Birth injuries can occur when an otherwise healthy newborn sustains a traumatic injury during the birthing process. Given the delicate state of a newborn infant, mistakes or lapses in care at this critical time can have profound impacts on a baby’s life. An experienced birth injury lawyer at Silver & Silver near Philadelphia, PA, may be able to get you the compensation to which you are entitled.
In 2006, the Federal Government’s Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality found that nearly 158,000 injuries occurred to mothers and their newborns during birth that could have been avoided. The study also showed that vaginal births in which doctors used instruments accounted for more than 16 percent of birth traumas for mothers, as opposed to 3-4 percent of the time for births in which instruments were not used. Deliveries that were covered under Medicaid were more likely to result in birth injuries than those covered by private insurance. Additionally, the Northeastern United States, including Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New Jersey, had 50 percent higher birth injury rates than the West, Midwest, or South.
Birth Injury vs. Birth Defect
An important distinction is to be made between birth injuries and birth defects. Whereas birth injuries are caused during the process of labor and delivery and often take place in the birth canal, birth defects are abnormalities in the baby’s body function or structure that result from a genetic abnormality.
Some common injuries that occur during labor and delivery include:
- Cerebral palsy
- Shoulder dystocia
- Spinal cord injury
- Sepsis or infection
- Hemorrhage or excessive bleeding
- Premature birth
- Bone fractures
- Paralysis
If you or a family member in Montgomery County, Delaware County, or Philadelphia, PA, has been harmed by a birth injury, it may be possible to receive compensation with the help of a trusted birth injury lawyer. You may be entitled to reparations not only for the harm to the baby’s quality of life but also for the cost of medical care that may be required throughout the injured infant’s life. Your birth injury lawyer may also be able to file for wage losses if the baby’s condition will prevent him or her from working as an adult. Our birth injury lawyers and spinal cord injury attorneys in Philadelphia, PA, are prepared to campaign for your child and retrieve the compensation owed to you.
When Should You Seek Legal Help from Our Birth Injury Lawyers?
While it is always best to contact a birth injury lawyer as soon as possible if you believe your son or daughter has suffered an injury during birth, special rules for children give them more time to make a claim than adults. Generally, if a child is injured due to negligence, they can bring a lawsuit any time before his or her twentieth birthday. However, the passage of time can make it much more challenging to prove what happened when the injury first occurred. It is encouraged that you contact a birth injury lawyer or brain injury attorney in Media, PA sooner rather than later in regard to birth injury cases.
If negligence or malpractice on the part of a healthcare provider (doctor, nurse, midwife, anesthesiologist, or other medical professional) has led to a birth injury, you may be entitled to compensation for injuries resulting from such mistakes. For legal assistance near Montgomery County and a free consultation, call the experienced birth injury lawyers, medical malpractice lawyers near Delaware County, or catastrophic injury lawyers in Philadelphia, PA, from Silver & Silver today.