Swansea Birth Injury Lawyers

When you are either pregnant with or delivering a child, it is essential that the doctor who is providing treatment gets everything right. Any mistake that they make could have serious ramifications for both the mother and child. A doctor can be held accountable for any birth injury that the mother or child suffers when it has happened due to their negligence. First, you must file a birth injury lawsuit, and that is often a difficult legal process. A Swansea birth injury lawyer can handle your case from beginning to end, fighting for you and your child to receive full financial compensation. 

What Is a Birth Injury?

A birth injury is any type of harm to a newborn during pregnancy, labor, delivery, or shortly after birth. However, birth injuries are not the same thing as birth defects. In the latter, the baby would suffer some type of harm that would have naturally occurred for whatever reason. Birth injuries are often avoidable, and they can occur because of some mistake that a medical professional made at any point before, during, or after the childbirth process. 

Overall, birth injuries can be temporary, meaning that the child can recover from them after some time. Unfortunately, birth injuries can also be permanent and can endanger the life of the child and affect them in the long run.

What Are Different Types of Birth Injuries?

A newborn may suffer the following types of birth injuries:

• Cerebral palsy: CP refers to a number of neurological conditions that could affect balance, movement, and coordination. Cerebral palsy can be caused by trauma or brain damage during a difficult delivery. 
• Erb’s palsy (Brachial Plexus Injury): The baby may have suffered damage to a network of nerves that is located near their shoulder because of the way that the doctor delivered them. They could suffer from weakness in their arm or the lack of ability to use it, which could persist for the rest of their life.
• Brain damage from oxygen deprivation (Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy): Any type of oxygen cut off that lasts for an extended period of time could cause a fetal stroke that results in serious brain damage.
• Fractures and nerve damage: A doctor could carelessly deliver the baby or wrongfully use forceps in the delivery process, which could injure the infant.
• Facial paralysis: A difficult delivery could injure the nerves in the baby’s face, which could lead to some form of facial paralysis.
• Shoulder dystocia-related trauma: A baby’s shoulder could get stuck during delivery, which could injure the shoulder itself or cause other severe effects, such as a fetal stroke.

How Can a Doctor Prevent Birth Injuries?

Although not every single birth injury is entirely avoidable, a medical professional can significantly reduce the risk of harm to the baby by exercising due care. 

Reasonable care may mean the following:

• The doctor realizes particular risk factors affecting both the mother and child, such as the size of the baby or gestational diabetes, and acts proactively to minimize the potential harm to the baby.
• The doctor does not allow the mother to attempt natural childbirth because of the risk factors involved.
• If the mother is experiencing a difficult delivery, the doctor may opt for a prompt cesarean section procedure to minimize the risk to both the mother and child. 
• Not using certain tools to assist with the delivery if they are not completely necessary, or not exercising reasonable care when they are executing a forceps or vacuum-assisted delivery.

How Do I Prove Fault for a Birth Injury?

Birth injury cases are a type of medical malpractice lawsuit. You are alleging that the doctor failed to provide a reasonable level of care that an ordinary doctor would have under the circumstances. To qualify for financial compensation, you must show that the doctor was negligent.

Unfortunately, it is not always easy to prove negligence in a medical malpractice case. You would need to reconstruct the medical care that was provided, which caused your baby’s injury. In many cases, the doctor is less than forthcoming about what happened because they know that they could be held liable.

When you hire a birth injury lawyer, they will work with expert witnesses who could help prove that the doctor was negligent. These experts would both review the medical records and help prepare your lawyer to ask the right questions during depositions after you have filed a medical malpractice lawsuit.

How Much Is a Birth Injury Case Worth?

Illinois does not have any caps on medical malpractice damage awards. Thus, your family could receive the full amount of compensation that you deserve without any limits. When your child has suffered an injury that will affect the rest of their life, the value of your case could be substantial.

Birth injury compensation may include the following: 

• Medical bills
• Special education expenses
• Adaptive medical equipment
• Lost wages that the child could have earned in their lifetime and that the parents could not earn because they needed to care for their child
• Pain and suffering

In addition, the doctor could be ordered to pay ‘punitive’ damages if their actions were grossly negligent or egregious.

Since you are dealing with the rest of the child’s life, birth injury damages can be significant. It is crucial that you know the exact value of your lawsuit before you file it, and a birth injury lawyer can work with experts to quantify the amount of harm done to your child.

How Long Will a Birth Injury Lawsuit Take?

Birth injury lawsuits are extremely complicated matters. You are dealing with a legal action that will likely take years. In many cases, the defendant does not necessarily have an incentive to settle your case until they realize that you have strong evidence of their wrongdoing. Medical malpractice lawsuits generally take longer than other types of personal injury cases, given their complexities. You need to exhibit the maximum amount of patience to have the best possible chance of recovering all of the compensation that your child deserves for their injuries.

Remember, the defendant will likely vigorously contest your case for as long as they can. However, most medical malpractice lawsuits will eventually reach a settlement agreement without the need for a trial. For your part, you need to present your strongest possible legal case, and you would do so with the help of a medical malpractice lawyer. 

Contact the Swansea Birth Injury Lawyers at The Cates Law Firm Today for Help With Your Case

If you or your child has been injured due to the carelessness of a doctor, get legal help from the Swansea birth injury lawyers at The Cates Law Firm. Our lawyers are standing by and ready to speak with you during a free consultation. You can get legal help by calling us today at 618-277-3644 or by contacting us online. Located in Swansea, Illinois, we proudly serve clients in St. Louis, Belleville, East St. Louis, Edwardsville, Granite City, Waterloo, Chester, Carbondale, St. Clair County, Madison County, Monroe County, Randolph County, and other regions throughout Southern Illinois.