No parent should ever have to deal with the pain of a child’s birth injury. With today’s modern medicine, unnecessary complications of childbirth should be relatively rare. Unfortunately, the data show that birth injuries are much more common than they should be. This is due in large part to the continuing risk of medical malpractice during and after delivery.
Doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals owe duties to ensure that they are providing adequate care to their patients. This includes providing adequate care to expecting mothers, fetuses, and newborn babies. Yet, medical negligence during and after delivery remains a significant concern, and many new parents find themselves needing to take legal action.
During delivery, medical professionals must take adequate steps to protect the mother’s and fetus’s health to the greatest extent possible. While delivery is often a relatively straightforward process, various issues can arise, and it falls upon expecting mothers’ medical professionals to identify and address these issues before they lead to unnecessary complications.
With this in mind, some examples of medical professionals’ responsibilities during delivery include:
These, of course, are in addition to medical professionals’ duty to exercise due care when guiding babies through the birth canal. Applying excessive force to a baby’s head or shoulders, improperly using forceps or vacuum extractors, and other mistakes can lead to birth injuries that could—and should—have been avoided.
Once a baby has been born, medical professionals must continue to provide adequate neonatal care. The first moments of a newborn baby’s life are vital, and mistakes during this time can result in life-altering (or even life-threatening) complications.
The same duties that apply during delivery also apply after delivery. Doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals must continue to provide adequate care to both the mother and the baby. Once again, monitoring is vital, and timely diagnosis and treatment can be critical for mitigating the long-term risks associated with any concerns that may arise.
If a baby is born with an injury, defect, or other complication, then ensuring the baby’s health and well-being should be all medical professionals’ top priority. Far too often, delays in diagnosis and treatment lead to unnecessary complications that forever alter newborns’ and their parents’ lives.
If you believe that any medical professionals failed to meet their duty of care during or after your baby’s delivery, you should speak with a lawyer about taking legal action. You may have a claim for medical malpractice; and, if so, you and your family may be entitled to significant financial compensation.
Birth injuries caused by medical mistakes can cause significant physical harm, emotional harm, and financial loss. Over a child’s lifetime, the financial and non-financial costs of a preventable birth injury can easily climb into the hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars. These are all costs that parents can seek to recover, and hiring an experienced birth injury lawyer is the first step toward protecting parents’ legal rights.
If you need to know more about filing a claim for a birth injury sustained during or after delivery in Illinois, we encourage you to schedule a FREE, no-obligation consultation.
To speak with an experienced birth injury lawyer in confidence, call 708-358-8080 or tell us how we can reach you online today. We serve clients throughout Illinois, including Chicago, Oak Park, Rockford, and other areas.
