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Dallas Birth Injury Attorney
Has Your Child Suffered an Injury at Birth Due to Medical Malpractice?
Birth Injuries represent a significant problem within the medical community. Unfortunately, many mothers are told that their child’s birth injuries or defects were simply unavoidable or that they are even normal.
While this is certainly true in some instances, there are a significant number of birth injuries that are the direct result of negligence on behalf of the doctor, nurse, or other professional that we rely upon to safely deliver children.
Dallas birth injury attorney, Michael Grossman, has represented medical malpractice victims for the past 20 years and the following information is derived from our attorneys’ experience with similar cases.
If you suspect that your child was injured or suffered a major affliction due to the malpractice of a medical professional, the following information may help you determine more conclusively if such an event has occurred.
Medical malpractice affects the entire medical profession - yet when injuries occur to expectant mothers and their baby due to negligence of a obstetrician or delivery nurse, these injuries are known as birth injuries.
As with medical malpractice cases, birth injury cases take two specific types:
- A doctor, nurse, or other medical professional fails to properly diagnose or provide adequate treatment to an expecting mother, fetus, or newborn baby, resulting in harm to the mother or child. Some birth injury cases fall into this type of case, including harms suffered while a baby is in utero or failure to properly treat injuries after birth of the child.
- A doctor, nurse, medical professional, or health institution acts outside the accepted professional medical norms, either negligently or recklessly, resulting in harm to the mother or child. Most birth injury cases fall into this type of case, including injuries at and around the time of birth to both the mother and child. Such injuries include, but are not limited to, cerebral palsy, brachial plexus injuries, shoulder dystocia, brain injuries, disfigurement, and other neurological, skeletal, and muscular injuries.
Birth injury cases can occur with harm to either or both the mother or child. Often times, birth injuries are suspected or identified by medical personnel at the time of birth, but this information is rarely fully disclosed to the new parents. Instead, medical professionals wait to diagnose a mother or child with birth injuries until the child is old enough to indicate something wrong with proper development or wait to see if the injuries heal themselves. This delay in diagnosis or treatment may be a sign of obstetrician (OB) medical malpractice. Contact our medical malpractice attorneys to discuss your personal situation and get answers on what happened during your pregnancy, during the birth of your child, and after the birth of your child that may have caused preventable, serious, life-altering injuries. Our medical legal team will review the medical records and consult medical experts to determine whether the doctor was negligent or reckless with your child’s health and well-being. Contact us today.
Signs of Birth Injuries
Remember: birth injuries can affect both the mother and the child. In many cases, the mother suffers some type of harm which results in harm to the child.
Yet it’s often difficult to determine whether a newborn’s birth injury is malpractice. Babies are born with soft bones, flexible and rubbery, and travel through a tight birth canal. Many newborns experience some minor injuries; these injuries should be expected in the birthing process, especially for vaginal deliveries.
Signs of normal birth injuries to a newborn include:
- Bruising: the birthing process, especially in a vaginal delivery will often result in minor swelling and bruising along the scalp, forehead, nose and neck. If the baby is delivered in a breech position, bruising may occur on the baby’s hips, buttocks, and legs. Bruises usually clear up in a matter of days after birth; a bruise lasting longer than a week is sign for concern.
- Pink marks: in what are commonly referred to as “stork bites,” pink marks are merely dilated capillaries and often show up on the forehead, eyelids, and back of the neck. These birthmarks usually fade and clear up on their own as the infant grows older and are not a cause for concern.
- Little white cysts: these little cysts, known as milia, look like tiny pimples across the nose, cheeks, and forehead and are simply clogged sweat gland ducts. This condition typically clears up on its own in a matter of weeks.
- Broken bones: newborns exhibiting broken collarbones (clavicle) are rare, but don’t usually suggest malpractice on the part of the delivery team. Other broken bones (especially arms, legs, and shoulders) are warning signs for future long-term birth injuries.
Signs of an Abnormal Pregnancy, Delivery or Possible Birth Injury Malpractice:
- During pregnancy, the obstetrician (OB) or other medical professionals did not adequately track, treat or warn you of existing or developing medical conditions such as preeclampsia, hypertension, diabetes, or other long-term conditions.
- During pregnancy, the obstetrician (OB) or other medical professionals did not adequately track, treat, or warn you of any complications or dangers present in your pregnancy, including any medicine or drug side effects and their effect on your baby.
- During labor, the medical staff and delivery team delayed in hooking up fetal monitors or disregarded fetal distress, often shown with an abnormally high or low heart rate.
- At the time of delivery, the baby was abnormally positioned, making a vaginal delivery difficult and dangerous. This scenario can be easily identified by ultrasound technology and prevented by Cesarean section (c-section).
