Detroit Birth Injury Lawyer

Key Takeaways for Detroit Birth Injury Lawsuits

• A birth injury is harm to an infant that occurs before, during, or shortly after the delivery process, often due to a medical professional’s error.
• Preventable birth injuries can result from mistakes like a delayed C-section, improper use of delivery tools, or failure to monitor fetal distress.
• Liable parties in a birth injury claim may include doctors, nurses, anesthesiologists, and the hospital or medical facility itself.
• Proving a birth injury claim involves demonstrating that a medical professional violated the accepted standard of care, leading to the child’s injury.
• Compensation in a successful claim can cover medical expenses, ongoing therapy, special education needs, and the child’s pain and suffering.
• Filing a claim is about ensuring a child has access to every necessary resource for the best possible quality of life.

Why Choose Goodman Acker PC for Your Detroit Birth Injury Case?

When you are facing the profound challenge of a birth injury, the legal team you choose can make all the difference. At Goodman Acker, we understand that this is more than a legal case; it is about your child’s future. Our firm is built on a foundation of honesty, ethics, and a deep commitment to the families we serve throughout the Detroit area, from Southfield to Sterling Heights. We combine our extensive legal knowledge with genuine compassion, ensuring you feel heard, supported, and understood every step of the way.

We are good people who truly care about our clients. Our approach is collaborative, meaning your case benefits from the combined knowledge of our entire team. We are dedicated to holding negligent medical providers accountable and fighting for the justice your family deserves. Our mission is to provide the highest quality of legal service, which includes:

• A Tireless Work Ethic: We pour all our resources into investigating what happened and building the strongest possible claim on your behalf.
• Clear and Honest Communication: We will explain your rights and options in simple language you can understand, providing prompt answers to your questions.
• A Focus on Your Child’s Needs: We work to secure a recovery that addresses not just immediate medical bills but also long-term care, therapies, and educational support.

When you work with Goodman Acker, you are not just hiring a lawyer; you are gaining a team of dedicated advocates who will stand with you.

What Is a Birth Injury?

A birth injury is any type of harm a baby suffers during the labor and delivery process. It is important to distinguish a birth injury from a birth defect. A birth defect typically develops while the baby is in the womb, often due to genetic or environmental factors. A birth injury, on the other hand, is damage that happens due to trauma or complications right before, during, or just after birth.

While some birth injuries are minor and heal quickly, others are severe and can lead to permanent disabilities, requiring a lifetime of medical care and support. Tragically, many of these serious injuries are preventable and happen because a medical professional failed to provide an acceptable level of care. This failure to act properly is often referred to as medical negligence.

When negligence occurs, it means a doctor, nurse, or hospital made a mistake that another competent professional in the same situation would not have made, and that mistake directly caused harm to your child. Understanding this distinction is a crucial first step in exploring your family’s legal options.

Types of Birth Injury Cases We Handle

Birth injuries can manifest in many ways, ranging from physical nerve damage to brain injuries with lifelong cognitive and developmental consequences. Our attorneys have the experience to handle a wide range of complex birth injury claims and the compassion to understand the unique challenges each family faces. We are prepared to assist families whose children have been diagnosed with a variety of conditions due to medical errors.

Some of the most common and serious types of birth injury cases we handle include:

• Cerebral Palsy: This is a group of disorders affecting a person’s ability to move and maintain balance and posture. It is often caused by brain damage, which can occur if the baby’s brain does not receive enough oxygen during a difficult delivery.
• Erb’s Palsy (Brachial Plexus Injury): This condition involves nerve damage to the brachial plexus, a network of nerves near the neck that controls the muscles of the arm and hand. It can happen if the baby’s shoulder gets stuck during delivery, causing the nerves to be stretched or torn.
• Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy (HIE): HIE is a type of brain damage that occurs when the baby’s brain is deprived of oxygen and blood flow for a period of time. This can result from issues with the umbilical cord or placenta, or a delayed C-section.
• Facial Paralysis: If too much pressure is put on the baby’s face during delivery, often from forceps, it can damage the facial nerves and lead to paralysis.
• Fractures and Physical Trauma: Improper use of delivery tools like forceps or a vacuum extractor, or excessive force during a difficult delivery, can lead to broken bones, such as a fractured clavicle (collarbone).

