The birth of your baby was supposed to be the most joyous day of your life. Instead, it was a day filled with fear and grief over a birth injury your baby suffered. You trusted the doctor, nurses and medical team to care for you and your unborn baby and provide a healthy birth. You can’t help but shake the feeling that a mistake they made or something they missed caused your baby’s birth injury.
There are many types of birth injuries that can happen due to a doctor or medical team’s negligence or mistakes. These should not be confused with unpreventable birth defects, or a condition your baby has as a result of no one’s wrongdoing.
Labor and delivery units at hospitals are very busy places. But that’s no excuse for your medical team to overlook, forget, miss or improperly treat you or your baby. Things can go wrong during labor and delivery, and it is up to the medical team to choose the best route to minimize any harm to you or your baby.
Birth injuries can be a result of:
- The doctor’s use of an improper medical technique
- The doctor’s improper use of a medical device like forceps or vacuum, causing a lack of oxygen to your baby or severe head injuries
- A doctor delaying a c-section, or missing the fact that it’s needed when it is immediately necessary, causing other complications and birth injuries
- The medical team not noticing that your baby was not receiving enough oxygen during labor and delivery, causing birth defects like cerebral palsy
- The medical team missing the fact that your baby’s heartbeat slowed to a dangerous level, causing lifelong health complications
The anger you feel at the improper care you and your baby received can be overwhelming. No one should have to suffer and see their newborn struggle with injuries or complications caused by another person’s mistakes, some that could be lifelong conditions. Especially after you trusted those people to make sure everything went well, you feel devastated.
When doctors or medical staff deviates from the standard of care you expected and have a right to receive, causing birth injuries or defects, they can and should be held accountable for their mistakes. A medical malpractice attorney can help evaluate your case and bring some justice to your family.
