If Your Child Suffers Birth Injuries Due To Medical Negligence

No two Tennessee women will experience the exact same type of pregnancy. You might be low-risk, making it all the way through labor and delivery without any serious complications. Then again, your obstetrician may be monitoring a certain maternal or fetal condition quite closely because you're in a high-risk category for childbirth problems. An experienced doctor can help keep you and your baby safe.

This is why it's so important to attend all your prenatal visits and also to inform your doctor of any issue you might be experiencing at a particular time, such as ankle swelling, nausea or tingling of extremities. Another issue that would warrant calling your doctor might be if you haven't felt your baby move for hours when he or she is normally active every day. There's always risk involved with pregnancy and childbirth, but injuries should never occur because of substandard care.

Issues that often lead to birth complications

When you attend prenatal visits, your medical team performs many routine tests and exams to make sure things are going well for both you and your baby. The following list shows numerous issues that would raise concerns and perhaps require specialized or even urgent care: 

  • Your baby's weight should never increase to a point where he or she will not fit through the birth canal. There are several maternal conditions that can cause a baby's pre-birth weight to go too high. 
  • If you go into labor before 37 weeks, it is definitely a high-risk situation.
  • The shape of your pelvis must be such that your baby can easily make his or her way through the birth canal. Cephalopelvic disproportion is a condition that typically necessitates cesarean section delivery.
  • If your labor is slow to progress and you and baby are having a difficult time, your medical team will likely refer to the situation as dystocia. If your uterus and cervix aren't functioning as they should for a safe delivery, your doctor will need to make a decision as to the best course of action to keep you and your baby safe.

The average obstetrician knows how to recognize signs of danger regarding your and your baby's health during pregnancy, labor, and childbirth. Like all Tennessee prenatal patients, you rely on your medical team, especially regarding issues you may know nothing about. If your doctor fails to diagnose a high-risk condition, it can have devastating results for you or your infant.

If that happens

It's understandable that parents might feel frustrated or even angry when their babies suffer birth injuries that they later learn were likely preventable. There's no excuse for medical negligence. Sadly, birth injuries can be so severe that a baby might need assisted-living care for his or her entire life.

Whether a medical staff member's negligence causes you or your child to suffer illness or injury, there's no reason your family should be stuck paying all the medical bills and expenses associated with the incident, such as in-home care, physical therapy or other costly services. Many parents seek monetary judgment against those whose negligence caused them physical, emotional or economic damages by filing medical malpractice claims in civil court.


Contact Our Firm 

  • Please enter your first name.
  • Please enter your last name.
  • Please enter your phone number.
    This isn't a valid phone number.
  • Please enter your email address.
    This isn't a valid email address.
  • Please make a selection.
  • Please enter a message.