Was My Child’s Birth Injury Preventable?
A birth injury can drastically affect a baby’s life and cause immense heartache for the family. Although some birth injuries cannot be avoided, there are circumstances in which the negligence of a medical professional can lead to preventable injuries.
At Zucker & Regev, P.C., our birth injury attorneys work tirelessly to help families secure fair compensation for their child’s injuries while also holding liable medical professionals responsible for their negligence.
If you are asking yourself “was my child’s birth injury preventable?,” contact our Brooklyn, NY, attorneys to discuss your case.
About Birth Injury
A birth injury, sometimes called a birth trauma, is an injury that a baby sustains while being born.
Birth injuries may be mild and resolve shortly after birth while others can be more severe and cause permanent, lifelong problems.
Birth injuries can happen due to the size or position of the baby or as a result of the negligence of medical professionals.
Types of Preventable Birth Injuries
In most cases, Brooklyn medical professionals do everything they can to safely deliver a baby but sometimes a doctor, nurse, or other medical professional may fail to uphold a proper standard of care. When such carelessness and negligence occurs, it can cause birth injuries that would have been prevented if standards were upheld.
While not all birth injuries are preventable, if your child experienced any of the following injuries, their injury may have been prevented.
- Brachial Palsy: Brachial palsy, also called Erb’s palsy, is a common type of birth injury that affects the nerves of the arms and hands and causes the baby to be unable to flex or rotate the arm. Brachial palsy can happen when difficulties delivering the baby’s shoulder arise or when a doctor pulls too hard on the baby during delivery. If the nerves are torn, it can result in permanent damage.
- Facial Paralysis: Too much pressure on the baby’s face during labor and delivery can injure the facial nerve and cause paralysis to the affected side of the face. Failure to properly monitor the baby is one of the possible causes of this preventable injury.
- Cerebral Palsy: Cerebral palsy is a life-long condition affecting the ability to control the muscles and is caused by abnormal development of the brain or damage to the brain during infancy. While cerebral palsy is usually congenital, in some cases it may be caused by birth complications in which oxygen supply to the brain is disrupted. A doctor’s failure to act when such complications are present may cause a preventable case of cerebral palsy.
- Fractures: Some babies may experience a fracture of the clavicle or collarbone during delivery. Fractures generally occur when there is difficulty delivering the shoulder or in babies in a breech position. Fractured clavicles are not always preventable but can occur if the baby is pulled too hard during delivery.
Speak with a Birth Injury Attorney
Birth injuries can cause lifelong problems. When birth injuries could have been prevented, it’s essential to hold medical professionals responsible so that other children and their families can be spared the same pain and suffering.
Determining whether a birth injury could have been prevented can be complicated and difficult without legal help. If your child was injured during birth, it’s important to speak with an attorney to determine if the injury was caused by a medical professional’s negligence and could have been prevented.
Contact the Law Office of Zucker & Regev
For help determining whether your child’s birth injury was preventable and to discuss your legal options, call our Brooklyn law firm at (718) 624-1211 to schedule a consultation.
