What is supposed to be one of the most joyous times of your family’s life can turn tragic through the negligence or inattentiveness of your medical team.
Some birth injuries and defects are congenital and unavoidable. Others, however, are carelessly inflicted by medical personnel who use too much force to assist in delivery, miss crucial vital warning signs, or fail to interpret blood work and other tests correctly.
Unfortunately for you and other parents whose child was born with a birth injury or defect, determining what caused your newborn’s harm may not be easy. This uncertainty can cause you to delay seeking legal redress for your losses and your child’s injuries.
A birth injury lawyer can help you uncover what led to your infant’s birth injury and take action to hold negligent medical personnel accountable.
Types of Conditions Indicative of Medical Negligence
Specific birth injuries suggest negligence played a role during your child’s delivery. Therefore, it’s worth speaking with a California birth injury lawyer for help in investigating further if your newborn is diagnosed with any of the following conditions:
- Brain bleed or other brain injuries
- Cephalohematoma
- Erb’s palsy or cerebral palsy
- Bone fractures
- Brachial palsy
- Facial paralysis
- Careless or reckless acts can cause these conditions during delivery or negligent medical care before or during delivery. This list is not exhaustive, though, so if your child is diagnosed with another birth injury apart from these, you should still speak to a birth injury lawyer.
Proving a Birth Injury Claim with Legal Counsel
The careless actions of a doctor or nurse can lead to your child’s birth injuries. Examples of these actions can include:
- Failing to provide adequate prenatal care
- Not interpreting lab results or the results of other medical tests correctly
- Missing signs during delivery that the child is in medical distress
- Waiting too long to intervene medically, such as delaying performing a C-section
- Applying too much force to assist during delivery
Even where there is a strong suggestion that medical neglect or negligence led to your child’s injuries, this does not necessarily mean you are guaranteed compensation.
You may need to prove your claim, which requires evidence showing negligent care is more likely than not the cause of your newborn’s harm.
If you fail to meet this burden, your compensation claim may be denied, and you may not be able to receive compensation.
Your birth injury lawyer can be beneficial in identifying, securing, and presenting sufficient evidence and witness testimony. A wide variety of documents, media, and witnesses can all help paint a complete picture of what happened that led to your child’s injuries.
Some of the evidence and witness testimony your birth injury lawyer can assist you with includes the following:
Your Medical Records
Your medical history and records are vital to proving a birth injury claim. Your prenatal records will indicate the number of times you visited your doctor, any medications or courses of treatment you were prescribed, and any concerns you raised with your doctor.
These prenatal records will also show what tests your doctor conducted, which may or may not have been adequate or appropriate for your situation. Your records from before your pregnancy can also be relevant, especially if you had no major health concerns prior to becoming pregnant.
This absence of health conditions that could elevate your pregnancy risk or contribute to birth defects can be powerful evidence suggesting that medical negligence was to blame for your child’s injuries.
Testimony from Your Medical Team
Your doctor, nursing staff, and others in the delivery room can all be questioned about their observations and recollections about your delivery. If they also participated in your prenatal care, they can either confirm or deny that your records are accurate.
Discrepancies between what your records show and what your medical providers remember can indicate inattentiveness or even an attempt to obscure the truth about what happened in the delivery room.
Speak to our Experienced Birth Injury Lawyer Today
There is considerable benefit to consulting The Trial Law Offices of Bradley I. Kramer, M.D., Esq. following a diagnosis that you or your child suffered a birth injury.
Our attorney’s unique perspective as both a medical doctor and a lawyer means that our team can interpret your medical records easily and provide insight into your doctor’s actions and decisions.
If your delivery team fails to provide adequate care, we can help you hold them accountable for the harm their negligence caused. Contact our office today to get started with your birth injury claim.