Each of these conditions presents unique challenges and requires a specific plan for long-term care. Our goal is to help you secure the resources to provide your child with the best possible future.

How Do Birth Injuries Happen?

A preventable birth injury is almost always the result of a medical professional’s mistake or failure to respond appropriately to a developing crisis during labor and delivery. The healthcare team has a duty to monitor both mother and baby closely and to act quickly and competently when complications arise. When they fail in this duty, the risk of a serious injury increases dramatically.

These tragic events can happen for many reasons. Some common medical errors that lead to birth injuries include:

• Failure to Monitor Fetal Distress: Doctors and nurses should be constantly monitoring the baby’s heart rate for signs of distress. Failing to notice or react to these signs can lead to a dangerous lack of oxygen.
• Delayed Cesarean Section (C-section): When a vaginal delivery becomes too risky for the mother or baby, a C-section is often necessary. An unreasonable delay in performing this surgery can cause catastrophic harm.
• Improper Use of Delivery Instruments: Tools like forceps and vacuum extractors can be helpful, but when used with too much force or in the wrong way, they can cause skull fractures, nerve damage, and brain bleeds.
• Medication Errors: Giving the mother the wrong medication or the wrong dose of a labor-inducing drug like Pitocin can cause intensely strong contractions that put the baby under too much stress.

These are just a few examples of how things can go wrong. Investigating the specific details of your delivery is essential to understanding whether a preventable error occurred.

Who May Be Held Liable in a Detroit Birth Injury Case?

Determining who is responsible for a birth injury requires a thorough investigation of the medical records and the actions of everyone involved in the delivery. In many cases, liability may rest with more than one party.

The concept of liability in a medical malpractice case is tied to the “standard of care.” This refers to the level and type of care that a reasonably competent and skilled healthcare professional, with a similar background and in the same medical community, would have provided under the circumstances.

Identifying all potentially liable parties is critical to ensuring your family can recover the full compensation needed for your child’s care. Possible defendants in a birth injury lawsuit include:

• The Obstetrician (OB-GYN): The primary doctor overseeing the pregnancy and delivery is often the main party responsible, especially if they made poor decisions, failed to order a timely C-section, or misused delivery instruments.
• Nurses and Medical Staff: Labor and delivery nurses are responsible for monitoring the mother and baby and alerting the doctor to any problems. A failure to do so can be a form of negligence.
• The Anesthesiologist: If anesthesia was administered improperly to the mother, it could cause complications that harm the baby.
• The Hospital or Birthing Center: The facility itself can be held liable for its employees’ negligence under a legal doctrine called “respondeat superior.” They can also be liable for issues like understaffing or failing to have proper policies and procedures in place.

Our birth injury lawyers will carefully review every detail of your case to identify every person and institution whose actions contributed to your child’s injury.

How Our Lawyers Prove Negligence in a Birth Injury Claim

Winning a birth injury lawsuit hinges on proving that a medical professional was negligent and that their negligence directly caused your child’s injury. This is a complex process that requires deep legal knowledge, access to medical professionals, and meticulous attention to detail. At Goodman Acker, we follow a systematic approach to build a strong and compelling case on your behalf.

To establish negligence, we must prove four key elements:

1. Duty of Care: We must first show that a doctor-patient relationship existed. This is usually straightforward, as any medical professional involved in the delivery owes a duty of care to both the mother and the baby.
2. Breach of Duty: This is the most challenging part. We must prove that the healthcare provider’s actions fell below the accepted medical standard of care. To do this, we work with highly qualified medical professionals who will review the medical records and testify about what a competent provider would have done differently.
3. Causation: We must then draw a direct link between the provider’s breach of duty and the injury your child sustained. The defense may argue that the injury was caused by an unavoidable complication, so we must present clear evidence that the mistake was the direct cause.
4. Damages: Finally, we must demonstrate the full extent of the harm your child and family have suffered. This includes not only medical bills but also the costs of future care, your child’s pain and suffering, and the impact on their quality of life.

