Birth Injury Lawyers
If your baby has been diagnosed with any type of mental disorder, delayed or impaired motor skills or Cerebral Palsy it could very well be the result of medical malpractice or doctor negligence during delivery or following delivery. Most injuries sustained at birth, or during the process of giving birth can result in significant medical, emotional and financial challenges over the course of a lifetime. If your child was injured when he or she was born it needs to be determined who is at fault such as the obstetrician, nurse, physician assistant, pediatrician or other healthcare provider. Our skilled birth injury lawyers can help you.
If your child sustained a birth injury it is in your best interest to consult with a personal injury attorney handling birth injury claims. The birth injury lawyers on our team are experienced trial attorneys with many years experience litigating all types of personal injury cases birth injury cases, medical malpractice claims and accidental death cases throughout all of the United States. Offering free consults and no fees unless they win for you.
Birth Injury Statistics
We live in a time when parents are allowed to be caretakers for their own disabled children, but we also live in a medical age when we are constantly working to learn about medical conditions. As it turns out, several disabilities are the result of birth injuries, instances of medical malpractice during birth that transform a normal child to a disabled child only from one mistake. With this knowledge comes responsibility, and parents are more now than ever expected to become advocates for their children, knowing what to look out for so that some birth injuries can be prevented.
General Birth Injury Data
According to www.birthinjuryguide.org one of every 1,000 infants born in the United States, 6 to 8 of them are born with a birth injury. That means that approximately 1 in every 9,714 people in the U.S. are born with a birth injury.
Based on this information, 28,000 per year are born with a birth injury, which is 2,333 per month, 538 per week, 76 per day, and 3 per hour. The 10 most common birth injuries include: Brachial Plexus Palsy (Erb’s Palsy), bone fractures, cephalohematoma, caput succedaneum, perinatal asphyxia, intracranial hemorrhage, subconjunctival hemorrhage, facial paralysis; spinal cord injuries; and cerebral palsy.
According to the National Healthcare Quality Report (AHRQ), around 6.68 of every 1,000 birth injuries in the year 2000, in the United States, occurred to male infants, whereas 5.08 of every 1,000 birth injuries happened to female infants. In the same year, 4.33 out of every 1,000 birth traumas occurred in for-profit, private hospitals and 7.15 out of every 1,000 birth traumas occurred at private, non-profit hospitals.
In addition, AHRQ states that 6.11 out over 1,000 birth injuries happened in public hospitals, 5.53 out of every 1,000 birth injuries happened at hospitals with 100 beds or less, and 5.45 birth injuries occurred at hospitals with 100 to 200 beds.
Data Involving Mothers
Birth injuries are highest for mothers with birthing tool-assisted deliveries from ages 25-34, and lowest in mothers who range from 40-54. However, the birth injuries for mothers delivering non-instrument assisted vaginal births is only high for ages 25-29.
In fact, from 2000-2006, injury rate for mothers in non-instrument-assisted vaginal births is 30% less than the injury rate for mothers in instrument-assisted vaginal births. Injury rates of trauma occurring during cesarean section increased with the mother’s age, though a cesarean section is generally accepted as the safest form of delivery. Mothers with Medicaid or uninsured patients were less likely to experience birth injuries than mothers with private insurance.
Races and Regions
Black and Hispanics experience lower rates of birth injuries when compared to Whites and Asian-Pacific Islanders. Rural birth injuries are 33% more prevalent than urban birth injuries, however the Northeast United States has 24-32% more birth injuries than the West, South, and Midwest, including both birth injuries to newborns and instrument-assisted trauma to mothers.
The Bottom Line
In 2006, nearly 157,700 injuries to mothers and newborns could have potentially been avoided. Close to 50% of all birth injuries are potentially avoidable by identification and planning for obstetrical risk factors
Birth Injury Types
Cerebral Palsy
Cranial Nerve Trauma
Erb’s Palsy
Fractures
Infant Brain Damage
Infant Wrongful Death
Intracranial Hemorrhage
Meningitis
Paralysis
Nerve Injuries
Shoulder Dystocia
Spinal Cord Trauma
No matter what type of birth injury your baby suffered please contact our team of child injury lawyers for a free initial consultation. They will get you, your baby and your family the benefits and compensation they deserve.
Causes Of Birth Injuries
Many types of injuries induced during child birth can be prevented. As an example, Cerebral Palsy is a very common type of birth injury. It occurs due to a lack of sufficient oxygen to the fetus during labor. This lack of oxygen starts out as perinatal asphyxia. The prolonged lack of oxygen ultimately causes permanent brain tissue damage. The obstetrician team should be able to prevent this lack of oxygen by monitoring variations in the heart rate of the fetus during birth. Other types of birth injuries, such as fractures, paralysis and nerve trauma can be the end result of the doctor or healthcare practitioner being too rough during the birthing process. Some birth injuries, such as Shoulder Dystocia, are a result of the fetus being too large or awkwardly positioned in the uterus.
Let A Delaware Child Injury Attorney Help You
Where and how birth injury occurred dictates who is responsible or accountable for your injuries. Sometimes an insurance company is responsible as in an injury by an individual doctor in private practice. other times third party or corporate entities such as hospitals or health care organizations are responsible. Regardless, our Los Angeles, California birth injury lawyers can help you to acquire the full amount of financial compensation for your injuries based on pain and suffering, current medical expenses, future medical costs and rehabilitation.
Contact Our Pittsburgh Pennsylvania Birth Injury Lawyers
If your child has been injured due to the negligence or carelessness or a doctor, nurse, hospital, obstetrician team or physician assistant please call our Houston, Texas birth injury lawyers for a free consultation. They charge no fee if they do not win for you.
No matter what state your child was injured in our team of birth injury lawyers can help as they serve all 50 states, Puerto Rico and Washington D.C. including: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Washington D.C., West Virginia, Wyoming and Wisconsin.