Cleveland Birth Injury Attorneys

What Is the Difference Between Birth Injuries and Birth Defects?

One of the first things to understand about birth injuries is that they are considerably different from birth defects. Birth defects are health complications that develop before birth.

Birth defects are congenital and have biological causes, such as genetic abnormalities or problems with the mother’s health during pregnancy. A birth defect is a health problem that stems from who the baby is, biologically speaking.

Birth injuries are health problems created before, during, or shortly after birth. Birth injuries aren’t the result of babies’ biology but rather something that happened to the baby during gestation, labor, delivery, or shortly after delivery.

If you are unsure if your child’s birth injury or defect was caused by a negligent doctor, a birth injury lawyer can analyze your case and help you figure out a plan of action.

What Are Common Causes Of Preventable Birth Injuries?

Some factors that contribute to a birth injury can be prevented by a physician or caregiver. If a physician or caregiver errs or fails to protect the patient's safety, or the hospital fails to ensure that the conditions in which care was provided were safe, a birth injury may result.

Generally speaking, preventable birth injuries most often occur when caregivers and physicians fail to provide necessary prenatal care during pregnancy, make mistakes during labor or delivery, or fail to recognize and respond to complications immediately following birth.

Common mistakes or failures leading to birth injury include:

• Delayed cesarean section: If a healthcare provider fails to timely perform a cesarean section when it's medically necessary, it can result in harm to the baby or mother, such as oxygen deprivation leading to brain damage or injuries from prolonged labor.
• Use of excessive force/delivery trauma: Improper use of forceps, vacuum extractors, or excessive manual manipulation during delivery can cause trauma to the baby, leading to injuries like bruising, fractures, or nerve damage.
• Failure to recognize and treat infections: Failure to diagnose and treat maternal infections during pregnancy or childbirth can result in serious complications for both the mother and the baby, including sepsis or birth defects. 
• Unsafe medications or medication errors: Administering unsafe medications during pregnancy or childbirth, or making errors in dosage or administration, can lead to adverse effects on the baby or mother, such as birth defects, respiratory distress, or maternal hemorrhage. 
• Improper delivery technique: Incorrect delivery techniques, such as improper positioning of the baby or incorrect use of delivery instruments, can result in birth injuries such as shoulder dystocia, brachial plexus injuries, or skull fractures. 
• Failure to prevent, diagnose or treat: Neglecting to identify or adequately manage complications during pregnancy, labor, or delivery can lead to birth injuries such as fetal distress, placental abruption, or umbilical cord complications. 
• Improper high-risk birth management: In cases where the pregnancy is high-risk due to factors like maternal health conditions or fetal abnormalities, failure to appropriately manage the risks and provide specialized care can result in birth injuries. 
• Negligent postpartum care: Inadequate monitoring and care following childbirth can lead to complications such as postpartum hemorrhage, infections, or failure to identify and address newborn health issues.
• Unnecessary treatments or risky medical tests: Subjecting the mother or baby to unnecessary medical interventions or tests can increase the risk of complications or injuries without providing significant benefit.
• Malfunctioning medical devices: The use of defective or malfunctioning medical devices during childbirth, such as fetal monitors or infusion pumps, can lead to adverse outcomes for the mother or baby.
• Failure to properly monitor a patient: Inadequate fetal monitoring during labor or failure to monitor the mother's vital signs can result in delayed intervention or failure to recognize signs of distress, leading to birth injuries.
• Failure to take necessary precautions: Not following established protocols or guidelines for safe childbirth practices can increase the risk of preventable complications and injuries.
• Failure to provide proper post-operative directions: Inadequate instructions or guidance following childbirth, especially after cesarean section or other surgical interventions, can lead to complications or delayed recovery.
• Poorly sanitized medical instruments: Improper sterilization or sanitation of medical instruments can increase the risk of infections for both the mother and baby during childbirth.
• Failure to supervise new staff members: Inexperienced or inadequately trained staff may make errors or miss important signs during childbirth, leading to adverse outcomes.
• Poor record-keeping and communication: Inaccurate or incomplete medical records, as well as poor communication among healthcare providers, can lead to errors in decision-making and inadequate care.
• Discharging a patient too early: Releasing the mother and baby from medical care before they are medically stable or adequately assessed can lead to complications or exacerbate existing issues.

We employ every strategy to convince the insurance company or a jury that the injury was preventable and that the family should be compensated fairly.

What About Factors That Can’t Be Controlled?

Sometimes, conditions that lead to the injury of a child or mother during gestation, labor, or delivery are beyond the control of a physician. Examples of this could be a very premature birth or precipitous labor. When these or similar conditions are present, injury to the child or mother may be unavoidable, and the physician or caregiver may not be at fault for the resulting injury.

What Injuries Are Common During Birth?

Minor Birth Injuries Are Relatively Common

Birth is a traumatic experience for mothers and babies, as it takes a physical toll on their bodies. Minor injuries to both the mother and baby occur frequently, and these injuries often heal quickly and are not cause for serious alarm. These minor injuries include:

• Minor bruising on the child’s face and head due to pressure from the mother’s contractions and travel through the birth canal.
• Temporary paralysis due to pressure damaging the baby’s facial nerves. As long as a nerve is not torn, this condition should resolve itself.
• Bleeding under the cranial bone (cephalohematoma) can cause a raised lump on the baby’s head within a few hours of birth. The baby’s body will gradually reabsorb the lump, although it may take up to three months to disappear entirely.
• Broken blood vessels in the eyes of newborns (subconjunctival hemorrhage) may cause a red ring to appear around their irises. This does not damage the eyes and usually disappears within a week.

