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Understanding Who Can Be Held Accountable for Your Child’s HIE Birth Injury

If your child suffered an HIE brain injury at birth, then you may be looking to take legal action against the responsible party. In such cases, identifying liable parties is crucial. There may be multiple parties that should be the subject of legal action.

Proving that hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy was caused by a healthcare provider’s negligence is required to file a successful medical malpractice lawsuit. You and your attorney must prove the following elements:

Duty of Care. Proving a Doctor-Patient Relationship

Medical malpractice law requires you to show that the healthcare provider owed your child a duty of care. This is easily met by proving a relationship existed between the doctor and the patient, such as being admitted to a hospital or clinic for your pregnancy or delivery.

Some of the most common parties that are held accountable in HIE birth injury lawsuits include the:

● Nurse and doctor, monitoring the pregnancy

● Doctor tasked with monitoring labor and delivering the baby

● Medical practice of the doctors involved with the pregnancy and delivery

● Hospital where the birth took place

Breached Duty of Care

The next step in a medical malpractice claim is to demonstrate that the healthcare provider failed to act as a reasonably careful medical professional would in the same situation.

This might include:

Delays in responding to signs of distress
Improper use of delivery tools
Not ordering a needed C-section

An in-depth analysis of medical records, scans, reports, and other relevant documents is necessary. This will assess which parties were negligent and may be held accountable for your baby’s birth injuries.

Causation

In a medical malpractice claim, it’s essential to connect the healthcare provider’s actions or lack of appropriate medical treatment directly to your child’s HIE. Many factors can cause a child’s birth injury.

Medical records, expert testimony, and test results often help trace how the medical providers’ negligent care led to a lack of oxygen and resulted in injury.

An experienced medical malpractice attorney and medical experts can uncover why the birth trauma occurred.

Damages

Lastly, medical malpractice law requires you to demonstrate the actual, measurable consequences of the alleged medical negligence.

These could include physical or brain injuries, medical expenses, lost wages, occupational therapy for injured patients, loss of opportunities for your child, emotional distress, and any other future medical care.

If you’re able to prove these elements, you could recover compensation from the responsible party.

Evidence Used to Prove Medical Malpractice Claims Related to HIE

Proving a medical malpractice claim for a child’s HIE diagnosis relies on collecting strong evidence from a variety of sources. Here’s what this often includes:

Medical Records and Fetal Monitoring Strips

Every entry and vital sign in a hospital chart can offer important clues into medical negligence. Fetal heart monitor strips might reveal increased stress or missed warning signs that were not quickly addressed. This can indicate a healthcare provider error, potentially leading to medical malpractice liability.

Witness Testimony About Medical Errors

Witness statements from family members, nurses, doctors, or any other healthcare professionals present during labor and delivery can fill in gaps about possible negligent conduct by healthcare providers.

Personal accounts sometimes highlight problems, such as communication breakdowns, slow response times, or unusual conduct, during medical treatment.

Expert Opinions About The Level of Medical Attention Received

Outside doctors can compare the care you or your baby received with national guidelines or published protocols. An expert’s analysis can underline points where healthcare staff may have mishandled a complication or misread warning signs, amounting to medical negligence.

Blood Tests and Imaging From the Hospital or Emergency Room

Blood gases, pH levels, MRIs, and other scans support a timeline and clarify how severe the oxygen loss was, alongside whether it lines up with whatever else you’re claiming in your medical malpractice lawsuit – like whether permanent brain damage is present.

Gathering as much information as possible from different sources gives your legal team a stronger chance of understanding your family’s story and fighting for the support your child needs through medical malpractice law.

Limited Period of Time to File an HIE Lawsuit

If you are considering taking legal action against a doctor, nurse, hospital, or other healthcare provider, it is essential to initiate the legal process as soon as possible. Why? Because each state has its own statutory deadline for filing a birth injury medical malpractice lawsuit.

This deadline is also known as the statute of limitations. In effect, claimants only have until the applicable statutory deadline to file a lawsuit. Once the deadline passes, your birth injury lawsuit will likely be barred from going forward.

Initiating the legal process sooner rather than later is also beneficial, as many states have imposed additional requirements and procedural hurdles for medical malpractice lawsuits to proceed in court.

For example, some states have passed laws requiring advanced notification to the doctor or medical facility that they are the subject of a lawsuit.

Contact The Yost Legal Group To Discuss a Possible HIE Birth Injury Lawsuit

If you have questions about what happened during childbirth, contact an experienced medical mistake lawyer. If you suspect medical negligence led to your child’s injuries, you never have to handle it on your own.

An HIE lawyer can help make this difficult situation more manageable by helping you with a medical malpractice case. Call 1-800-Yost-Law to speak directly with a medical malpractice lawyer. Your first consultation is free, and there are no upfront fees.

If you choose to move forward with a birth injury lawyer, you won’t pay anything unless we win compensation on your behalf. Filing a birth injury lawsuit will help provide a lifetime of care for your HIE newborn.

We always work on a contingency fee basis, which means you never incur any out-of-pocket expenses up front.

Reach out today to The Yost Legal Group to schedule your free consultation and discuss a possible medical malpractice lawsuit if you believe that negligence resulted in serious injury to your child.

Birth Injury Claims – Lawyer for Doctor Negligence – Hypoxia Birth – HIE Infant

HIE Neonate – HIE Brain Damage – Hypoxic Ischaemic Encephalopathy

After a baby is born, medical professionals use the Apgar score as a quick and effective way to assess the newborn’s overall health and immediate need for medical care.

This simple scoring system helps doctors and nurses determine how well the baby is adjusting to life outside the womb. It helps indicate if any urgent interventions are necessary to support the infant’s breathing, heart function, or other vital signs.