Our attorneys will handle every aspect of this process, from gathering evidence and consulting with medical professionals to negotiating with insurance companies, so you can focus on caring for your child.

Compensation Available in a Detroit Birth Injury Lawsuit

No amount of money can undo the harm your child has suffered, but a successful birth injury claim can provide the financial security your family needs to face the future with confidence. Filing a lawsuit is about securing the resources that will give your child the best possible quality of life. In Michigan, the law allows families to seek compensation for a wide range of damages, both economic and non-economic.

The goal is to recover funds that will cover all past, present, and future needs related to the injury. Compensation, often referred to as “damages,” can include:

• Medical Expenses: This covers everything from the initial hospital stay and surgeries to ongoing needs like doctor visits, medication, and physical, occupational, and speech therapy.
• Future Care Costs: Many children with birth injuries require lifelong care. A life care plan can be created to project the costs of future medical treatments, assistive devices (like wheelchairs or communication aids), and in-home nursing care.
• Lost Earning Capacity: If the injury is severe enough to prevent your child from working in the future, you can seek compensation for the income they would have earned over their lifetime.
• Pain and Suffering: This compensates your child for the physical pain, emotional distress, and loss of enjoyment of life caused by the injury.
• Special Education and Housing Modifications: Compensation can also cover the costs of specialized schooling, tutoring, and modifications to your home, like ramps or accessible bathrooms, to accommodate your child’s needs.

Michigan law, including statutes like MCL 600.2912b, outlines specific requirements for filing medical malpractice claims. Our birth injury attorneys in Detroit are deeply familiar with these laws and will work to maximize the recovery for your family.

FAQ for Detroit Birth Injury Lawyer

Here are answers to some common questions our attorneys receive from families facing the aftermath of a birth injury.

How long do I have to file a birth injury lawsuit in Michigan?

Michigan has a strict statute of limitations, which is a legal deadline for filing a lawsuit. For medical malpractice cases, the deadline is generally two years from the date of the malpractice. However, for injuries to minors, the rules can be more complex. According to Michigan law, the deadline may be extended, but it is crucial to speak with an attorney as soon as possible to protect your rights.

What if I signed consent forms at the hospital?

Signing a consent form does not give a doctor or hospital permission to be negligent. A consent form simply acknowledges that you understand the known risks of a medical procedure. It does not waive your right to sue if the care you or your baby received fell below the accepted medical standard and caused a preventable injury.

How much does it cost to hire a birth injury attorney?

At Goodman Acker, we handle birth injury cases on a contingency fee basis. This means you do not pay any attorney fees unless and until we win your case and recover compensation for you. Our initial consultation is also completely free, so there is no financial risk in learning about your legal options.

Contact an Experienced Detroit Birth Injury Attorney at Goodman Acker PC Today

We know that you are facing an unimaginable situation. The hope and joy you felt have been replaced by fear, anger, and a deep concern for your child’s future. At Goodman Acker, we want you to know that you are not alone. Our compassionate and experienced legal team is here to lift the legal burden from your shoulders so you can focus on what matters most: your child. We are dedicated to fighting for the justice you deserve and the resources your child needs to thrive.

When you trust us with your case, we will:

• Conduct a thorough investigation into the circumstances of your child’s birth.
• Work with leading medical professionals to build the strongest possible claim.
• Handle all communications with the hospital and their insurance companies.
• Fight tirelessly to secure a financial recovery that provides for a lifetime of care.

Your child deserves every opportunity for a happy and fulfilling life. Contact the dedicated legal team at Goodman Acker today. Contact us today at (248) 831-1507 or through our online form for a free, no-obligation consultation. We are here to listen and ready to help.

LEGALLY REVIEWED BY BARRY J. GOODMAN

Barry J. Goodman has devoted his professional life to keeping courthouse doors open for victims seeking justice. Always a tireless advocate for his own clients, Goodman sees his responsibility as a Detroit personal injury attorney in a broader sense as well. [ Attorney Bio ]