Many women trust their doctors to provide good, competent care when they go into labor and deliver. However, not all deliveries go as planned. Sometimes doctors and other healthcare providers make mistakes, and these mistakes can have huge consequences. If your baby suffers harm as a result of labor complications or delivery trauma, the knowledgeable Syracuse birth injury attorneys of DeFrancisco & Falgiatano are available to evaluate your case and answer your questions.
Labor Complications and Delivery TraumaLabor complications and delivery trauma can result in fractures, cuts, and other injuries to a newborn during delivery or labor. Sometimes these complications are the result of babies being particularly large, especially in relation to the mother's pelvis. When a larger baby is being delivered, doctors may need to use forceps or vacuums to pull the baby through the birth canal. A baby can be injured when a doctor applies too much force or misuses the forceps or vacuum. Other potential trauma may occur in connection with prolonged labor, abnormal fetal position, or difficult labor. Sometimes a failure to properly monitor the laboring mother can result in unexpected and lifelong consequences for a baby.
Not only obstetricians, but also other medical personnel may be liable for failure to address labor complications and delivery trauma. Some mothers deliver babies under the care of certified midwives, nurse practitioners, or physician's assistants. Each of these healthcare providers is required to abide by a professional standard of care when managing the health of a mother and baby during labor and delivery.
Complications and InjuriesThere are many different potential causes and complications of delivery trauma. In some situations, labor is induced with misoprostol against the guidelines of the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Women who have had a prior C-section are not supposed to have labor induced this way because there is a risk they will suffer uterine rupture. Sometimes a medical care provider doesn't recognize signs on fetal monitoring strips and as a result the baby is deprived of oxygen. This deprivation can result in brain damage. Other complications can result in Erb's palsy, cerebral palsy, hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy, and more.
Liability for Labor Complications and Delivery TraumaA health care provider may be liable for injuries arising out of labor complications and delivery trauma. To prove liability, you'll need to establish by a preponderance of evidence: (1) the health care provider owed you a professional standard of care, (2) the provider's actions or omissions fell below the professional standard of care, (3) causation, and (4) actual damages.
There are many ways in which a doctor's actions may fall below the professional standard of care during labor or delivery, and an experienced birth injury lawyer can help you enlist an expert to determine if this has occurred in your case. For example, a health care provider could be liable for failure to ensure that a baby is not born in a breech presentation. Babies born in a breech presentation may face serious birth injuries such as brachial plexus or Erb's palsy. A doctor will usually try to ensure that a baby is not born in this way by trying to reposition the baby. However, sometimes repositioning can cause skeletal injuries, and if a baby stays too long in the birth canal because of a breech birth there can be brain damage triggered by the loss of oxygen. Sometimes this can manifest in the form of developmental injuries.
DamagesCompensatory damages may be recoverable if you can establish liability for labor complications and delivery trauma. Compensatory damages are meant to put you back in the position you would have been in had the birth injuries not occurred. Of course, nothing really makes up for preventable damage to your baby. However, most babies with serious birth injuries will need expensive care including rehabilitation, therapy, and medical care. You may be able to recover damages for medical expenses, rehabilitation, therapy, pain and suffering, in-home care, special education, and pain and suffering. A parent who needs to work less in order to provide the special care that many infants with birth injuries need may be able to recover lost wages.
Skilled Birth Injury Attorneys Assisting Families in SyracuseIf your baby was injured due to labor complications and delivery trauma caused by medical malpractice, it may be possible to sue for damages. The lawyers at DeFrancisco & Falgiatano represent injured babies and their families in Syracuse, Rochester, Lyons, Ithaca, Cooperstown, Canandaigua, Wampsville, Utica, Oswego, Watertown, Lowville, Oneida, Cortland, Delhi, Herkimer, Norwich, Oswego, Cooperstown, Ithaca, Binghamton, Auburn, and Elmira. Please call us at 833-200-2000 or contact us via our online form.