Birth Defects Versus Birth Injuries: What You Should Know
Becoming a parent can be a special and emotional time in your life. You’ll likely feel excited and nervous at the same time as you anxiously wait to meet your child and bring them home safely.
The last thing you’re expecting is for your child to be injured during their birth. You put your faith in your doctor to supply the best care possible to ensure the safety of the child and the mother. So what can you do if something goes wrong?
It’s essential to understand the difference between a birth defect and a birth injury:
- Birth defects are typically health problems based on your child’s DNA and likely existed from when the child was a fetus. An example of a birth defect is Down Syndrome.
- Birth injuries tend to occur during labor and delivery and are often preventable. These are injuries that may happen due to negligence from the medical staff during delivery.
Reasons for pursuing legal action
If your newborn suffers injuries due to medical negligence during childbirth, you may have grounds for seeking legal action. Here are a few instances in which birth injuries can occur:
- Mishandling the baby during delivery such as pulling or twisting the newborn
- Misusing tools such as forceps or suction during delivery
- Providing the wrong amount or type of medication to the mother during labor
- Failure to watch and treat the child or mother for signs of distress
- Failure to observe the infant’s heartbeat
- Failure to perform an emergency C-section
Any of these reasons are cause for concern. Your doctor should be prepared and experienced to handle a difficult delivery, but one missed step or moment of negligence can have long-term effects on your child.
Don’t wait too long if you believe your child has suffered from negligence during childbirth. Pursuing legal action may provide you with compensation that can aid with caring for a disabled child. An attorney with medical malpractice experience can help you understand whether you have a solid case.