- At the time of delivery, the baby was abnormally large and/or the birth canal was too small for the baby to pass through normally, yet the doctor performed a vaginal delivery rather than C-section without informing the mother, risking serious injury to both mother and child.
- At the time of delivery, the doctor used a technique known as a high-forceps delivery, essentially pulling the baby through the birth canal using forceps, risking significant injury to both the mother and child.
- At birth, the baby exhibits symptoms of asphyxia (no oxygen in the blood) - pale in color, lifeless-looking, weakly breathing or not breathing at all, and a very show heart rate - or symptoms of hypoxia (too little oxygen in the blood) - blue in color, weak or no breath, slow heart rate. This can suggest a drug interaction, including a problem with an epidural procedure, or an improper delivery - and can result in serious organ issues, delayed development, and possible retardation.
- After the birth, the baby has low APGAR scores. APGAR is a method of scoring the basic health of the baby and is based on a 1-10 scale. Scoring takes place one minute after birth; score less than 5 at this time indicate the baby needs medical attention. Scores less than 4 at later intervals (three, five, ten, fifteen, thirty minutes) suggest long-term neurological damage and a heightened risk for cerebral palsy.
- After the birth, the baby has no interest or little interest in feeding or exhibits problems with the instinctual feeding mechanics (suckling, grappling).
- After the birth, the baby is lethargic, sluggish, or exhibits asymmetrical movements in the face, arms, or legs.
- After the birth, the baby shows signs of seizures.
A full review of each pregnancy, delivery, birth, and resulting treatment is critical to determining whether a birth injury is due to malpractice. Our tip to new parents: trust your instincts. If something doesn’t seem right about an injury you or your newborn incurred during the delivery, start asking questions. Request all medical records from the hospital or birthing center documenting the delivery process. Request all medical records from every doctor or medical professional who saw you for prenatal visits and checkups. Have an independent medical expert review your records and look for additional information online. Need help finding an independent medical expert? Call Grossman Law Offices at 1-855-326-0000 (toll free) for more than twenty years of expertise and your own personal, confidential consultation with our staff.
Types of Birth Injuries
Birth injuries to mothers and newborns can occur in three different ways: during pregnancy, at the time of birth, or after the birth of the child.
During pregnancy, the two most common birth injuries are drug interactions and the failure of the obstetrician to monitor or treat existing conditions appropriately. Drug interactions occur when a particular drug or medicine is administered to the pregnant mother with disregard for its side effects on the developing baby, a concept known as teratogenicity. Doctors who prescribe or continue to prescribe medications known to be dangerous for fetal development may be liable for result birth defect, birth injuries, and medical malpractice. Commonly treated maternal conditions include: asthma, diabetes, depression, stress and anxiety, inflammatory bowel disease, and nausea and vomiting during pregnancy. Medicines such as Albuterol, Singulair, Celexa, Lexapro, Effexor, Paxil, Prozac, Wellbutrin, Zoloft, Accutane, Thalidomide, and many other teratogenic drugs are known to cause different risk factors for birth defects and birth injuries in newborns.
In the event a pregnant mother had a pre-existing condition or was diagnosed with a particular condition during pregnancy, a doctor is required to ensure that the drug’s side effects will minimally affect the developing child during pregnancy. Failure to monitor either the mother’s condition or the child’s condition may give rise to a claim of medical negligence for any resulting birth injuries sustained by the mother or the newborn child. Unsure what happened in your family’s situation? Contact our experience medical malpractice group at Grossman Law Offices 1-855-326-0000 (toll free) for a private consultation to determine whether your experience is due to birth injury malpractice. Our medical experts and staff can help you and your family get the care and compensation your child deserves after a doctor’s serious mistake and lapse in judgment - and help protect other children from the same fate.
At the time of birth, several possible serious physical injuries may result, including nerve damage, broken bones, blood clots and hemorrhages, severe bruising, and neurological distress. These injuries can give rise to a later diagnosis of cerebral palsy, Erb’s palsy, shoulder dystocia, brain damage, and disfigurement.
Birth Injury: Cerebral Palsy
Cerebral palsy is an umbrella condition used to describe a group of conditions affecting the coordination of muscles and bodily movement and posture. Cerebral palsy is often caused by brain injury during development. This injury affects a very specific part of the brain and can be occur while the mother is pregnant with the child, at the birth and delivery of the child, or while the child is still an infant. Signs of cerebral palsy typically occur in the first two years of the child’s life and though the condition is treatable with continuous therapy, it is not curable.
There are four major types of cerebral palsy:
- Spastic cerebral palsy, characterized by stiff, spasm-like movement.
