Birth injuries are incredibly difficult to deal with. In most cases, injuries that happen to your child because of medical negligence during their delivery are outside of your control, and it is fully on the doctor and the rest of the medical staff to take care of you.
As such, many of these cases can result in medical malpractice lawsuits, where you and your family can sue for the injuries your child received. As your child grows and develops, you may begin to notice physical issues, disabilities, and developmental issues that will lead to even more damages down the road – all of which should be claimed in your birth injury case.
For a free review of your claim, reach out to the birth injury attorneys at Legal Care New Jersey by calling (732) 838-9769.
What is Needed for a Birth Injury Claim in Lakewood, NJ?
“Birth injuries” can include many different types and causes of injury, but not all of them can lead to a lawsuit or injury claim. Our birth injury lawyers will explain what to look for in determining whether you have a birth injury case or not.
Cause of Injury
If your child is injured in the womb because of an outside accident, that is something you can likely seek compensation for – but the focus here is on injuries that occur during childbirth. Many of these injuries are caused by happenstance or unfortunate complications, but many are the result of avoidable mistakes. Telling the difference between the two is often difficult.
The most clear-cut examples of birth injury cases occur when the doctor does something to injure your baby by accident during the delivery. This can include things like mishandling or even dropping the baby, as well as more technical matters like using undue force with forceps.
Other examples include injuries that were caused by a mistake the doctor made but not necessarily by the doctor’s own hands. For example, imagine you tell your doctor you had C-sections for your previous children because you have a narrow birth canal. If the doctor ignores that and insists on natural delivery, and then you cannot deliver the baby and need to turn to an emergency C-section, any harm to the baby during the delivery attempt or delayed delivery could be the doctor’s fault. Other similar mistakes include failing to discover and deal with breech positioning, an umbilical cord wrapped around the baby’s neck, or cramped positioning that damages the nerves in the arm and shoulder.
Some injuries and conditions are also the result of improper screening, which would also link back to the doctor’s mistakes. For example, failing to properly screen a mother with risk factors like a narrow birth canal could make the delivery more dangerous. Proper screening can often allow better planning for risks and complications.
Medical Mistakes
As mentioned in the previous section, many of these causes of injury ultimately link back to something the doctor did wrong. A medical mistake is at the core of a medical malpractice lawsuit, which is the type of lawsuit that most birth injury cases ultimately are.
In a medical malpractice claim, our attorneys need to prove that the resulting injuries and health conditions only occurred because of the doctor’s errors. Whether something is an error or not is judged by what is known as the “standard of care.” The law bases this on what a reasonable physician with similar training and experience would have done in the same situation. Our lawyers will be able to have medical experts review your case to determine where your doctor went wrong and what mistakes were involved.
Birth injuries often involve mistakes like negligent screening, unnecessary use of forceps, failure to use an emergency C-section when necessary, unnecessary delays in delivery, improper use of drugs and medication, overuse of force in delivering the baby, or simple instances of negligence like dropping or mishandling a newborn.
Damages
For you to be able to sue for your newborn’s birth injuries, there must be cognizable injuries that resulted in things like additional care needs or ongoing health conditions. For example, many birth injuries that leave a baby without enough oxygen to the brain can result in cerebral palsy and other health conditions. Further, some cramped positioning can result in other palsies and nerve damage.
Some birth injuries result in immediate injuries and the medical care needed to treat those injuries, but no long-lasting injuries or disabilities. These birth injury cases still qualify for lawsuits and often result in payments for those additional expenses. However, when the injuries do involve long-term harm or lifelong disabilities, the damages are often far higher to account for future care needs and other effects and limitations your child will face as they grow up.
When to Contact a Lawyer for a Birth Injury Case in Lakewood, NJ
As mentioned, birth injuries often require medical experts to determine whether the doctor did anything wrong to cause the birth injury. Some birth injuries might not even be discovered immediately, and they only become obvious once your child begins to show signs of delayed development and you start to do some research on the subject.
You should call our lawyers as soon as you start to suspect that a birth injury or cerebral palsy might be responsible for your child’s delayed development. Our attorneys can examine your medical records and look for some of the tell-tale signs of birth injuries. We can also find medical experts to review your files and examine your child to help confirm your suspicions. Additionally, we will help you document what you found and start building your case so we can file it in court as soon as possible.
Call Our Lakewood Birth Injury Attorneys at Legal Care Today
Contact Legal Care New Jersey’s birth injury lawyers at (732) 838-9769 today for a free case evaluation.
