Birth Injury – Cerebral Palsy
Compensation for Cerebral Palsy, Erbs Palsy and Other Birth Injuries
Many birth injuries that are explained away as “medical emergencies” could have been prevented with better planning or care on the part of the doctors who handled the situation. There are also countless cases where the child suffers a traumatic injury from something that medical professionals should have anticipated or detected during the birth had the medical professionals adhered to their due diligence. It is up to the doctors and other medical professionals to advocate for the mother and the child in their care and they should act to prevent the medical emergency from occurring in the first place. Do not let your child’s birth injury go by unnoticed – demand justice for the harm that your newborn child will have to endure because of the fault of his or her doctors during birth. Contact our experienced Washington D.C. birth injury attorneys today.
Firsthand Experience Makes For A Better Birth Injury Lawyer
Washington D.C. birth injury attorney Catherine Bertram has worked in hospitals and has seen how these birth injuries can be avoided at the outset. She was on a hospital task force that specifically focused on preventing common birth injuries. She has a deep understanding of the relevant medicine, risk management, and the law that is crucial to navigating this very complex area of birth injuries. She also works closely with both a trained nurse and an experienced medical doctor who each provide their expertise and insight into each one of her client’s birth injury cases.
So many babies are born in and around Washington D.C. everyday, and it is heartbreaking that some of these new lives will be affected by a birth injury. Washington D.C. birth injuries can result from a number of factors, including any of the following:
- Failure to recognize fetal distress;
- Excessive force from vacuums, forceps, and other medical devices used during delivery;
- Failure to recognize bleeding or infections in the mother;
- Untreated issues with umbilical cord or placental abruption; and/or
- Delayed C-section instructions or refusal to offer the mother a C-section procedure when one is needed.
Birth injuries that happen to newborns often produce the need for a lifetime of care as the injured child grows up, and oftentimes birth injuries require an enormous amount of time and money in the form of additional medical procedures throughout the child’s life. If the health care team that handled your child’s delivery was responsible for causing a birth injury, your family should not be left to provide a lifetime of medical care for your child and no way to pay for it. It is unfortunate that a child could be injured so seriously as such a young age, but when the fault of the injury lies with another, you and your family can seek compensation for the harm your child has suffered, as well as for his or her lifetime of medical expenses.
Common Types of Birth Injuries
A newborn and mother can suffer any number of injuries during childbirth. Some of the more common injuries that occur to newborns during birth include:
- Physical Injuries. A newborn can suffer any number of physical injuries during birth, such as bruising, torn muscles, broken bones and fractures. Babies are delicate when they are born and need to be handle with extreme care by medical professionals during and after the birth.
- Brain injuries. The oxygen supply to a baby’s brain can be obscured or blocked during birth, which can starve the brain and other important organs, of oxygen. The baby’s head could also be crushed or squeezed during the birthing process, which can cause a traumatic brain injury to the child.
- Cerebral palsy. Oxygen deprivation during birth has been linked to spurring cerebral palsy in children as they get older. This developmental disorder impacts cognitive function, and the severity of this condition can vary widely from case to case. Children diagnosed with cerebral palsy often require a lifetime of care.
- Erb’s palsy. Erb’s palsy, sometimes also referred to as brachial plexus birth palsy, arises when the baby suffers damage to the complex network of nerves situated between the neck and the shoulder. Damage to these nerves often occurs when the baby is being pulled from the mother during birth. Damage to these nerves can leave a child temporarily or permanently paralyzed in the affected limb.
In these situations where a child or mother is injured during birth, it is important that victims seek justice by turning to an experienced and knowledgeable Washington D.C. birth injury attorney. With more than 25 years of experience and a demonstrated dedication to our clients, Ms. Bertram has been involved in the successful resolution of countless birth injury cases for victim mothers and their victim children, including in cases that involve cerebral palsy and Erb’s palsy.
If you think you may have a birth injury-related case, or if you have any questions about birth injuries, you can call 202-803-5800 or email us. We offer a free initial consultation to prospective clients.
