Long Island Birth Injury Lawyers

Birth Injury Attorneys on Long Island

There are a wide variety of ways in which the careless actions, poor decisions or negligence of medical professionals can cause harm to a mother and baby prior to, during, and just after childbirth. If a serious birth injury or death should have been foreseeable and preventable, you may have grounds for a birth injury medical malpractice lawsuit.

If you’re looking for an experienced and compassionate medical malpractice and birth injury lawyer, the Long Island office of Parker Waichman LLP can help. When you contact us for a free case evaluation, our firm will investigate whether the negligence or medical mistakes of the obstetrician, midwife, nurses or other professionals attending the birth harmed you or your baby. We have decades of experience and the resources to pursue the compensation you and your baby need to deal with the challenges you are facing.

Common Birth Injuries

A birth injury or trauma is physical damage to the baby’s body that occurs during delivery, at birth or soon after birth. Birth injuries may also include injury to the mother. An experienced Long Island birth injury lawyer will be equipped to handle cases involving birth injuries that include:

• Cerebral palsy, which is a group of disorders that impacts an individual’s ability to move and maintain balance and posture. This is the most common motor disability among children. A lack of oxygen during birth, head trauma during birth or an infection soon after birth may cause cerebral palsy.
• A brachial plexus injury, also known as Erb’s palsy or Klumpke’s palsy, which is a loss of function in the shoulders, arms, hands, and fingers caused by trauma to a group of nerves in the shoulder. This trauma occurs during delivery.
• Profound brain injury, which can occur if the brain does not receive sufficient oxygen during birth. The more intense the oxygen deprivation, the more severe the damage to the baby’s brain.
• Compromised function of the lungs, vision, hearing or other organs
• Stillbirth or neonatal death

Events Leading to Birth Injuries

Birth injuries may occur when a baby assumes an unnatural position prior to birth and the doctor or midwife applies excessive force when using forceps, a vacuum extractor or other medical instruments to deliver the baby. These behaviors may lead to head injury, shoulder injury (brachial plexus injury), broken bones, bruising or lacerations.

Oxygen deprivation may result in brain damage or cerebral palsy and may be caused by twisting or compression that blocks the umbilical cord, the umbilical cord wrapping around the baby’s neck, a failure to recognize that the infant is in distress and failing to perform an immediate cesarean section, or leaving the baby in the birth canal for too long.

The baby’s oxygen level must be constantly monitored during labor and delivery. Failure to recognize when the baby’s oxygen level is low and take immediate and appropriate action may be grounds for a birth injury medical malpractice claim.

Birth injuries typically occur when medical professionals fail to foresee dangers, fail to follow accepted medical practices, panic in emergency situations or fail to adequately monitor their patients. Some of the most common examples of birth-related malpractice include:

• Failure to diagnose and appropriately respond to fetal distress, which is caused by a lack of oxygen getting to the baby in the womb. When a baby fails to receive sufficient oxygen, the baby’s heart rate will abnormally fluctuate. The baby’s abnormal heart rate patterns should be seen on the fetal heart rate monitor. If the heart rate does not return to normal within a short time, the baby enters fetal distress. Babies in fetal distress must be delivered as quickly as possible.  If not, they may develop brain damage, which may lead to permanently disabling conditions, such as cerebral palsy.
• Failure to respond appropriately to maternal bleeding. Vaginal bleeding should not occur during labor and delivery. If the mother starts bleeding vaginally during labor or delivery, that should be taken as a sign that there is a problem with the placenta or uterus. Placental abruption and uterine rupture are both medical emergencies that call for immediate delivery of the baby. Unnecessary delays may lead to problems, including the mother hemorrhaging.
• A delay in ordering or performing a C-section, especially if there is vaginal bleeding, fetal distress, umbilical cord prolapse (the umbilical cord appears in the birth canal before the fetus), or umbilical cord entrapment (the umbilical cord wraps around the fetus’s neck), which may lead to the baby suffering from brain damage (often resulting in cerebral palsy) or death.
• The incorrect use of forceps or a vacuum extractor. If too much force is applied to forceps or a vacuum extractor, serious brain trauma to the baby, including intracranial bleeding, may occur. These brain injuries may lead to the development of permanent harm such as cerebral palsy.
• The use of too much Pitocin. Pitocin is the brand name for synthetic oxytocin, which is a naturally occurring hormone involved in the labor process. Pitocin is used to induce labor and speed delivery; however, too much Pitocin may cause serious maternal and fetal injury, including uterine rupture, fetal asphyxia, fetal distress or fetal heart rate irregularities.

If you or someone you know is interested in filing a medical malpractice lawsuit, contact a Parker Waichman LLP birth injury lawyer on Long Island today. Call 800-968-7529 for a free consultation with no obligation.