A new birth injury lawsuit, filed on March 5 in South Carolina federal court, alleges an obstetrician and the attending birth staff working at the Eau Claire Cooperative Health Center caused a newborn child to suffer a brachial plexus injury during the birthing process.

According to the birth injury lawsuit, the obstetrician and staff’s medical malpractice caused the child to suffer “severe and permanently debilitating injury, deformity, pain, and suffering, which requires costly medical treatment, limits his ability to engage in activities of daily living, decreases his enjoyment of life, and limits his vocational potential.”

A brachial plexus birth injury is a condition in which the nerves stretching from the spinal cord down to the child’s neck, shoulders, hands, and fingers are torn away, which results in pain, paralysis, and limited range of motion. The child’s parents were informed in July 2013 (at which time their child was 3 years old) that their baby’s brachial plexus injuries were allegedly related to the obstetrician’s mishandling of the child’s shoulder dystocia.

The birth injury lawsuit claims that the attending doctor’s excessive use of force during the birthing process may have been a large contributing factor to the child’s brachial plexus birth injury, especially considering shoulder dystocia was an allegedly apparent complication. Shoulder dystocia is a birthing complication in which a baby’s shoulder becomes lodged behind the mother’s pelvic bone. Should a doctor choose to pull the child from the birth canal using great force, it has the potential to cause severe damage, including this child’s brachial plexus nerve damage.

Before the labor and delivery process, the plaintiffs allege the child appeared to be healthy and because of the defendant’s failure to meet the health care standards during the birthing process, the child suffers and continues to suffer permanent disabilities stemming from his birth injury.

Because the child’s condition may require long-term care and cause a lifetime of physical limitations, the birth injury lawsuit is seeking monetary compensation for “adverse effects on various other bodily members and/or functions, such as gait, balance and skeletal and muscular symmetry of his shoulder, arm and hand,” which have resulted in “permanent impairments, deformity and disabilities.” This compensation will include payment for past and future medical expenses, loss of future income, and compensation for emotional, physical, mental, and psychological harm the child allegedly endured due to his brachial plexus birth injury.

Types of Birth Injury

During a birth in which the use of obstetrical forceps, vacuum extraction, or a cesarean section is required, a birth injury may occur that can sometimes be attributed to medical malpractice. Some of the most common birth injuries an infant may suffer include:

• Cerebral Palsy
• Oxygen Deprivation
• Mental Retardation
• Erb’s Palsy
• Klumpke’s Palsy
• Brachial Plexus
• Retinopathy of Prematurity

As a result of these painful and often permanent birth injuries, many parents have sought out the expertise of a birth injury lawyer in order to pursue birth injury medical malpractice lawsuits.