Discovering that your child has a birth injury can be absolutely devastating. The birth of a child is a time of hope and expectation, but when a birth injury occurs those expectations may be replaced by feelings of fear, loss, and anger. Not only do birth injuries create immediate medical complications, but they can result in a lifetime of medical care and treatment. As such, birth injuries are devastating physically, emotionally, and financially.
Unfortunately, birth injuries are not as uncommon as one might think. In fact, statistics show that a birth injury occurs in 27 out of every 1,000 births. Some of the most common types of birth injuries include:
- Brain Injury
- Cerebral Palsy (neurological disorders)
- Shoulder Dystocia (can occur when baby’s shoulders get stuck behind mother’s pelvis)
- Hypoxic-Ischemic Encepholopathy (brain is deprived of oxygen)
- Bone Fractures
- Bruising and Forceps Injuries
- Subconjunctival Hemorrhage (bright red band around the iris of one or both of the baby’s eyes)
- Caput Succedaneum (severe swelling of the baby’s scalp)
- Cephalohematoma(bleeding between a bone and its fibrous covering, usually on the head)
- Facial Paralysis (usually due to nerve damage)
Of course, birth injuries can occur through the fault of no one, but sometimes medical negligence is responsible for a birth injury. If this is the case, the doctor, nurse, hospital should be held responsible in a medical malpractice lawsuit. Some examples of medical errors that can lead to birth injuries include:
- Failing to anticipate birth complications
- Failure to respond appropriately to bleeding;
- Failure to respond to low heart fetal heart rate and other signs of fetal distress
- Failure to observe or respond to umbilical cord entrapment
- Delayed cesarean section (C-section) when necessary
- Misuse of forceps or a vacuum extraction
- Inappropriate administration of Pitocin, epidural, or other medications used during labor
Get the Help You Need and Deserve
The Chicago birth injury lawyers at Cogan & Power, P.C. understand just how devastating a birth injury can be for you, your child, and your entire family. We are committed to providing the highest quality legal representation in an intimate and supportive environment. From the first phone call or visit, every client becomes a member of our professional family. Our partners take a personal interest in every case and every client, and communicate directly with their clients, keeping them well apprised of the progress of their case.
Our team of Chicago medical malpractice attorneys collaborates throughout every case and includes former defense lawyers, former in-house counsel at a well-respected teaching hospital, and a former obstetrical nurse, all of whom have extensive experience handling birth injury cases.
If your child has suffered a birth injury, contact Cogan & Power at (312) 477-2500 to schedule an appointment with one of our knowledgeable Chicago medical malpractice attorneys. We will strive to get you the compensation that you and your child need and deserve. If you cannot come to our offices in downtown Chicago, we will come to you. And because we take cases on a contingency basis, you will not pay any fee unless we get you compensation.