Birth Injuries Caused by Negligence

Many different birth injuries happen because the doctor saw no other way to deliver the baby. Yet, many cases are avoidable and happen due to miscommunication between the doctor and the rest of the hospital staff regarding your medical history. In these cases and instances of medical malpractice, affected families may be entitled to compensation.

Serious birth injuries to fetuses and newborns may include:

• Cerebral palsy
• Brachial plexus injury (Erb's palsy)
• Hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE)
• Cephalohematoma
• Fetal sepsis
• Injury from vacuum extraction
• Injury from forceps delivery
• Folic acid disorders
• Mental retardation
• Developmental delays
• Wrongful death
• Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP)

Determining liability for a birth injury caused by medical malpractice or negligence can involve various parties depending on the circumstances surrounding the injury. Here are some of the parties that could potentially be held liable:

• Healthcare Providers: This includes doctors, nurses, midwives, and other medical professionals involved in the delivery process. If they fail to provide the standard level of care expected in similar situations and their actions or inactions result in harm to the baby or mother, they may be held liable.
• Hospitals or Medical Facilities: Hospitals can be held responsible for the actions of their employees under the legal doctrine of "respondeat superior," which holds an employer responsible for the actions of its employees performed within the scope of their employment.
• Pharmaceutical Companies: In some cases, birth injuries may result from medications administered during pregnancy or childbirth. If a pharmaceutical company produces a drug that causes harm due to inadequate warnings or defects, they could be held liable.
• Medical Device Manufacturers: Birth injuries can also occur due to defects in medical devices used during childbirth, such as forceps or vacuum extractors. If a defect in the design or manufacture of such devices leads to harm, the manufacturer may be held accountable.
• Other Healthcare Professionals: In addition to doctors and nurses directly involved in the delivery, other healthcare professionals such as anesthesiologists, neonatologists, or specialists may be liable if their actions or omissions contribute to the birth injury.
• Third Parties: In rare cases, third parties not directly involved in medical care may be held liable. For example, if a hospital fails to maintain its facilities properly, leading to injury, the entity responsible for maintenance could be held accountable.

What Are the Long-Term Costs of Birth Injuries?

At The Becker Law Firm, we have worked with hundreds of families whose children have been permanently disabled due to a birth injury. The futures they had envisioned for their children may no longer be possible, and they often face overwhelming costs for ongoing care.

Some of the long-term health care needs of birth-injured children include:

• Multiple surgeries
• Nursing care
• Ongoing medical care
• Medical equipment
• Medications
• Physical, occupational, speech, vocational, and psychological therapy
• Personal care attendants
• Adaptive devices such as motorized wheelchairs, braces, and/or artificial limbs
• Accessible vans and housing modifications
• Enrollment in special-needs schools
• Special tutors
• Healthcare supplies

We understand that the impact of a birth injury is both financial and emotional. We work with life care planners to calculate the future costs of caring for a child with special needs.

We seek no less than the full damages for medical care and therapy, medications, equipment, special services, and the projected earnings of the child. Our demands also include damages for the victim’s lost quality of life, pain, suffering, and the emotional suffering of the parents.

What Damages Are Common in a Birth Injury Claim?

Legal Damages Go Beyond Medical Expenses

Damages are awards of money paid as compensation for an injury or wrongful death. Damages resulting from a birth injury are assessed with present and future costs in mind and may include compensation for the existing and ongoing costs of the child's medical care, the loss of time and income of parents who must now care for the birth-injured child, and the loss of the income that child would have earned as an adult if they had not been injured at birth.

If a child dies from a birth injury, their family’s award will include funerary costs. Families with children who are permanently disabled or die due to birth injuries lose more than just time and money – they lose love and companionship from their children. Parents and siblings often experience emotional suffering from the loss of these babies or the stress of ongoing care for those who survive. Contact our firm to find out if you have a viable claim.

How Long After a Birth Can You Sue for Medical Malpractice

In Ohio, the statute of limitations for filing a medical malpractice lawsuit is generally one year from the date the injury occurred or the date when the injury was discovered or reasonably should have been discovered. Ohio law also provides certain exceptions for minors (individuals under the age of 18 at the time of the injury) in medical malpractice cases. For minors, the statute of limitations may be extended, allowing them to bring a lawsuit for medical malpractice within one year of turning 18.

It is important to keep in mind that every case is unique, and various factors can impact the time limits for filing a medical malpractice lawsuit. If you believe you have a potential injury, it is essential to consult with an experienced birth injury attorney in Cleveland who can provide personalized advice based on the specific details of your case.

Seek Justice for You & Your Family

If your baby was injured before, during, or immediately after birth and suffered a permanent disability or wrongful death as a result of errors or negligence made by caregivers, holding them accountable is more than just a right; for the sake of your child and your family, it is a necessity.

The lifetime medical costs incurred by a family from a serious birth injury can be overwhelming and must be the caregivers or institutions that caused them. Holding physicians, caregivers, and medical institutions responsible for their mistakes is about more than just compensating those who have been harmed – it’s also about preventing future mistakes. Paying out large rewards for medical malpractice provides a huge incentive for caregivers and institutions to avoid making those same mistakes. 

Caregivers, medical institutions, and insurance providers employ armies of attorneys and experts to protect themselves from these cases and claim that they were not at fault. As a result, you’ll need your team of birth injury lawyers to ensure that your family's interests aren’t just brushed aside. As your advocates, the personal injury lawyers at The Becker Law Firm will keep your family’s interests front and center and won’t settle for anything less than the full justice you deserve.

Contact The Becker Law Firm today to schedule a FREE case evaluation!