What Type of Cases Can a Birth Injury Attorney Handle?

If your child was injured during birth, you should look for a Pennsylvania medical malpractice attorney who has specific experience trying birth injury cases. That experienced birth injury attorney can help you with myriad birth injury issues, including: 

Brain Injury

The brain is one of the most delicate organs during childbirth. It is also the most important organ in a person’s body because it controls the bodily functions as well as the cognitive processing. Thus, birth injuries resulting in brain damage can be the most devastating of any birth injury. There are a variety of brain injuries including hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy (HIE or, also, perinatal asphyxia), brain bleeds (hemorrhages or hematomas), periventricular leukomalacia (PVL), kernicterus, cerebral palsy, caput succedaneum, and hydrocephalus. Many of these are caused by hypoxia or a lack of oxygen in the blood. Your medical malpractice lawyer in Philadelphia will investigate the circumstances of your child’s birth and analyze the various actions and omissions of health care professionals. That analysis will be the basis of a possible lawsuit against those healthcare professionals.   

“Baby Born Blue”

Sometimes after birth, a baby will appear to be blue in color. This blue skin tone is due to a lack of sufficient oxygen to support healthy red blood cells. (Blood cells are only red when they have enough oxygen.) It’s actually common for a baby to appear blue immediately after birth and then to take a breath, which makes the blue tone disappear. If the appearance of blue skin remains for several minutes after the birth, this could be indicative of a more serious medical problem.

A baby could be born blue because of issues during the labor and delivery – perhaps the mother had high blood pressure that wasn’t properly managed by her health care team. Or maybe low blood sugar affected the baby. During labor, a mother may be given narcotics to manage the discomfort and pain. Those drugs, if not prescribed or given appropriately, could negatively affect the baby’s ability to breathe or the regularity of the baby’s heart rate. 

Your Philadelphia medical malpractice attorney can help determine whether a doctor’s or other professional’s mistake caused your baby to suffer from a dangerous lack of oxygen.

Erb’s Palsy and Brachial Plexus 

The brachial plexus is a series of nerves near the neck that provide movement and feeling to the shoulder, arm, and hand. Erb’s palsy describes the weakness and loss of motion in these body parts. Erb’s palsy is the most common type of brachial plexus palsy. This physical injury can result from difficult deliveries, such as with a large baby or where the baby was in breech position. The injury can also result from a prolonged or delayed labor — or when the person assisting the delivery exerted excessive force in pulling the baby from the birth canal.

The above are examples of common birth injuries that require the assistance of an experienced medical malpractice lawyer in Philadelphia. If you believe your child suffered a birth injury, you may have a viable birth injury lawsuit. You should not hesitate to contact the attorneys at VSCP LAW (vscplaw.com) for a thorough evaluation of your claim.