- Ataxic cerebral palsy, characterized by a lack of depth perception and lack of balance.
- Dyskinetic cerebral palsy, characterized by a lack of control of bodily movements.
- Mixed cerebral palsy, characterized by stiff, involuntary movements.
These types of cerebral palsy directly correlated with the specific region of the brain injured during development. This particular injury may have been due to a number of factors, but in many cases, this type of injury is sustained during the birth and delivery of the child. A comprehensive review of the pregnancy, labor, delivery, and birth is necessary to determine whether your child’s cerebral palsy was preventable - and whether the onset of cerebral palsy was due to the mistake or negligence of a doctor, nurse, or other medical professional. A cerebral palsy diagnosis requires a lifetime of therapy, treatments, and accommodations for your child and your family. If your child’s cerebral palsy was preventable, your child and your family deserve compensation for such a grievous, life-altering medical error. Call Grossman Law Offices at 1-855-326-0000 (toll free) for a private and personal consultation with our cerebral palsy attorneys and our cerebral palsy medical experts. We have more than twenty years of experience working with medical malpractice and birth injury claims and treat our clients with the empathy and compassion they deserve. Contact us today.
Birth Injury: Erb’s Palsy, Shoulder Dystocia & Brachial Plexus Injuries
Erb’s Palsy, also known as brachial palsy, is a specific injury of the nerve bundle known as the brachial plexus. When this nerve bundle is injured during the child’s development, the resulting injury is characterized by a loss of movement in an arm and shoulder where the nerve bundle is located. Newborns are still in a development stage and nerves which run through adult bodies are still clustered and haven’t fully spread. Injuries to these bundled nerves can become quickly severe with life-long consequences. With Erb’s Palsy, damage to the brachial plexus nerve bundle means that these nerves will not properly spread to the muscles in the shoulder and arm. Without these nerves, the muscles are not stimulated to move by the brain and the arm and shoulder will not move or will be very weak in any movement, depending on the severity of injury to the brachial plexus.
Erb’s Palsy is often caused by injuries sustained during birth and delivery of the child. In a difficult delivery, the baby’s shoulder may become lodged in the birth canal and cause the baby distress - this is known as shoulder dystocia. An inexperienced, tired, or otherwise negligent doctor may pull or push too hard while the baby is in the birth canal, dislocating the baby’s shoulder in order to get the child through the birth canal, damaging the nerve bundle. Alternatively, in a C-section, the use of forceps or other tools may be necessary to extract the baby, especially if the umbilical cord is tangled. The use of these tools, combined with unnecessary roughness, may cause injury to the nerve bundles in the shoulder.
Depending on the severity of the brachial injury, nerves may be overstretched and heal on their own, provided a doctor gives the proper treatment, torn and repaired via specialized surgery, or irreparably severed. Symptoms of Erb’s Palsy and brachial plexus injuries should be noticed by medical personnel immediately after birth and include lack of spontaneous movement of the arm or shoulder, decreased grip on the affected side, and the holding of the arm next to the body, flexed at a ninety degree angle.
Often, brachial plexus injuries are fully preventable. In cases of Erb’s Palsy, the effects are lifelong and require extensive therapy and adaptive technologies; other less severe conditions may take time and multiple surgeries and medical interventions to restore the nerves to their proper working condition.
Birth Injury: Brain Injuries
Brain injuries often occur during the birth and delivery process. Bruising and swelling of the scalp and forehead is a common minor injury, the result of passing through a tight birth canal. However, other brain injuries may be due to the overzealous use of forceps and include skull fractures, hypoxia (lack of oxygen in the blood), and hemorrhages in the brain. Though these injuries may not necessarily indicate medical negligence, improper diagnosis or treatment of these injuries can have lifelong effects on the child and may be a form of birth injury medical malpractice. In these situations, specialists will be required to properly diagnose any abnormal neurological conditions and particular treatments must be administered to avoid long-term effects of any injury or nerve damage. One of the most obvious symptoms of brain injury: asymmetrical body movement. Mothers often notice that one side of the face or one side of the body doesn’t match the movements of the other side. One side is more sluggish, slower to respond, or simply doesn’t respond at all. These signs point to a possible brain injury - and a correct and timely diagnosis are important while the child is still developing.
If your child exhibits any or all of these types of injuries, or you suspect your child may have several characteristics of these conditions, contact our medical legal team immediately. Grossman Law Offices retains medical experts to determine whether a doctor, nurse, or medical professional was a fault for these injuries and resulting conditions.
Birth Injury Options
Answers are important when dealing with injuries to your child. Who was responsible, why it happened, how the family will pay for the resulting medical and physical therapy bills, what cures and treatments are available for the child, how the child will live in the future - the questions add up quickly and none of them have easy answers.