What is an Apgar test?

The Apgar score is performed on newborns at 1 and 5 minutes after birth. It measures five key signs:

– Appearance (skin color)

– Pulse (heart rate)

– Grimace response (reflexes)

– Activity (muscle tone)

– Respiration (breathing effort).

Each category is scored from 0 to 2, with a maximum total score of 10.

What are Apgar scores?

Breathing score: 0 (not breathing), 1 (irregular breathing), 2 (strong cry)
Heart rate score: 0 (no heartbeat), 1 (less than 100 beats per minute), 2 (greater than 100 bpm)
Muscle tone score: 0 (loose muscles/floppy baby), 1 (some muscle tone), 2 (baby actively moves)
Reflexes score: 0 (no grimace or irritability reflex response when lightly pinched), 1 (just a grimace), 2 (grimace plus a cough, a sneeze, or a lusty cry)
Skin color score: 0 (blue and pale), 1 (body pink but all extremities blue); 2 (entire baby is pink)

What is a normal Apgar score?

A normal Apgar rating for a newborn is between 7 and 10. This is measured at 1 minute and 5 minutes after birth. It means the baby is adapting well to life outside the womb.

7 to 10: Generally considered normal; the baby is in good health.

What is a low Apgar score?

An abnormal Apgar score for a newborn is anything below 7. This indicates that the baby requires medical attention. Supplemental oxygen, suctioning out the airway, or sternal rub (physical stimulation to improve heart rate).

4 to 6: This may indicate that the baby requires some medical assistance.
0 to 3: Signals a need for immediate, life-saving intervention.

The lower the Apgar score, the more medical treatment the baby requires.

A critically low Apgar score of 3 or below requires the most intensive medical intervention, such as ventilation, intubation, and intravenous epinephrine.

Babies with low or critical Apgar scores at the 1-minute Apgar test can and very often do improve with medical treatment so that their 5-minute Apgar test scores reach a normal Apgar score of 7 or above. However, critically low Apgar scores are a medical emergency and require immediate treatment.

Where do I find my baby’s Apgar scores?

A baby’s Apgar score is one of the very first things entered in the birth chart. The scores are typically recorded on the page of the baby’s chart which also lists the time of birth, birth weight, and length.

What is the Apgar score for an HIE baby?

If your newborn had critically low Apgar scores, between 0 and 3, or low Apgar scores, between 4 and 6, and later received an HIE diagnosis, a CP diagnosis or a brain injury diagnosis, please contact the birth injury lawyers at The Yost Legal Group for help determining if a preventable birth injury occurred during labor and delivery.

While a low Apgar score alone doesn’t automatically mean there was medical negligence or a birth injury, it can sometimes be a sign that your baby experienced distress or complications during birth.

The birth injury lawyers at The Yost Legal Group understand how difficult this time can be for families.

We are here to listen
Answer your questions
Help you explore whether a preventable birth injury may have occurred during labor or delivery

Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy and Apgar Scores

Hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy is not diagnosed by Apgar scores, but low Apgar scores can be an early indication that a baby suffered a hypoxic brain injury from a lack of oxygen during labor and delivery. HIE babies may experience difficulty breathing, weak muscle tone, a slow heart rate, or poor reflexes, all of which can result in a lower score.

Low and critically low Apgar scores do not mean that a baby has suffered brain damage or that medical malpractice has occurred.

But low and critically low Apgar scores, followed by an HIE or cerebral palsy diagnosis, do mean the baby’s labor and delivery history should be examined to determine whether medical mistakes were made.

If your child was diagnosed with hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy, let our medical malpractice attorneys help you find answers. We invite you to reach out for a Free Consultation to discuss your unique situation in a caring, confidential environment. Call The Yost Legal Group at 1-800-YOST-LAW (1-800-967-8529) today.

Should I contact a birth injury law firm if my child’s Apgar score was critically low?

You should consider contacting a birth injury attorney as soon as possible if:

Your baby’s low Apgar score was accompanied by other signs of distress or injury (like seizures, difficulty breathing, or the need for intensive medical intervention).
You suspect that something went wrong during labor or delivery, or you have concerns about the medical care you or your baby received.
Your baby has been diagnosed with a condition like hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE), cerebral palsy, or another birth-related injury.

Here is how we can assist you:

Free Consultation: We offer a complimentary case review to discuss your concerns, review your potential case, and address any questions you may have about your baby’s low Apgar score.
Medical Record Review: Our team will carefully review the medical records, including Apgar scores, and help determine whether a medical mistake occurred during labor and delivery.
Expert Insights: We work with medical experts to help determine whether the care provided met accepted standards of care and if preventable factors were involved.
No Upfront Fees: The Yost Legal Group works on a contingency fee basis, so you pay nothing unless they recover compensation for you.

Hire Our Experienced Medical Malpractice Attorneys

If a medical mistake was made, our medical malpractice lawyers will work to secure the financial compensation your child needs. You will need financial assistance to cover medical expenses and ongoing care throughout your child’s lifetime.

You can reach The Yost Legal Group by calling (800)-YOST-LAW for more information. If we file a medical malpractice claim on your behalf, we will fight to seek the compensation you deserve.

Was your infant diagnosed with HIE or cerebral palsy? Do you want answers? Contact The Yost Legal Group at (800)-YOST-LAW.

Medical Mistake Lawyer – Top-Rated Medical Malpractice Attorneys – Medical Injury Attorney

Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy Newborn – HIE Newborn – HIE Infant – HIE Neonates

APGAR Scale for Newborns – Hypoxia Neonatal – HIE Brain Damage

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