- October 29, 2018
- Birth Injuries
The birth of your child should be an exciting, joyous occasion, but if you are a victim of medical malpractice and something goes wrong, the results can be tragic for both mother and child. Birth injuries can be devastating, especially if they result in long-lasting or permanent damage. After a serious birth injury, families may be left struggling with physical disability and mental and emotional issues, and dealing with the mounting costs of medical, rehabilitation and caregiving bills.If your child has suffered a birth injury due to medical malpractice, you may be entitled to compensation through insurance or a medical malpractice lawsuit. While no amount of money can fully make up for what you, your child, and your family are going through, a successful claim can help alleviate your financial problems and provide your child with the care needed to make progress toward living the best life possible.
Michigan medical malpractice laws are complicated, and hospitals and medical practitioners and their insurance companies have high-powered attorneys attempting to fight claims and prove that whatever caused the birth injury was not medical malpractice, so it’s difficult to go up against them on your own. Fortunately, there is help available from an experienced medical malpractice personal injury attorney who can show how medical malpractice caused the birth injury and fight for the compensation you and your child deserve.
If your child was harmed before, during, or after birth due to someone else’s negligence, speak to an attorney to find out if you have a medical malpractice case.
How Can Medical Malpractice Cause a Birth Injury?
While not everything that goes wrong medically during the birth process is actually malpractice, if your physician, hospital or birthing center was negligent and did not provide you with the medical attention you and your child required, medical malpractice may be involved.
There are many ways that medical malpractice can cause a birth injury. Medical malpractice occurs when medical practitioner or health care facility fails to provide adequate medical care, usually by making some mistake or acting negligently.
To rise to the level of malpractice, your attorney must be able to show the existence of the following legal elements:
Duty. The medical professional owed you a duty of care not to cause harm.
Breach. The medical professional breached that duty by actions or failure to act before, during, or after the birth process.
Cause. This breach caused the accident that injured your child and caused a birth injury.
Damages. You and your child suffered damages as a result.
The process of labor and delivery can be complex and chaotic, and emergencies often arise. During this time, hospital staff, nurses, and doctors are responsible for being vigilant in order to keep the mother and baby safe.
Nurses usually hook the new mother up to a fetal heart monitor to track the baby, while doctors sweep by periodically to check on the mother’s condition, look for signs of distress, and provide medication and medical advice as needed. If the nurses or doctors make any mistakes during this time, it could lead to serious birth complications for both the baby and the mother.
Some of the most common medical mistakes that lead to birth injuries include:
Failure to monitor fetal heart rate. If the nurses or doctors fail to properly monitor the unborn baby’s heart rate, they could overlook serious complications, which might harm the baby. If the baby is in distress and not properly monitored, lack of oxygen can result in brain injuries like cerebral palsy or in birth asphyxia, a damaging partial or complete lack of oxygen to vital organs.
Improper use of birth instruments. Sometimes a natural birth requires the help of forceps, a vacuum, or other specialized tools to help the baby through the birth canal. However, if the doctor or midwife uses these tools incorrectly, it could result in serious injuries to the baby. Pulling on the arm or shoulder could result in brachial plexus injuries, like Erb’s Palsy, while pulling too hard on the head could cause brain damage, intracranial hemorrhages, or spinal injuries.
Delay in ordering a C-Section. In some situations, a cesarean section is called for rather than a natural birth. If the doctor delays ordering a C-section for too long, or fails to order one altogether, it could cause serious harm to the baby and mother and could even result in death.
Improper use of epidurals and other drugs. There are several different types of drugs that may be used to help along labor or to dull the pain of delivery. However, if a doctor prescribes the wrong dosage or fails to call for the correct medication, it could make the birth process unnecessarily difficult and cause damage.
Failure to diagnose or treat other medical problems. If the mother shows signs of medical complications and the doctor fails to order the appropriate tests and treatments, the results could be dangerous and deadly. The doctor might not notice that the baby is in distress, could fail to recognize the signs of infection, or overlook a placental abruption or any number of other serious conditions. By failing to diagnose or treat these issues, both the baby and the mother could be seriously injured.
How Long After Birth Can You Sue For Malpractice?
After a birth injury, Michigan has certain statutes of limitations, which are strict deadlines for filing medical malpractice cases. It is important to get your case started as soon as you suspect a birth injury, for if you fail to file on time, the courts are likely to refuse to hear your case.
What is the Statute of Limitations on Birth Injuries in Michigan?
According to Michigan law (MCL § 600.5851(7)), if a child is under 8 years old and suffered a birth injury, they either have two years after the injury to file a claim or must do so by their 10th birthday–whichever time period is longer.
For claims made by parents, the parents have 2 years for an action charging malpractice or 6 months after the they discover or should have discovered the existence of the claim, whichever is later.
Damage Awards You May Receive for Birth Injury
In a successful birth injury malpractice case in Michigan, you may be entitled to receive an award for both the economic and noneconomic damages resulting from the injury.
Economic damages are for monetary expenses such as medical and rehabilitation bills, physical therapy, and special equipment, caregiving expenses for the child, and costs of modifying a home or vehicle.
Noneconomic damages are for losses that do not have a specific dollar value but negatively impact the child’s life, such as:
- physical and emotional pain and suffering
- disability
- loss of enjoyment of life.
Michigan caps noneconomic damage awards at $280,000 unless there are multiple defendants, in which case damages are capped at $500,000.
Get Help from Our Birth Injury Medical Malpractice Lawyers
When a medical professional’s negligence causes serious harm to your child, you may have a right to seek compensation for the resulting damages, and the experienced and compassionate birth injury lawyers at Goodman Acker can help. Let us evaluate your case, see if malpractice was involved and determine what it may be worth and the best way to move forward.
Don’t delay. Call Goodman Acker today for a free, no-obligation consultation at 248-286-8100 to get started while evidence is fresh and witnesses can be found.
GET HELP NOW 248-286-8100