Except one: retaining an attorney to investigate your case, to fight for your child and your family’s future, and to ensure your legal rights are protected. An experienced Dallas birth injury attorney in Dallas can get you the answers you and your family need - and help you get the compensation for medical bills, physical therapy bills, adaptive technology bills (such as special cars, alterations to your house, personal movement chairs and beds, among hundreds of thousands of dollars necessary to adequately care for your child) as well as receive compensation for the emotional turmoil this careless medical mistake has put on your family.
The Dallas birth injury attorneys of Grossman Law Offices have seen cases where the affected family did not want to sue or litigate against their doctor. Not wanting to litigate their claim did not mean that they didn’t seek compensation - they preferred a mediated settlement and apologies with the parties responsible for the birth injuries and cerebral palsy. We at Grossman Law Offices pride ourselves on providing a variety of options for you and your family to seek compensation without the litigation fights. In many cases, the doctor responsible was a family friend or the family was part of a small community where the family wasn’t comfortable pursuing a lawsuit - but still needed answers and some level of compensation for their child’s injuries and resulting long-term care.
Birth Injury Cases
The legal complexities of a birth injury case require a highly experienced and knowledgeable birth injury attorney, a medical malpractice lawyer, birth injury medical experts, and a full support team designed with one goal in mind: to provide your family with answers and compensation for the injuries and harms you and your child endure each day.
Birth injury legal cases are particularly complex due to the legal thresholds that must be met in order for a case to move forward. Birth injury cases are a form a medical malpractice - this means that the standard to determine whether a doctor was negligent is to look and ask other doctors whether this particular doctor’s actions were in accordance with all medical professional standards. As you can imagine, this can be tough to prove; the medical community is reluctant to open themselves up to any liability and often hide behind the guise of scientific research to prove that there is no definitive answer to prove a doctor’s act caused the particular injury and harm to the child AND that the injury or harm may have occurred despite any action (or inaction) of the doctor. Even if a particular condition or injury has been proved to cause a particular harm, medical literature is very careful not to assign any shred of liability on the part of the doctor.
It can also be tough to prove what actually happened during the pregnancy, labor, birth, and post-delivery of the child without the help of medical experts to interpret medical records of the mother and child as well as any notes made by assisting medical staff or delivery team. The extent of injury and resulting harms may only be partially known, and as the clock ticks, evidence is lost, destroyed or made unavailable.
And as soon as questions are asked regarding the pregnancy, birth, and delivery of the affected child, doctors, nurses, and hospitals alert their malpractice insurance companies to a possible future lawsuit. The insurance company then jumps into action, reviewing each tiny detail of the potential case, and collects as much evidence as possible to show that this injury and resulting condition were not the doctor’s fault, nor the nurse’s fault, nor the hospital’s fault. Insurance companies take in millions of dollars each year to protect doctors from their errors, mistakes, negligence, and recklessness. Then turn it around and use that money against you, preventing the necessary compensation for medical bills, special adaptive equipment, physical therapy, and the basic needs for your child.
Additionally, there’s the notion of tort reform. Many states have enacted tort reform measures designed to make medical malpractice cases harder to prove - and limit recovery amounts. Even if a doctor or nurse has been found negligent by a jury, the liable party will only have to pay for the special damages the birth injury attorney can prove; this includes medical bills, lost wages, lost earning capacity, and future care bills. General damages for pain and suffering, disfigurement, and emotional turmoil are often caped at a fairly low amount. This means no matter what a jury believes you, your child, and your family deserve for pain and suffering after hearing all the evidence in your case - which can range in the millions of dollars - is automatically reduced to be in accordance with state statute. In Texas, and many other states, this cap is at $250,000. What this ultimately means for you: you must have an attorney who can prove special damages - which requires a high level of legal proof and argument - to their maximum, rather than rely on a capped general damages award. By only proving the general damages (which is, frankly, a bit easier to prove which causes many lesser-experienced attorneys to take that route) you severely limit your potential recovery. Again, the right way to proceed with such a case is for the attorney to focus on the special damages as a means of bypassing a good deal of the damages cap.
Additionally, both the mother and the child may be able to bring separate but related birth injury lawsuits, depending on the extent of harm and injury suffered. Only a highly trained and very knowledgeable Dallas birth injury attorney can ensure these simultaneous suits are filed properly, articulating all the facts, proof, and necessary legal arguments to ensure dual recovery for you and your child.
Contact Grossman Law Offices to learn more about your legal options and receive a free consultation with regard to the specifics of your particular case. Call us today: 1-855-326-0000 (toll free).
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