A number of factors can contribute to a difficult birth or injury to the baby during the delivery process. For example, the position or size of a baby can cause a difficult birth or injury and result in a number of associated problems that include the following:
- Oxygen deprivation
- Premature birth
- Large babies
- Prolonged labor
- Cephalopelvic disproportion where the shape and size of the pelvis is inadequate for a vaginal birth
- Breech birth
- Shoulder dystocia
After you give birth, if something does not seem right with your newborn, do not hesitate to investigate the situation. The injury to your newborn may have been avoidable if medical professionals followed proper procedures before, during, or after the delivery. For example, if the physician improperly used forceps or other tools, injury can result.
Obstetrical malpractice can have serious consequences including blindness, seizures, brain swelling and injury, facial nerve damage, pre-eclampsia, and eclampsia. A variety of hemorrhages can occur as well, including subdural, epidural, and intraventricular. And newborns can suffer broken bones such as a fractured clavicle through overly aggressive actions on the part of a doctor or nurse.
It is important that you seek out legal advice as soon as possible after you notice something is wrong with your newborn if you suspect malpractice caused an injury to your newborn. You only have a limited time in which to file a lawsuit and a birth injury case requires detailed and extensive preparation and evidence.
Dr. Michael M. Wilson is an attorney and a physician who earned his undergraduate degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his legal and medical degrees from Georgetown University. He has focused in the area of medical malpractice for more than three decades and secured more than $100 million in settlements and verdicts on behalf of clients throughout the country. He is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia and New York as well as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia and the U.S. Supreme Court. He is listed in America’s Top 100 High Stakes Litigators.
