Is My Child Suffering Because of a Doctor’s Mistake?

Posted on September 19, 2014 by Shapiro Law Group

There are three birth injuries per hour in the U.S. each year, according to RightDiagnosis.com.

For a child to suffer a life-altering injury at anytime is devastating, but when it happens during birth, it is particularly heart-wrenching. These types of injuries should never come as the result of a preventable medical error. However, more often than you might believe, they do.

A medical malpractice case involving a birth injury recently made headlines. According to The Madison-St. Clair Record, a mother sued her obstetrician alleging that her daughter’s permanent nerve root damage and brachial plexus injury was the result of a medical error.

In her suit, the mother claims that while she was giving birth to her daughter, her obstetrician applied excessive tilting of her daughter’s head and excessive downward traction, which led to the girl suffering permanent injury. The doctor noted shoulder dystocia during the woman’s labor and delivery, according to the suit.

After the girl was born, her Apgar (a test given to newborns to measure their physical condition and determine if additional or emergency care is necessary) scores were 7 and 9. Newborns are given the Apgar test immediately after birth. If they score low (in general, a baby who scores 8 or above is in good health), they are given the test again five minutes later.

In addition to her initially low Apgar score, the girl’s arm was reportedly floppy following birth. The woman alleges in her suit that because of her daughter’s large birth weight (9 pounds, 2 ounces), a Cesarean section delivery should have been employed, claiming it could have prevented her birth injuries.

Shapiro Law Group – Medical Malpractice Attorneys Serving the Tampa Bay Area

Source: http://madisonrecord.com/issues/305-med-mal/265809-childs-birth-injury-subject-of-medical-malpractice-case-at-trial

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