Birth Injury
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Pittsburgh Birth Injury Attorneys
Injuries that occur during labor or childbirth are among the most tragic in all of medicine. When an infant is irreparably injured due to the negligence of a doctor or hospital staff, their life is forever changed. The child suffers the loss of their own potential. The family suffers the financial burden of caring for the child. Both child and family suffer the loss of a normal life.
What Is Birth Injury?
In this video, Pittsburgh birth injury attorney Brendan Lupetin discusses childbirth injuries that can occur before, during and after delivery.
“One of the most significant types of medical malpractice cases that we work on are matters that involve injuries to infants – otherwise called “birth injury cases”. These types of medical malpractice matters fall into two categories; typically there is an error in the lead up to birth, or there is an error in the treatment of the baby after birth.”
Watch the video to learn more.
Childbirth Injury FAQ
In many cases when an infant suffers an injury during childbirth, the magnitude of the injury might not be obvious. On the other hand, you may be immediately aware that your child suffered an injury. Over time, it may appear that your baby is not behaving normally. If you suspect this problem is due to an incident that occurred during or shortly after childbirth, you should contact an attorney with experience handling birth injury claims.
The law limits the amount of time you have in which to file a medical malpractice case in Pennsylvania. In cases where the injured person is a child (under 18), the standard two-year statute of limitations does not apply until the child reaches 18. This means that a claim must be filed before the child turns 20.
In many medical malpractice cases a settlement is reached without trial. In order to determine and agree upon the amount of a settlement, the following factors are considered:
- Establish the full extent of the injury.
- Determine the future needs of the victim, including expected medical costs and cost associated with living with the injury, such as retrofitting of the home, devices and appliances that may be required, and long-term personal care.
- Determine the maximum recovery obtained in similar cases that may have set a precedent.
- Calculate how much the victim would have reasonably made in wages over the course of their lifetime or in the case of homemakers, their contribution to the needs of their family. For more information on the value of a homemaker, click here.
When you are awarded a medical malpractice settlement you have two options. Your first option is to take your settlement as a lump sum (i.e. a check for the full amount of their settlement). Your second option is to invest some or all of your settlement in a structured annuity that will pay out chunks of money over time at a guaranteed interest rate.
When you opt for the annuity, you enter into a contract with a life insurance company. You give the insurance company a lump sum payment up front. In return, the insurance company provides you regular money distributions at a guaranteed interest rate over a period of time in the future.
Structured personal injury settlements are income-tax free. In 1982, Congress passed legislation that amended the federal tax code. Their action, The Periodic Payment Settlement Act of 1982, formally recognized and encouraged the use of structured settlements. In response, the Internal Revenue Code was modified to exempt personal injury settlements from taxation so long as the proceeds were invested in a qualified structured settlement annuity. By contrast, the investment earnings on a lump sum payment are generally subject to taxation.
As you approach the settlement of your lawsuit, talk to your lawyer about your options. Ask your lawyer to obtain a variety of proposals from a qualified structured settlement company. Discuss the benefits and implications of structuring some or all of your settlement. Until you sign the annuity contract you are free to do as you wish with your money.
What Constitutes A Birth Injury Case?
Birth injury cases may arise when obstetricians or obstetrical nurses fail to timely recognize and treat serious medical conditions affecting the mother, fetus, or both.
We understand that injuries that occur during childbirth have a devastating effect, both financially and emotionally. Medical bills and the costs of caring for the child over the course of their life can be astronomical. Parents have a deep need to understand what has happened, and why. You need to know whether there was anything that could have been done to prevent this injury from occurring. We are here to help you answer those questions.
Birth Injuries Due To Negligence May Include:
Examples of Birth Injury Cases Our Attorneys Have Handled
We can provide you with broad examples of the types of birth injury cases we have handled, but due to a Pennsylvania Law called MCARE we cannot legally provide you with specific details including names of victims, doctors, hospitals, and settlement amounts.
We have helped find solutions for many families suffering from the heartache of a birth injury. This includes children afflicted with Cerebral Palsy, hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy, and brain injury as a result of medical malpractice, children who have sustained brachial plexus injuries and Erb’s Palsy during childbirth resulting from shoulder dystocia, and brain damage or other injuries occurring in the first month of life because of improper care management.
Some Examples Cases By Condition Include:
- A delay in recognizing and responding to fetal distress evidence on fetal monitor.
- As to the nurses and hospital, the failure to have or employ policies insuring the proper recognition and management of fetal distress when it appears.
- As to obstetricians and their prenatal care, failure to recognize the presence and significance of hypertension in pregnancy. This includes a delay in treatment of pre-eclampsia and its complications, which can affect the mother and child.
- An obstetrician, who during a forceps assisted delivery, rotated the baby’s head 180° in the course of the baby’s birth resulting in a useless and now miniature right arm.
- The failure to recognize during artificial rupture of the membranes that placenta previa was present (placenta near or covering the cervical canal) resulting in hemorrhage in infant before birth of such magnitude as to cause permanent bilateral kidney damage requiring kidney transplant.
- The failure by obstetrical staff to recognize signs and symptoms of placental abruption (separation of the placenta or a part prior to birth) resulting in a fatal hemorrhage in the mother and brain injury in the infant when delivered.
- In failing after delivery of an infant where meconium was present, at the time membranes were ruptured to remove by suction from the infant’s airway after birth meconium which had entered the lung, thereby resulting in respiratory insufficiency and meconium aspiration syndrome.
- In permitting a midwife to manage the labor and delivery in a hospital obstetrical unit when a patient’s pregnancy was known to be at risk without requiring consultation by the midwife of the attending obstetrician where the mother was led to believe the midwife was a physician. And, where due to the presence of the midwife, another hospital staff failed to properly respond to the evidence of fetal distress resulting in the needless delay of a cesarean section and the infant suffered ruinous brain injury.
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