Birth Injuries Alarmingly High in U.S.
While our country boasts some of the best hospitals and doctors in the world, the U.S. has a surprisingly high infant mortality rate, ranking 180th in the world for infant deaths. Thousands of babies do not survive the birthing process and even more experience defect or deformity at birth.
A birth injury is defined as any damage or injury to the infant’s body occurring before, during, or slightly after the child’s birth. Birth injuries vary from minor, easily resolved issues to issues so severe the infant does not survive. Complications of pregnancy or labor such as prolonged labor, where the baby is unusually small or large or when the baby is in a difficult position during labor and delivery, can bring about difficulties for a newborn.
Bringing a new baby into this world should be the most joyous time for a family, however, this is not always the case. There are thousands of women whose infants experience birth injury or death due to the negligence or malpractice on behalf of the doctor or hospital where the baby is delivered.
Maryland is home to one of our country’s landmark cases in a birth injury. In 2012, a Baltimore Circuit Court judge awarded one family $55 million in their law suit against John Hopkins Hospital. The court found the hospital negligent for waiting two hours to perform an emergency C-section on a mother whose baby was in distress. As a result, the baby boy was born with permanent and severe mental and physical disabilities.
Traumatic birth injuries include:
• Erb’s Palsy
• Traumatic Brain Injury
• Brain Stem Injuries
• Closed Head Injury
• Anoxia and Hypoxia
• Infections
• Seizures
• Stillbirths
• Prenatal asphyxia
• Shoulder Dystocia
• Fractures
• Failure to Notice Fetal Distress
• Spinal cord trauma
• Intracranial hemorrhage
Financial compensation can assist in getting families the support they deserve, but birth injury law suits can also serve as a way to highlight unsafe practices at medical facilities and prevent further negligent acts of hospitals and physicians.
You will carry the burden and expense of your child’s care for a lifetime. To find out more about your rights, and how you can obtain the compensation you deserve to help you care for your child, please contact the experienced and knowledgeable birth injury attorneys at The Yost Legal Group.
If your child has suffered from birth defect, birth injury or wrongful death in Baltimore MD or Northern Virginia, call 1-800-YOST-LAW (1-800-967-8529) to speak with one of our experienced attorneys today.
The Yost Legal Group Birth Injury Law Group will help you find answers. If you have questions, call to speak with a experienced birth injury lawyer for help.
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