Birth Injuries

Birth Injury Lawyers in Pennsylvania and New Jersey

The birth of a new baby is normally a wonderful occasion and one that parents receive with hopeful anticipation. Unfortunately, birth injuries can result in permanent disabling injury that causes great distress in what normally is a joyful and highly anticipated event. Tragically, with proper medical care catastrophic injury could often have been avoided. Every child born should start his or her life with the greatest potential for success and that success should never be destroyed by the negligence of a doctor or healthcare provider.

Often times birth injuries are avoidable. Steps that could and should have been taken that would avoid severe injury to a newborn child are overlooked. Physicians are required by law to utilize the means available to them in a knowledgeable and medically responsible manner to ensure the best care of mother and baby. When this doesn’t happen, catastrophic injuries can result that require life long medical care for the injured child. A hospital, doctor, or healthcare provider who causes such catastrophic injuries should be held accountable. Such injuries to newborns can include:

• Cerebral Palsy – There are several known causes of cerebral palsy which can happen at different points in the prenatal, birth, and post-natal periods.
  
  Prenatal causes – certain infections including Rubella, group B strep, and herpes simplex; placental complications including placental insufficiency and placental separation from the uterine wall; the mother’s alcohol or drug abuse, exposure to certain chemicals; certain conditions in the mother including preeclampsia, eclampsia, toxemia, diabetes, and high blood pressure, among other causes.
  
  Causes occurring at birth – umbilical cord restriction caused by internal or external factors; tearing of the placenta during birth; fetal distress during the baby’s movement through the birth canal; and other significant factors.
  
  Post-natal causes – unaddressed or untreated seizures; conditions that commonly accompany severe prematurity, including blood pressure, excessive bleeding, poor nutrition, dehydration, jaundice, infection, and other factors.
  
  Perinatal Stroke- Causing brain Injury, paralysis, blindness or even death.
• Shoulder Dystocia /Brachial Plexus Injury – This condition occurs if the baby’s shoulder becomes lodged behind the mother’s cervix during birth and an improper action is performed by the doctor to complete the birth. The resulting condition may include temporary or permanent paralysis in the child’s arm. Such paralysis is also known as Erb’s Palsy.

The costs that are associated with the life long care of a child following a traumatic birth are easily estimated in the millions of dollars without factoring in time off work, mental suffering and the humiliation experienced throughout the life of the injured person. Although there are many doctors who would claim that conditions such as cerebral palsy are always beyond the ability of the doctor to control, many studies and individual cases prove otherwise. You owe it to yourself as a parent or loved one to seek the advice of professionals who will make an unbiased judgment regarding your child’s circumstances. The Philadelphia birth injury lawyers at Messa & Associates can make this evaluation with the help of experienced professionals and medical experts so that proper compensation can be gained and the most excellent treatment can be applied for the future of the child.

A toll-free number is provided by which you can set up a time for a consultation free of charge and discuss the details of your case. The future of a child is something that can be prepared for today. Call and get the advice of experienced and compassionate professionals.