Trusted Northwest Suburban Law Firm
847-944-9400In today’s world, the very idea of a birth injury is shocking.
With all of modern medicine’s advances in pregnancy care and childbirth, one might expect the rate of birth injury in Illinois to be next to nothing. Indeed, it should be. But it’s not.
In fact, birth injuries are surprisingly common all across the United States, including right here in Schaumburg. Many are very serious in nature and some even result in the heartbreaking loss of the mother or the child.
Gone are the days when childbirth was an inherently life-threatening process, and every mother feared for her survival. Today’s advances in medical science have all but eliminated those threats. So why do birth injuries persist?
Sadly, most of today’s birth injuries are caused by medical malpractice. Birth Injury Attorneys are crucial to society, but while most are very good people who try very hard to take great care of their patients, they make mistakes.
A birth injury refers to any kind of harm to your infant at any of the following stages:
Some injuries are relatively minor, but others can lead to lifelong physical, cognitive, and emotional setbacks. And some birth injuries prove fatal. When such injuries are the result of medical professionals who fail to provide the standard of care required, they can be held legally responsible for the resulting losses.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shares important statistics from 2021 regarding births and birth accidents in this country, including:
CDC statistics regarding birth injuries for the most recent data available include:
Birth injuries, in other words, are far too common.
Birth injuries are often based on medical providers who take action that they shouldn’t or who fail to take action when they should, and that leads to dangerous complications or birthing experiences that are unsafe. While every birth injury is unique to the circumstances involved, the causes tend to fall into several basic categories.
Birth trauma is often the result of medical professionals who apply too much pressure to the child’s head or body during the birth process.
This over-application of pressure is often the result of one or more of the following:
When a baby doesn’t get the oxygen they need, it’s called asphyxia, and this lack of oxygen and attendant deprivation of nutrients can affect the newborn’s brain and other vital organs before, during, and just after delivery. The effects of inadequate oxygen are compounding, and as acid builds up in the cells of the infant, they can experience permanent injuries like cerebral palsy (CP) and brain injuries.
Babies who are delivered vaginally come into direct contact with any viruses and bacteria hosted in the mother’s birth canal during the labor and delivery process. While most of a mother’s bacterial and viral strains won’t harm her child, others can. Those that are especially dangerous can affect the newborn’s brain and surrounding membranes, spinal cord, and lungs.
Doctors who fail to screen for such infections as part of a mother’s routine prenatal care are often held responsible for the losses related to birth injuries caused by preventable infection transmission from mother to child.
Medical professionals are responsible for providing pregnant women with prenatal care that reaches the current standard of care guiding the profession, including all the following:
Performing routine ultrasounds and other important prenatal tests according to appropriate scheduling – in order to spot and address potential medical concerns before they lead to dangerous complications
Providing appropriate prenatal care, including controlling for any existing maternal healthcare concerns, such as diabetes or high blood pressure and related medications
Monitoring for the mother’s overall well-being, including her physical safety and mental health
Inadequate prenatal care can harm both mother and child and is closely associated with the following:
An important part of prenatal care is addressing the overall medical condition of the mother, but because this component is so critical, it deserves its own attention. When a mother has a medical condition that isn’t identified, that is misdiagnosed, that is left untreated, or that is mistreated, it can lead to dire consequences for both the mother and the infant. This makes regular checkups and screenings key.
Each of the following maternal conditions can increase the risk associated with the pregnancy, which means that additional vigilance is required:
Sometimes, birth injuries are caused by outright errors made during prenatal care or labor and delivery, which can include all the following:
Medical negligence can lead to a wide range of birth injuries, but there are specific kinds of injuries that are most common.
Hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) is one of the most common injuries that full-term babies suffer. This condition is related to a lack of oxygen – generally during the birth process – and the consequences tend to be very serious, long-lasting, and costly. The fetal brain requires sufficient oxygen as well as adequate blood flow, and even short lapses in either can lead to HIE.
Some infants who are diagnosed with HIE go on to a diagnosis of cerebral palsy (CP) as the brain damage they’ve suffered becomes more apparent with time.
CP interferes with the sufferer’s ability to do the following:
CP can be the result of birth trauma, infections like meningitis, lack of oxygen, and other complications – especially those that affect the child’s head.
To make things more challenging, those with CP can also experience related conditions, including:
While there is no cure for CP, early intervention, proper treatment, and care can help manage the condition and improve overall quality of life.
Erb’s palsy is the most common form of brachial plexus palsy, and it affects the shoulder and elbow muscles. Erb’s palsy is closely associated with difficult births that lead to dangerous stretching or bending of the baby’s neck and head.
Conditions and circumstances that commonly cause Erb’s palsy include:
Other forms of brachial plexus palsy can lead to even more profound complications in the area of the shoulder and elbow, which can lead to a total restriction or a complete loss of muscle functioning in the child’s hand, wrist, and elbow.
Spinal cord injuries in newborns are frequently caused by medical malpractice, such as:
Trauma to a newborn’s head during the birthing process can occur outside the skull, called extracranial, or within the skull, called intracranial. The physical damage can range from mild bruising and swelling to brain bleeds and intracranial fractures. Even relatively mild head trauma, however, can prove serious.
All of the following are common causes of head trauma:
Medical professionals, including doctors, nurses, specialists, and beyond, are responsible for protecting their patients’ well-being, which is referred to as the duty of care owed. While doctors are only human and can make mistakes, medical malpractice applies when the mistake relates to the doctor failing to follow the same protocols that other reasonable medical professionals follow in similar situations. In these instances, those injured by a doctor’s negligence can seek compensation for the related physical, financial, and emotional losses they experience.
Some birth injuries happen because doctors don’t spot warning signs during pregnancy, labor, or delivery. In other cases, doctors simply don’t have enough experience to handle a crisis when it arises.
Whatever the cause, birth injuries are heartbreaking, and victims deserve compensation. We all depend on the expertise of healthcare professionals, and we need them to exercise due care when bringing new life into this world.
After all, it isn’t your job to understand medical warning signs, make a diagnosis, write a prescription, or perform a life-saving procedure. Those are the healthcare professionals’ responsibilities, and if they breach their standards of care, they can be held liable for the damages.
The birth injury attorneys at Gardi, Haught, Fischer & Bhosale LTD. have helped countless families in the face of trauma during the last twenty years. We’ve recovered millions of dollars in compensation for our clients.
These are some of the most challenging and emotionally demanding cases we handle. We understand, though, that the victims of birth injury have a long and difficult road before them, and it is our mission to get them as much financial relief as possible for the journey ahead.
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Our Birth Injury Attorneys use a comprehensive and compassionate approach to help families affected by birth injuries seek justice and compensation.
Our Birth Injury Attorneys provide a wealth of resources, including expert medical opinions and legal guidance, to help families navigate the complex and emotional process of seeking justice and compensation for birth injuries.
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With decades of experience and a proven track record of success, our Birth Injury Attorneys have the expertise and knowledge necessary to navigate even the most complex cases and secure maximum compensation for families affected by birth injuries.
Our Birth Injury Attorneys have earned a reputation for excellence, with countless 5-star Google reviews praising their compassionate approach, expert legal guidance, and unwavering commitment to securing justice for families affected by birth injuries.
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RE/MAX – Tim Winfrey
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