental disabilities. Aside from that, medical experts have also found macrosomic babies to be at risk for developing metabolic issues later in life.
Pitocin Toxicity
Pitocin is one of the most commonly prescribed brands of oxytocin. Oxytocin is a naturally-occurring hormone capable of speeding up uterine contractions. Given as an IV injection, oxytocin helps shorten the duration of labor, especially in primigravid or first-time mothers.
The problem with oxytocin is that toxicity can occur. When it does, the uterus can rupture from excessive contraction. As a result, the mother can hemorrhage, and the baby may be delivered prematurely.
Pitocin toxicity usually happens as a result of medical errors. Usually, cases of oxytocin toxicity occur because the medical provider failed to track the number of times they administered IV oxytocin. For this reason, Pitocin toxicity is almost always the result of medical malpractice. Call our birth injury attorneys if your child’s injury was the result of medical errors.
Protracted Labor
A medical professional like the obstetrician may also be negligent if labor drags on for too long. Prolonged labor is otherwise known as protracted labor and is common among primigravid (first-time) mothers. Protracted labor is manageable with the infusion of Pitocin. If Pitocin doesn’t work, the attending physician may order an emergency C-section.
Protracted labor that goes on for too long can endanger the baby and place them at risk of developing cerebral palsy. The mother may also be at risk if she has a heart condition. If medical records show that labor went for hours without any intervention, the attending medical professional may be liable.
Post-operative Infection From an Episiotomy
During delivery, the physician may order an episiotomy. An episiotomy is an incision made during vaginal birth. The physician cuts near the vaginal opening to facilitate the delivery of a baby.
Episiotomies are surgical procedures. For this reason, the care rendered to incision sites must be similar to that given in an operating room setting. Any failure to do so puts the mother at risk for a post-operative infection. The risk is even higher since the incision is in an area where bacteria can proliferate.
Post-operative infection is an egregious sign of medical negligence since it is preventable with monitoring and antibiotic administration. If you experience any infection following a procedure like an episiotomy, call a skilled medical malpractice attorney.
Brachial Plexus Injury
Brachial plexus injury or Erb’s palsy is a birth injury where the motor nerves along the shoulder and upper arm sustain damage. Damage to these motor nerves will result in physical disabilities — particularly the inability to move or use the affected arm later on.
Erb’s palsy is a serious birth injury that happens when a medical professional incorrectly maneuvers the baby through the birth canal during delivery. This can be a ground for filing birth injury claims in New York.
How Our Lawyers for Birth Injuries Can Help
For any of the birth injuries mentioned, you need to call an experienced New York birth injury lawyer to represent you in your birth injury claims case. At The Pagan Law Firm, we handle birth injury lawsuits, and we have a track record to prove it.
Here are some of the ways our New York birth injury lawyers can help you.
Investigate the Facts Surrounding Your Birth Injury Claim
It isn’t easy to prove medical malpractice on the part of a physician or health institution. To successfully determine whether or not you have a case, you need evidence that consolidates the facts surrounding your birth injury.
Our birth injury lawyers at The Pagan Law Firm can help investigate your case by gathering evidence like medical records. We can also get eyewitness testimonies from medical experts and staff present during your delivery.
Establish and Prove Negligence on the Part of Involved Medical Professionals
With sufficient evidence, our birth injury lawyers can help trace your child’s birth injury back to negligent medical professionals. By establishing negligence, our medical malpractice lawyers at The Pagan Law Firm can build a compelling case that maximizes your chances of receiving full and fair financial compensation.
File Your Birth Injury Case Within New York’s Statute of Limitations
Personal injury and medical malpractice lawsuits in New York must be filed within the state’s statute of limitations. In New York, you have a window of two and a half years to file medical malpractice lawsuits like birth injury claims. This may seem like a long time. However, with tasks like documentation and evidence-gathering, this period will fly by quickly.
Our birth injury attorney can have your claim moving as soon as you get a free consultation. Leave nothing to chance, and don’t delay. Call our birth injury attorneys for a free case evaluation.
Help You Recover Full Financial Compensation
As soon as you file a medical negligence lawsuit, the hospital and its insurance providers will be quick to offer compensation. However, no matter how generous the offer seems, let your attorney handle the negotiation. The settlement offer may be much less than what you deserve.
A birth injury attorney can fight on behalf of you and negotiate with the hospital and insurance providers. By arguing for a fair settlement, we can help you recover compensation that pays for everything, including future medical expenses and non-economic damages.
Never settle for a lowball settlement. Let our birth injury lawyers represent you and help you recover what you deserve. Call our attorneys at The Pagan Law Firm for a free consultation and find out how much your case may be worth.
Represent You During a Birth Injury Litigation
It may seem unlikely that a medical negligence case escalates to a trial in New York. Nevertheless, when you file a lawsuit for your child’s birth injury, you need to prepare for the possibility. Representing you in litigation is what our birth injury lawyers do best.
Our firm has a proven track record in malpractice lawsuits. Our record is brimming with satisfied clients who we have represented in and out of the courtroom.
Choose birth injury lawyers who will fight for you and your child’s best interests. Call us for a free consultation if you or your child sustained physical injuries during delivery.
Why Choose Our New York Birth Injury Attorneys?
At The Pagan Law Firm, we have represented our clients in various personal injury and malpractice cases. If you need a birth injury lawyer in New York, look no further. We are here to ensure that you receive full compensation for your birth injury lawsuit. Reach out to us and experience legal counsel and representation that puts your interests first.
Decades of Experience You Can Put Your Full Faith In
Our New York birth injury lawyers have decades of experience representing clients in various claims. Our experience sets us apart from numerous medical malpractice firms in the city. We have the confidence and expertise to ensure the best possible outcome for you and your child.
We Don’t Back Down
Your interests come first in our firm. For this reason, you can rely on our representation in and out of the courtroom.
Our birth injury lawyers will not settle for less, ensuring that you receive compensation for your or your child’s birth injuries. We can also negotiate for higher settlements if your birth injury leads to chronic pain.
Get legal representation that is always in your favor. Reach out now for a free case evaluation.
A Proven Track Record in Medical Malpractice Cases
Our firm would not be one of the most trusted birth injury and malpractice firms in New York without our track record. For years, we have earned the trust of our clients with results and our past accomplishments.
We have recovered millions of dollars in malpractice settlements. With our representation, injured children and mothers have been able to recover large settlements from negligent professionals.
Our track record is full of successful claims and satisfied past clients. Be our next success story. Call us if you need a birth injury lawyer with experience and a proven track record of success in New York.
Choose a Firm That Fights for You Every Step of the Way
Birth injuries can harm what may otherwise be a beautiful milestone in a mother and child’s life. For this reason, members of the health care team must do their due diligence in providing excellent care. Any failure to do so constitutes neglect of responsibilities.
Was your child harmed by negligence? Have you sustained injuries due to incorrect delivery procedures?
Call us today. Get your free consultation and experience legal counsel and representation that fights for you in New York.