California Birth Injury Accident Lawyers
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Our Birth Injury Accident Lawyers AreAdvocates Who Stand By Your Side
Serious birth injuries happen far more frequently than many people realize. While some things are due to congenital disabilities and hereditary factors, other birth injuries are the result of negligent medical care. A team of California birth injury accident lawyers can review your situation to assess whether medical negligence may have played a role. Call our birth injury accident lawyers at (888) 488-1391 to see if you have a case or schedule a free consultation. Our case reviews are 100% confidential and free of obligations.
The Most Common Types Of Birth Injuries
There are many ways that a baby or the mother can get injured during labor. In particular, babies are highly susceptible to injury at critical points during delivery. Here is a partial list of some of the more common types of birth injuries that babies can suffer:
- Forceps Marks/Bruises — At times, it may be necessary to take quick measures to help a baby who’s in distress. If labor is not progressing and the baby has begun showing signs of distress, medical professionals may choose to use forceps to deliver the baby. These devices, when not used carefully, can bruise an infant, leaving serious lacerations and scars on the baby’s face, neck, and head. Likewise, pulling the baby out with these devices can lead to other injuries, discussed below.
- Vacuum Delivery — Another mechanism used by some labor and delivery specialists is the vacuum. This type of device aids in helping the baby advance through the birthing canal in order to be delivered more quickly. Medical practitioners use this method very sparingly because it can damage the baby’s skull, as well as complicate delivery.
- Fracture Injuries — Forceps and vacuums are just two ways that babies can suffer injuries during delivery. In extreme cases, the baby may suffer fractures to the neck, skull, or shoulder. In fact, broken collarbones (aka clavicles) are among the most common injuries seen in deliveries. This happens quite frequently, and in many cases, it heals easily with minimal pain to the infant. A small bump will show up on the collarbone. However, sometimes the injury is more serious.
- Brachial Plexus Injuries — The brachial plexus is a bundle of nerves in the neck that controls movement and feeling in the shoulder and arm. If these nerves are injured during birth, the baby may experience pain, weakness, or numbness in the arm. Minor injuries often heal with time, but severe damage can cause lasting paralysis or limited movement and may require surgery or therapy.
- Facial Paralysis — Improper use of forceps and vacuum delivery can lead to paralysis in other places, too, including the facial nerves. This type of injury may not manifest immediately because infants cannot communicate their inability to feel sensations. However, there are signs to watch for. For instance, if by six to eight months a baby is showing a drooping smile or is unable to form facial expressions, it can be a sign of damage to the facial nerves.
- Hypoxia & Brain Injury — When a baby shows signs of distress during labor, healthcare providers must act quickly to prevent harm. A temporary loss of oxygen at birth can lead to brain injuries, including cerebral palsy. These conditions can have permanent effects and may require a lifetime of expensive medical care.
- C-section Injuries — During cesarean section procedures, surgical tools can sometimes injure babies, and in some cases, scalpels have caused cuts during delivery.
- Other Types Of Birth Injuries — Numerous complications and problems can arise during surgery, C-sections, or vaginal birth, so this list is not exhaustive. No matter the injury, if you suspect your medical providers made critical errors leading to serious harm to you or your infant, consulting with a California birth injury attorney can help you understand your rights and any applicable time limits.
April 2019: $14M settlement in a traumatic brain injury case involving a defective piece of equipment at a factory.– Brian Beecher
How California Birth Injury Lawyers Help You And Your Family
Remarkably, about one in 33 babies has birth defects in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Some of these defects are preventable. For the families, this can be traumatic, but it can also lead to expensive lifelong medical needs. A California birth injury lawyer may be able to help you evaluate the causes of the injuries and take action to recover compensation from the negligent healthcare providers who caused them.
Here are a few of the key ways that our attorneys assist families in pursuing compensation claims related to labor and delivery injuries:
Evaluating the issue. Step one is determining what really happened. Unlike a simple accident, where the average person can easily see who was wrong and who was right, medical malpractice is all about understanding the science behind the error. Often, mistakes are due to misreading a fetal heart monitor or failing to identify a sign of distress. To the average person, a lot of the evidence is completely foreign.
