Injuries to a baby can occur at any stage during pregnancy, during labor and delivery or just after birth. While some of these injuries cannot be prevented, many others are attributable to avoidable medical errors.  There errors can cause devastating injuries to a child and include cerebral palsy, brachial plexus injuries such as Erb's palsy, intra-abdominal injuries and musculoskeletal injuries.  These tragic preventable errors are devastating to families and result in the need for enormous resources for the life time of round the clock care these babies need.

Complex medical and legal issues are involved in birth injury cases.  Our attorneys are equipped with the experience, expertise and resources necessary to successfully handle these cases and achieve outstanding results for families and their injured children.

One example of a recent case involved ac birth injury at a local hospital where the child suffered severe brain damage and cerebral palsy because of the careless acts of the doctors and nurses. The $4.1 million dollar settlement allowed the family to care for their child at home with a special bed and various visiting health care providers.  This was critical for this family since they had many other children and both parents worked round the clock to meet the needs of the family before this tragic outcome.  The case resulted in the hospital changing safety rules regarding lab reporting and also requiring the doctors who take care of premature babies to have more training.

We recognize that families having children with developmental and physical disabilities are faced with extraordinary and unique challenges every day.  In addition to investigating and pursuing birth injury cases, our attorneys can assist families in formulating care plans for the children and provide useful information regarding resources and professional services.

The following are examples of avoidable medical errors that can cause birth injuries:

• Failure to properly monitor a pregnancy, including monitoring the health of the woman and the fetus
• Failure to order proper care for a woman with a high-risk pregnancy
• Failure to order, read or analyze prenatal tests
• Failure to diagnose and/or treat premature rupture of the membranes
• Failure to monitor and prepare to treat birth complications with a larger baby
• Failure to anticipate and treat complications in the mother
• Failure to respond appropriately to bleeding
• Failure to treat umbilical cord entrapment
• Failure to monitor and treat fetal distress
• Failure to order or delaying order of cesarean (c-section)
• Misuse of Pitocin, a synthetic hormone used to induce or speed up labor
• Permitting prolonged delay between rupture of membranes and delivery
• Failure to properly guard against, identify or treat infection
• Failure to stop preterm labor with labor-arresting medications
• Failure to note and treat signs of oxygen deprivation in the fetus
• Ineffective and improper resuscitation of a newborn

If a child in your family has suffered a birth injury please contact us.  We will promptly evaluate your child's condition and thoroughly investigate whether the injury was caused by an avoidable medical error at no cost to you. You can email us or call us at 202-463-3030.