How a Personal Injury Lawyer Protects You with a Birth Defect Lawsuit

The birth of a child is supposed to be a time of joy and love. Yet for parents whose child has been harmed by a birth injury, the consequences can be devastating.

If your child has suffered due to a birth injury, you need an experienced lawyer who can help you with a birth defect lawsuit.

What Birth Injuries Can Prompt a Birth Defect Lawsuit?

While some birth trauma goes away within weeks or months, serious, lifelong impacts are possible. Common birth defects include:

• Brain damage
• Cerebral palsy
• Cranial nerve trauma
• Erb’s palsy
• Facial paralysis
• Fractures
• Oxygen deprivation
• Shoulder dystocia

No matter what the cause of your child’s birth defect, it’s important to protect your family by consulting with an experienced legal professional with expertise and experience in these types of cases.

What Are the Impacts of a Birth Injury or Birth Defect?

Birth injuries can affect your child in many ways. You may be facing lifelong problems with immunity, endocrine systems or neurology. That could mean a child with significant mental impairment, physical disabilities, susceptibility to illness, autism, learning difficulties or attention disorders. Among the most common results of a birth injury are:

• Bleeding on the brain
• Bone fractures
• Mental retardation
• Seizures
• Skull fractures
• Stillbirth

Some injuries are minor and heal quickly such as lacerations or bruises due to the birthing process.

In some cases, your child will spend a lot of time visiting pediatricians and specialists, enduring repeated testing and assessment, undergoing long hospital stays, missing school and having trouble making friends. Tragically, in many cases, it means a shorter life expectancy.

For all of these reasons, you need to consider what legal recourse you have to hold those responsible accountable for the impacts on your child and yourselves.

Why Should I Hire an Attorney?

A traumatic childbirth is emotionally difficult for the child, parents, siblings and loved ones. In this stressful and emotionally fraught time, especially given the myriad financial burdens, caregiving needs and uncertainty.

Consulting with a lawyer well versed in birth defect lawsuit cases has several benefits, including:

• Understanding the processes, approach and potential outcomes of filing a lawsuit
• Knowing what factors to consider in planning a lawsuit
• Your role in preparing for and testifying during a lawsuit

You and your child may be facing serious financial issues due to the birth injury. There may be a lifetime of medical expenses necessary and lost wages from having to care for your affected child.

What Types of Birth Defect Lawsuits Are Possible?

The most common type of birth defect lawsuit is bringing a malpractice case. Such litigation means filing a suit against the physicians, the hospital or other care providers who were responsible for providing inadequate care that resulted in harm to your child.

What Actions Can Cause a Birth Injury or Birth Defect?

Some birth injuries and defects are genetically based, where there is no one to blame. Some injuries may be the result of poor prenatal practices on the part of the birth mother, such as not following a physician’s orders, smoking, or abusing drugs and alcohol.

Unfortunately, poor medical care before, during and after the birth can be the root cause of a birth injury. Here are some examples:

• Poor or inadequate prescreening for various medical conditions
• Not paying attention to prenatal hypertension (preeclampsia), which can affect the lives of the mother and the child
• Misinterpretation of medical test results
• Prescribing medications known to cause birth defects
• Prescribing dosages that can cause birth defects
• Delay in switching to a Caesarian section birth plan
• Failure to recognize signs of fetal distress

Birth injury lawsuits can also be filed against employers or businesses that knowingly put pregnant women in situations where they are exposed to harmful chemicals.

Diamond & Diamond helps families in Toronto and throughout Ontario struggling with the results of a birth injury. To schedule a free, no-obligation, initial consultation, contact us 24/7 by calling 1-800-567-HURT or visiting our website.

Faqs

Is there a difference between a birth defect and a birth injury?

There is a difference. A birth defect is a structural issue with the body that the baby developed while growing in the womb. One that happened naturally, not because of something a human did to the mother or baby during the pregnancy. A birth injury occurs when someone makes a mistake during pregnancy or actual birth. An error that ends up hurting the baby in a way that causes an injury.

What do I need to know about Ontario’s premises liability law?

You need to know what your responsibilities are under Ontario´s premises liability law. Without that knowledge, it is impossible to know how to maintain your property in a way that keeps visitors safe. Being familiar with the rules will also help you to understand whether you can sue the owner if you are injured yourself while visiting commercial premises or someone´s home.

Am I going to be held liable for a teenage kid who gets hurt trespassing in my property?

Potentially, you could be held liable for the injuries that a teenage kid suffers while trespassing on your property. This is certainly the case if she cuts herself on the glass that you have had imbedded in the top of the wall to put people off from climbing over it. But you are not likely to be held liable if she trips over something on your shop floor in the dark while breaking in.

What are some examples of birth defects that are caused by negligence?

Cerebral palsy, broken bones, dislocations, impaired cognitive function, and long-term heart issues are all examples of birth defects that could be caused by negligence. Failure on the part of the medical team to spot underlying medical conditions in the baby and deal with them properly during the pregnancy and birth is also a form of negligence. In these situations, the baby can end up suffering more health and disability issues as a result of not receiving proper treatment.

Can prescription medication cause birth defects?

Prescription medications can cause birth defects. Fortunately, most doctors do not make the mistake of prescribing drugs to women who are pregnant that could harm them or their babies. But, occasionally, with new drugs, the negative impact they can have on the health of a baby is not fully understood so they end up being prescribed to pregnant women. This happens more often, which is why there are several birth defect prescription medication lawsuits going through the courts right now.