Bringing a child into the world is one of the greatest joys a person can experience.
Unfortunately, there are times when an infant suffers an injury as the result of medical negligence. While you hope that you never have to deal with this, you never know what could happen before, during and after labor and delivery.
Here are some of the most important questions to answer as they pertain to birth injuries:
— Is a birth injury and birth defect one in the same? The short answer is no. A birth injury is typically caused by something that happened during the delivery. A defect, on the other hand, happened during or before the pregnancy.
— Can a birth injury lead to a lawsuit? The answer isn’t always yes, but there are times when this is the case. An example of a situation that could lead to a lawsuit would be a doctor who fails to respond to labor complications in a timely manner.
— How common are birth injuries? A rough estimate is that for every 1,000 children born in the United States, approximately five will be injured.
If your baby suffers a birth injury, there is nothing more important than finding a medical team that can provide the right treatment in the days, weeks and months to follow.
Once you have a grip on how to treat the problem, you can then learn more about your legal rights. A birth injury does not always result in a lawsuit, but this may be the end result depending on the circumstances.
Source: FindLaw, “Birth Injury FAQ,” accessed July 05, 2017
