Catastrophic Birth Injury Attorney

Catastrophic Birth Injury Attorney Serving Victims Across the Country

An unexpected birth injury can have an extremely stressful and emotional impact on a family.

If you child was injured during birth you may be eligible for compensation. Our birth injury attorneys in the Austin, Texas and Atlanta, Georgia areas can review your case and fight for the justice you and your child deserve.

Common Causes of Birth Injuries?

A birth injury is an injury sustained to a baby due to complications during labor or delivery. Birth injuries may occur during or after delivery. The most common birth injuries include the following:

Brain Injury caused by lack of oxygen
Brain Injury due to improper use of pitocin
Brain Injury due to excessive “molding” of the head in delivery

Nerve Injury and Paralysis of the neck and arm
Deafness and Blindness caused by improper use of drugs

What Causes Birth Injuries?

Sometimes Cerebral Palsy occurs despite the best of care in delivery. However, if a birth injury was due to a medical or nursing error, you may be able to collect damages from the negligent party. The following are some common medical errors that may support a medical malpractice claim:

Failing to monitor the baby with the electronic fetal monitor tracing. An example of this is repetitive late decelerations of the fetal heart rate that indicate the baby is unable to recover from contractions and is losing fetal oxygen reserves.
Failing to address excessive contractions that traumatically injure the baby’s head. This happens when too much Pitocin is used to induce or augment labor.
Improper use of forceps, vacuums, and other medical birthing equipment. This happens when the baby’s head is too high in the birth canal when this equipment is used to try to deliver the baby.
Delayed ordering or failure in ordering a cesarean section when there is a risk of vaginal delivery, or when it is medically necessary. An example of this is when an expectant mother has previously had a cesarean section deliver and now they are attempting a vaginal delivery. In these circumstances there is a significant risk of the uterus rupturing and causing the mother or child to lose blood and die.
Failing to perform a cesarean section when the baby is too big. This can happen with mothers who have gestational diabetes and the baby is too large to pass through the birth canal safely.
Medication errors. The failure to give necessary medications at birth can cause injury.

What Damages Can Be Awarded in a Birth Injury Claim?

If a doctor, nurse, or other medical practitioner commits medical malpractice, the injured party can recover damages for:

Pain and suffering
Past and future medical, rehabilitative, therapeutic and life care expenses

Loss of income or wage earning potential
Punitive damages for reckless conduct

In birth injury cases, the primary injured party is the newborn child. However, a birth injury is not only traumatic to the newborn child, but the parents as well. In certain circumstances, parents can also recover damages for medical malpractice that results in birth injuries to their child. Typically, only special damages for pecuniary losses can be recovered by the parents, which include medical expenses and loss of contributed earnings and services. However, damages for emotional distress can be available to parents of a child that suffered a birth injury in some jurisdictions. If a parent suffers emotional distress as a result of witnessing the infliction of pain, suffering, or an injury to a child, they may be eligible for damages.

Call for a Free Case Evaluation

In a birth injury claim, it is important to work with an experienced birth injury attorney. There are deadlines that apply to claims for birth injury and other medical malpractice cases. In many states, parents and adult claimants have two years from the date on which an injury or death arising from a negligent act or omission to file a claim. The statute of limitations will bar the claim after that deadline. Children traditionally were recognized as minors who did not have the legal right or responsibility to take legal action until their age of majority. However, many states have passed special laws called a statute of repose, which means that no provider can be sued for medical malpractice after more than a certain number of years despite the fact that the child is still a minor. These special laws should be ruled as unconstitutional. However, the same lack of morality that leads to laws like this may result in supreme court decisions across the country that sustain those laws. Unfortunately, doctors and hospitals do not have to life by the same rules as the rest of us. The point of this: Don’t wait for another time to call. Let the birth injury attorneys at Hillin Law get to work right away to prevent a miscarriage of justice by special laws designed to help them, not you.

In order to ensure your claim is filed on time and to get the compensation you deserve, contact the birth injury lawyer Hunter Hillin at Hillin Law.