If your child suffers from a birth injury, could it have been caused by medical negligence during childbirth? If so, you may be able to pursue litigation.

While childbirth has gotten significantly safer for both mother and baby in recent decades, there are still substantial risks. Those risks are only exacerbated with the problem of medical negligence during childbirth, which can increase the likelihood of birth injury and other complications.

Birth injuries can include birth trauma or nerve damage, any of which can lead to long-lasting or permanent complications for a child. While in some cases birth injuries are unavoidable, in other cases, medical negligence during childbirth is at least partly to blame for the injury.

Many parents who believe that medical negligence during childbirth caused their child’s birth injury choose to file lawsuits—hundreds each year. Families hope that compensation from a birth injury lawsuit can help them with the regular medical expenses that go hand-in-hand with many birth injuries.

The most common birth injuries include:

• Cerebral palsy
• Oxygen deprivation
• Mental retardation
• Erb’s palsy
• Klumpke’s palsy
• Brachial plexus
• Retinopathy of prematurity

Some of these birth injuries can resolve themselves on their own. For many children, however, birth injuries lead to ongoing, often severe, health problems. Not only can this impair a person’s ability to live their life, it can also cause major financial problems for the family.

In some cases birth injuries may not reveal themselves for years after birth, as in the case of cerebral palsy. In these instances, the connection between the birth injury and medical negligence during childbirth may be less obvious. A medical malpractice lawyer may be able to help.

Of course, not all birth trauma is the direct result of medical malpractice. For some children, birth injury is unavoidable or purely random, and made much more likely during a particularly difficult birth. Babies delivered using obstetrical forceps, vacuum extraction, or cesarean section may face a much higher risk of birth trauma.

For others, however, injuries like nerve damage during childbirth might have been avoided with the proper care, even with the use of one of these birth methods. An experienced medical malpractice lawyer can help you find answers and even receive compensation for medical expenses, cost of care, and litigation payments.

Filing a Lawsuit Over Medical Negligence During Childbirth

If your child has suffered from a birth injury that may have been caused by medical negligence during childbirth, you may be able to file a lawsuit. While filing a lawsuit cannot take away the pain and suffering from birth injuries, it can help to alleviate the financial burden caused by the related ongoing medical expenses and lost wages. Compensation may be able to provide support for prolonged or life-long costs associated with raising a child with special needs caused by birth trauma.

Seeking a lawyer with experience in litigation over medical negligence during childbirth can help you determine whether or not your child’s birth trauma was caused by medical negligence during childbirth or something less nefarious. A medical malpractice lawyer can also help your case significantly and help you reach a settlement that can help with medical expenses, care, lost wages, and litigation costs.