Was Medical Negligence the Cause of Your Child’s Birth Injury?

A great amount of trust is placed in the doctor and medical staff when parents enter a hospital to give birth to their baby.

This trust includes knowing the correct standards of medical care will be followed and the mother and unborn child will have the full attention of the staff to ensure a healthy delivery. Any mistake made during pregnancy, labor and delivery, and immediately following may cause life-altering consequences to the newborn, including cerebral palsy (CP). CP causes irreversible injury to the brain, which in many cases could have been prevented had proper care been given. If your child has been diagnosed with CP after birth, consult a Chicago cerebral palsy attorney from Willens Law Offices. There are a number of negligent factors that could have caused this birth defect.

Medical Negligence Resulting in Cerebral Palsy

•  A delayed cesarian section after the mother struggled for hours attempting a vaginal delivery, causing the baby to go into distress.
• Not being admitted to the hospital at the onset of labor, even though signs of distress such as bleeding were evident.
• The mother was allowed to labor for too long, causing the unborn child to lose oxygen from a low amount of amniotic fluid.
• Failure of the delivering doctor to note that the umbilical cord was wrapped around the neck, restricting blood flow to the brain.
• Unsuccessful attempts to induce labor, allowing the baby to go into distress from oxygen deprivation.
• Failure of the delivering doctor to arrive in time, allowing the unborn child to spend an extended amount of time in the birth canal.
• Failure to note that the amniotic sac had ruptured.
• The unnecessary use of forceps or a vacuum extractor, causing injury to the brain.
• Failure to monitor the heartbeat of the baby during labor and delivery and identify signs that the baby had gone into fetal distress.
• Insufficient pre-natal care when there were clear signs of a high risk pregnancy.
• Excessive force used by the delivering doctor to remove the baby from the birth canal.
• The baby’s shoulder became stuck on the pubic bone during delivery and the delivering doctor did not react appropriately.
• Failure of the doctor to note signs of a high risk delivery, such as a high birth weight, which could cause the baby to become stuck in the birth canal.
• The baby suffered a trauma to the head during or immediately after delivery, causing damage leading to cerebral palsy.