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Before going to what is birth injury, birth injury laws, and how to get help from an attorney on birth injury laws, we think it important to talk about parents’ emotions and expectations when their baby faces unpleasant complications and hardness.
Parents get so much excited to hear the news of going to be parents or having a baby, and from this point, they plan for every possible circumstance that will brighten their baby’s future.
But parents will never think of complications during pregnancy, labour, and delivery because parents care for their diet, health, regular medical check-up, and take the necessary medicine to have a healthy baby. Still, things always do not work as we had planned, and here comes birth injury.
What is a birth injury?
A Birth Injury causes many complications during pregnancy, labour, and delivery, including physical injury, brain injury, nerve injury(nerve damage), and some other unpleasant and unexpected things that happen at the time of or baby birth is called birth injury.
Suppose the doctor or hospital shows any negligence or carelessness, or other medical personnel and even reasons of injury are the hospital’s policies. In that case, they will be liable to court, and you must contact birth injury lawyers near you.
Causes of Birth Injury
- Negligence
- Malpractice
- Flawed hospital policies.
- Physical trauma (Pulling too forcefully on the baby)
- Inappropriate use of forceps or vacuum extractors
- Untreated maternal illness
- Failure to recognize fetal distress
Common Types of Birth Injuries
We discuss a brief introduction to Birth Injury; there are many types of birth injuries, and various areas of the body are affected by birth injury.
So mild injuries can be healed over time and treatment, but birth injuries also have a lifelong effect on a baby’s body; some are mental, and some are physical injuries, and every injury has different complications.
Cerebral Palsy
- A brain injury generally causes Cerebral Palsy during childbirth.
- Cerebral Palsy significantly affects a baby s muscle control and causes delays in speaking and growth.
- 85% – 90% of babies with cerebral Palsy acquired the condition before or during birth due to brain damage.
- Cerebral Palsy has no cure. Yet, many treatments are obtainable to help control symptoms and help children and adults live as independently as possible.
These are causes of brain injuries that lead to Cerebral Palsy
- Bleeding in the brain
- Fever and infection
- Heart attack or stroke
- Lack of oxygen to the brain
- Medical negligence
Erb’s Palsy
- Erb’s Palsy (brachial plexus palsy) is also a type of birth injury, and its paralysis a baby’s hand, arm, and shoulder.
- It is usually acquired due to damage to the brachial plexus nerves at the delivery time.
- This type of birth injury is found in 1 out of 10000
- children with Erb’s Palsy have chances of full recovery without treatment but may pass through a surgical process or occupational therapies to recover from Erb’s Palsy.
Nerve damage can occur due to:
- Overly dragging on a baby’s neck or head during a challenging delivery or labour.
- The baby’s head, neck, or shoulders get stuck under the pelvic bone and in the birth canal during delivery.
Brain Damage
- Brain damage occurs when a baby has a head injury during delivery due to medical staff negligence, damaging the brain and leading to neurological and physical impairments.
- Brain damage has various degrees of affection and varies from one baby to another, and different parts of the body can be affected due to brain damage.
- Depending on different factors, their chances of full recovery or long-term disability.
There are some causes of brain damage to the baby.
- Asphyxia (loss of oxygen)
- Bleeding in the brain
- Physical injuries (due to forceful pulling of the baby on time of delivery, vacuum extraction, or pulling on the head and it damages nerves of brains
- Umbilical cord choking
- Undiagnosed brain infection
Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy (HIE)
- Hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) happens when a child suffers from a deficiency of oxygen (hypoxia) and blood flow (ischemia) during birth.
Newborn Jaundice
- Newborn Jaundice appears when a child’s skin seems yellow once they are born. A high bilirubin range causes this; the colouring is created when the body replaces blood cells.
Kernicterus
- Newborn Jaundice leads to kernicterus if not treated properly, and bilirubin starts gathering in the brain. It causes several problems, including seizures, brain damage (nerve damage), and hearing loss.
Intrauterine Foetal Demise
- This Birth injury is due to improper medications, and the baby dies before birth; according to reports, 1 out of 100 babies dies due to Intrauterine Fetal Demise.
Newborn Cephalohematoma
- A newborn cephalohematoma happens when bleeding in the skull generates blood to pool around the brain’s tissue.
- Cephalohematomas stress the brain and can lead to seizures, brain injury, swelling, and depression in the head.
- According to medical reports, the main risk elements for newborn cephalohematomas are prolonged or difficult labour and using vacuum extractors or forceps.
These were some major type pf birth injuries, but the number of injuries is not limited. We just covered major birth injuries.
Help From Attorney
Before addressing your question, we have a query about what you expect from Birth Injury Attorney to help you win your case and get reparation from doctors, hospitals, or other medical staff.
If today your baby is suffering from pain or caused by some negligence, then it’s your right to demand compensation, and here is how the Birth injury attorney helps you.
Attorney aims to win your case with their skills and experience to make your baby’s life easier by demanding compensation from doctors and other persons behind this negligence.
It would be best to hire an attorney to get great compensation for your child’s treatment and care for a birth injury.
Financial compensation from a birth injury case can support spending for:
- To get necessary equipment like wheelchairs
- At-home nursing care
- Different types of therapy
- Medicines
- Lost wages if you need to leave your job to supervise your child
- Other medical expenses
Hiring an experienced lawyer will increase your chances of winning your lawsuit and getting heavy compensation for your child’s treatment.
What Is Birth Injury Compensation?
There are the best ways to get compensation for a doctor’s negligence or birth injury caused by medical staff or hospital policies.
They are liable to pay compensation, but some compensation can not be fulfilled or change your baby’s future that is ruined due to due carelessness.
Still, it would be the best outcome, and in the future medical staff avoid such negligence and does not happen to any else.
Compensation claims can include money to cover:
- Current medical bills
- Future medical bills
- Ongoing therapy costs
- Adaptive devices
- In-home medical care
Final Verdict
Birth injuries can be different and have various complications, but why it occurs to your baby and whether it is natural or artificial mean can be due to negligence of medical staff or hospital are like that cause this birth injury. Still, it is your right to hire an experienced attorney to get the heavy compensation needed for your baby’s medication and care.