The birth of a new baby is an exciting and wonderful event. But for parents who have been told that their long awaited child has suffered an injury at birth, joy becomes pain when they discover that an error on the part of a doctor, nurse, or someone on the delivery room staff has left their child with a condition that may result in future painful surgeries and procedures, and in the worst cases, a lifetime of disability.
COMPENSATING FOR CHILDREN SUFFERING FROM BIRTH INJURIES
No child should come into the world with an injury, but sometimes it happens and no one is to blame. But when a medical professional with years of training fails to deliver the expected standard of care and causes an injury, the tragedy is compounded by the parents’ knowledge that their child will need to suffer unnecessarily because of someone else’s error.
Birth injury malpractice cases are complicated and difficult to prove, requiring an experienced and highly skilled medical malpractice attorney with access to respected medical experts to analyze the mother’s and child’s medical records and provide expert testimony in depositions and at trial.
Settlements and jury verdicts in birth injury cases around the country have doubled in size in the past decade, indicating that juries are willing to provide enough money to care for a child who has suffered needlessly from medical error. With Clearwater personal injury lawyer—one who has successfully handled many medical malpractice cases, has a detailed knowledge of California malpractice law, and who understands the standards of practice, medical terminology, and procedures used in obstetrical medicine—there is an opportunity to recover an amount of money that will offer your child the best chance to live the fullest life possible.
EXPERIENCED SACRAMENTO BIRTH INJURY LAWYERS
Many parents of children who were injured by medical negligence at birth in Northern California turn to the attorneys at Shepard & Haven in Sacramento. Kenneth Shepard and Ronald Haven have each practiced law for more than 35 years and have an impressive history of bringing in high-figure verdicts and settlements on behalf of the innocent victims of obstetric malpractice. They understand the standards of practice that are expected in the care of mother and baby before, during, and after delivery and have well-respected physicians on call to review medical records and demonstrate where the doctor who caused your baby’s injury deviated from those standards.
DELIVERY ERRORS THAT CAUSE BIRTH INJURIES
These are some of the most common medical errors we’ve found in the cases we’ve handled:
- failure to monitor mother and baby during labor
- failure to identify a herpes infection and allowing a vaginal delivery
- allowing labor to go on too long after the membranes rupture of membranes
- improper forceps or vacuum extraction
- failure to deliver a distressed baby by timely cesarean section
- failure to treat jaundice
When these and other errors are made at a birth, the result may be:
- cerebral palsy or another type of brain damage
- broken bones
- dislocations
- nerve damage
- Erb’s palsy
- bruising, swelling, or lacerations
- facial paralysis
- cephalohematoma, a collection of blood under the skull
DAMAGES FROM BIRTH INJURIES
Children born with severe birth injuries may require corrective surgeries and many years of physical and occupational therapy, as well as wheelchairs and other assistive devices and special education. It’s important that your child receives a settlement or verdict that will allow you to give your child as normal a life possible.
