What to Do if You or Your Baby Has Experienced a Birth Injury – Medical Malpractice
The birth of a child is cause for excitement for everyone in your family, and no one would imagine that something tragic could happen along that exciting journey. The unfortunate truth is birth injuries occur far too often leaving families hurting emotionally and financially. Whether you, your baby or a family member has been involved in this sort of situation, we urge you to contact an Iowa medical malpractice law firm today.
Medical professionals and Healthcare facilities do exceptional work the majority of the time, but sometimes accidents happen, and sometimes, these mistakes are a result of negligence. Anyone who has been a victim of birth injury has the right to pursue legal action if they believe negligence is at work in their injury. Experienced birth injury lawyers in Iowa can help you with this type of liability claim, and if you’re unfamiliar with what these legal professionals do, we urge you to keep reading.
Why Birth Injury Attorneys in Iowa Are a Good Choice
Some Iowa birth injury lawyers specialize in one niche area of birth law such as cerebral palsy. Others will focus on all birth injuries that are possible during childbirth to both mother and/or child. Working with either type of legal professional is likely a good idea, but we do suggest that you stay within the niche of “birth law” and avoid umbrella “personal injury lawyers.” Unless these lawyers have specific experience with these kinds of cases, a personal injury lawyer might not have the legal background to win a birth injury case.
An Iowa medical malpractice attorney can effectively build a case for malpractice by providing various support services and actions for victims. These can include:
- Collecting Evidence – Gathering evidence for a medical malpractice lawsuit can become tricky as there can be a lot of red tape and regulations to overcome. An attorney can make legal requests on your behalf for documentation regarding your birth injury situation.
- Expert Consulting – Attorneys with birth injury experience have helpful resources to support these cases, including medical professionals who can testify in support of your claims.
- Legal Procedures – The truth about medical malpractice lawyers and lawsuits in Iowa is that these cases require a significant amount of paperwork and legal procedures. An Iowa birth injury lawyer will be able to meet deadlines and process requests to ensure your case is not overlooked and/or dismissed. Your case should get its day for justice.
- Settlements and Courtrooms – Iowa birth injury attorneys will be able to negotiate a settlement that is appropriate to your situation or appear in a courtroom if need be.
The Unfortunate Truth About Birth Injuries
You might not know if you or your child were the subjects of a birth injury, as medical professionals aren’t likely to “alert you” that they made a mistake in yours or your baby’s care. Also, these injuries may take weeks or months to appear giving victims the impression that they are the cause of the injuries, rather than medical professionals. Here are some of the most common birth injuries in America.
- Shoulder Dystocia ( Also known as Erb’s Palsy or Brachial Plexus) – This happens during difficult births when the arm is stretched away from the neck causing strain and nerve damage to the infant. Most infants recover from this condition with therapy.
- Infant Brain Damage During Delivery – All deliveries have a process among medical teams, and if a medical professional fails to take precautions in that process, it can be considered a medical malpractice issue. Brain injuries like cerebral palsy can be hard to prove given that symptoms may not appear for weeks or months, but it’s worth investigating nonetheless.
- PPHN, Persistent Pulmonary Hypertension of the Newborn – PPHN (High blood pressure in infants) can be the result of poor care post delivery. Things like aspiration and infection can cause PPHN and can be life-threatening to the child.
- Anoxia, Hypoxia or Perinatal Asphyxia – Oxygen issues to the brain and other tissues. In infants, this can lead to permanent brain injuries and could potentially be avoided on behalf of medical professionals.
- Bone Fractures – This happens during difficult births when the baby’s body may experience a bone fracture as a result of pulling, pushing or tugging during delivery.
- Cephalohematoma – A hematoma found on the skull that is usually the result of using birth tools to help delivery.
- Spinal Cord Injuries – This can impact both mother and child during childbirth. Be this from an epidural for mother or too much tugging on the baby during delivery.
If you or your baby suffered from any of the injuries, Eells & Tronvold Law Offices encourages you to reach out to their team of legal experts to learn if your case may be one involving medical malpractice.
Preparing for your Iowa Birth Injury Law Firm Meeting
We know how overwhelming birth injury tragedies are to overcome, and we hope to make this ordeal a little less stressful for you and your family. When you are preparing to meet us about your claim there are a few things that you can gather that will help us do our job even better.
We ask that you bring as much documentation about your birth injury story as possible; including medical records, follow-up medical treatments, prescriptions, or other forms of post-treatment. Something else that tends to be very helpful for this meeting is writing down, from beginning to end, what happened and how you recall the events. This allows us to look at fine details and pick up on elements that may be crucial to your case. We also encourage you to write down any and all questions for us in regards to your situation or legal inquiries that might be unclear.
Can we help you as your Iowa birth injury attorneys? We would be happy to hear the details of your case to see how we can support your claim and earn you the financial compensation that you or your child deserve. Please call or connect with Eells & Tronvold Law Offices today and let’s get started.
