Other Birth Injuries Resulting From Medical Malpractice
Scranton. Hazleton, Easton and Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania—Birth Trauma Lawyers
Any of a number of possible birth injuries can be inflicted when medical professionals fail to live up to their responsibilities and commit medical malpractice. Birth injuries can result in serious conditions such as cerebral palsy, brachial palsy, and Erb’s palsy. They can also lead to other problems that often have lifelong consequences for the child and the child’s family. When the tragedy of a serious injury ruins the magic of childbirth for prospective parents, our Scranton, Hazleton, Easton, and Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania-area birth trauma lawyers at Foley Law Firm can help them hold negligent medical professionals responsible.
Birth Trauma Risk Factors
Though the vast majority of infants in the United States are delivered safely and in good health, certain factors elevate the risk of birth trauma injuries. Such factors include the baby’s size, the size and shape of the mother’s pelvis, and the baby’s orientation within the uterus. Premature infants are more fragile, and more susceptible to injury. Babies that are larger than normal and those born to a mother whose pelvis is narrow also face elevated risk of injury during birth.
Additionally, the child’s position in the uterus can increase the risk of birth trauma—a child delivered feet first (known as a breech birth) is more likely to be injured.
Skilled medical professionals should be able to anticipate and address most of the dangers these infants face, delivering them safely and in good health. However, for various reasons, medical negligence can occur during a birth and result in significant injury to the child. Serving the Scranton and Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania area, our birth trauma lawyers can help families achieve justice and full compensation when medical negligence leads to a serious injury.
Birth Trauma
Infants are at risk for a variety of traumatic injuries during birth. Broken bones, nerve damage, paralysis, and brain injuries are all possible, as are serious bruising, bleeding, scalp swelling from vacuum extraction, and other conditions. Parents of injured infants in Scranton, Stroudsburg, Wilkes-Barre, and surrounding areas of Pennsylvania can consult our birth trauma lawyers for clear information about their legal options after an injury.
During a difficult birth, a baby’s anterior shoulders can become stuck behind the mother’s pubic bone after the head is delivered. This is called shoulder dystocia. With due care, most dystocic babies can be delivered without injury. However, if the health care professional delivering the baby relies on force, this negligence poses serious birth trauma risks to the child, from broken bones to potential nerve damage leading to palsy.
Forcible extraction using forceps or a vacuum device sometimes causes bruising around the face or head. Vacuum extraction may also cause a condition known as caput succedaneum in which severe swelling of the scalp appears, lasting for a few days. Cephalohematoma—bleeding between the baby’s skull and its fibrous covering—is also possible, and may cause jaundice in some cases. Though these kinds of birth trauma are not permanent, they are largely preventable, and generally require additional medical care. Our birth trauma lawyers can examine the circumstances that led to you child’s injury to determine whether you are entitled to compensation.
Contact Foley Law Firm
When medical negligence or malpractice occurs, our Scranton, Stroudsburg, Easton and Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania area birth trauma lawyers pursue justice aggressively and help clients attain the compensation they deserve. If your child was injured before, during, or after birth by a medical caregiver, contact Foley Law Firm today.
