Birth Injuries/Cerebral Palsy

The birth of a child is among the happiest days of parents’ and family’s lives. However, when something goes wrong during the pregnancy, during the actual labor and delivery itself or even after the baby has been delivered, the most anticipated joyous moments can become frightening, stressful and result in a lifetime commitment to a disabled brain injured child totally dependent on you the parents. Injuries sustained by a newborn at birth can result in physical and developmental delays for the child requiring medical and neurological care and prolonged physical, occupational and speech therapy. The emotional and financial toll on the family can be devastating.

Sanocki Newman & Turret, LLP has for more than 35 years successfully represented families in birth related injury cases resulting from careless and negligent treatment. Medical malpractice or careless treatment in the birth of a newborn can occur in a number of different settings:

• Delay in delivery
• Delay in performing a cesarean section
• Oxygen deprivation (asphyxia)
• Improper monitoring of the mother or child
• Failing to recognize complications during labor
• Improper use of Pitocin
• Failure to diagnose infection
• Misuse of forceps or vacuum during delivery
• Head trauma
• Not performing emergency procedures to solve complications

When doctors, nurses and hospitals act carelessly, that is fail to act in a manner in which a reasonably prudent health care provider would act under the circumstances or act in a way that is not reasonably under the circumstances such as in the ways listed above or otherwise, different injuries can be suffered by the child, including:

• Cerebral palsy – Cerebral palsy is a general term commonly referred to as CP and results in the loss or impairment of motor function. Cerebral palsy is actually caused by brain damage from physical injuries to the skull, lack of oxygen, other complications during birth or from abnormal development of the brain before during or immediately after birth. Cerebral palsy primarily affects body movement and muscle coordination. Cerebral palsy affects body movement, muscle control, muscle tone and reflex, as well as a child’s gross and fine motor skills and even a child’s ability to walk, use his or her arms and hands, and speak, which may be permanent.
• Brachial plexus injury – Many infants suffer complications during birth when their shoulders get stuck behind the delivering mother’s pelvic bone. However, doctors are trained to perform various procedures when these complications arise. Failing to do so will cause a brachial plexus injury, stretching, avulsing, tearing and harming the nerves connected to the spinal cord and severely impairing function in the infant’s arm and sometimes even the hand and fingers.
• Bone fractures – Improper force during the delivery or use of forceps or a vacuum suction device by a delivering doctor can lead to bone fractures in an infant.
• Asphyxia – If delivery is delayed, the child may be deprived of oxygen for an extended period of time. This asphyxia can cause severe brain damage, which can result in variety of physical, intellectual and emotional disabilities.
• Spinal cord damage – Not recognizing complications during delivery, improper position of the infant during birth, and reckless actions taken during delivery may severely injure the child’s spinal cord, causing severe physical disabilities for life.

The truly devastating nature of birth injuries is that because they are suffered at such an early age, they can cause health problems and disabilities that last a lifetime or cut a child’s life short. Parents who have suffered such losses need to hold at-fault medical workers responsible and get compensation that pays for all of their child’s needs while growing up.

When careless action or inaction by your healthcare provider results in injury to your newborn child you have the right to file a lawsuit against the people that caused injury to your infant, and to seek compensation for medical expenses, pain, suffering and costly long-term care necessary for providing for your child with permanent with special needs.

Contact Sanocki Newman & Turret, LLP

The experienced New York childbirth brain injury lawyers at Sanocki Newman & Turret, LLP, have decades of experience representing parents of injured babies in medical malpractice cases. We work with the most qualified experts such as neurologists, pediatric neuroradiologists, obstetricians and nurses to investigate exactly when and why the injury happened. We also retain expert economists and life care planners because many birth injury cases have claims for losses including lost wages and the cost of future medical and custodial care which often spans the lifetime of the disabled child.