Therefore, our attorneys work closely with medical specialists who can draw out the issues and help to shine a light on the mistakes. This helps us evaluate whether the error was preventable or not and whether it qualifies as malpractice.
Litigating the case. The vast majority of civil claims for injuries are never resolved through litigation. In fact, most are handled through out-of-court negotiations, arbitrations, mediations, and similar alternative dispute methods. However, when it comes to high-stakes cases like birth injury cases, some families may need to file a lawsuit to resolve disputes and seek compensation.
Many of these cases involve allegations of medical negligence, which can lead to disputes between the parties involved. We have attorneys who handle birth injury cases and may be able to help you explore your legal options.
Understanding liens. An often-overlooked element of any injury claim is what happens once the money is recovered. After all, many birth injuries result in large medical bills, hospital liens, and health insurance reimbursement liens. Our attorneys can review and address medical or insurance liens as part of the claims process. This includes dealing with Medicaid, private health insurance companies, and the medical providers who offered treatment for the injuries.
Common Causes Of Birth Injury
Some injuries are more common than others. When it comes to birth injuries, here is a list of some of the more common examples of things that can lead to serious or permanent injuries:
- Head traumas during a vaginal birth
- Forced deliveries
- The use of forceps
- The use of vacuums
- Reduced oxygen during birth
- A provider’s misdiagnosis of a condition
- Failing to identify signs of fetal distress
- Failing to identify complications
- Waiting too long for a C-section when one is needed
- Not taking actions to deal with umbilical cord issues
- Not identifying or treating placental abruption
- Medication dosing errors
- Missing signs of infection
- Failing to monitor fetal heart signs
How Long Do You Have To File A Birth Injury Lawsuit In California?
Medical malpractice cases have strict time limits in California. Section §340.5 of the California Code of Civil Procedure limits the time you have to bring a lawsuit. If the child is under age six at the time of the injury, the case must be filed within three years or prior to the child turning eight (whichever is longer). Therefore, for an infant’s injuries, you have until the child’s eighth birthday. There is a specific “birth injury” limitation period, but the general limitation period under Section 340.5 remains applicable to birth injuries.
Frequently Asked Questions About Birth Injuries
How Long Do Birth Injury Cases Take?
Every case is different, so it can be difficult to provide a universal estimate. However, California law requires cases to proceed in a timely manner. Cases brought in the Superior Courts are handled on a “fast track,” which means the judges must keep them moving according to established time standards.
However, it’s not all about how long the case takes once filed. Keep in mind that once you hire an attorney to investigate, there could be a lot of time spent obtaining medical records, consulting with medical experts, and preparing the case for litigation. Given how quickly cases move, it’s crucial to build your case before filing.
Likewise, it’s impossible to fully assess the long-term impact of an infant’s injury until the child is about three or four years of age. Until then, it’s hard to determine a child’s neurological deficits, cognitive abilities, or long-term needs. Thus, from the time you approach an attorney until your case is tried before a jury or settled, it can be anywhere from about a year up to about five or six years before there is a final resolution.
Will I Have To Testify?
Maybe. It all depends on how your case resolves. If your case has to go to trial, it is likely that any witnesses, including the baby’s parents, may need to testify in order to establish the facts. Also, most cases may involve a number of depositions. Thus, you may need to give a formal sworn statement in a deposition. Remember that when you work with Arash Law, led by Arash Khorsandi, Esq., you can have dedicated legal representation throughout the process.
What Happens To Money Recovered For A Child?
When a minor receives compensation, parents or a guardian protect the funds for the child’s use. The required safeguards vary by the compensation type and by the settlement or judgment’s allocation. Money paid to reimburse the cost of medical care may be payable to the parent or guardian, whereas funds recovered for pain and suffering and other non-economic injuries must be placed in a guardianship account to be managed by the parent or guardian until the child reaches adulthood.
How Much Does A Birth Injury Lawyer Cost?
A catastrophic injury can leave an entire family devastated, trying to pay bills and searching for money to cover expenses. We handle birth injury cases on a contingency fee basis. This means attorney fees are only collected if we obtain a recovery for you. Case-related costs may still apply, and our attorneys will discuss the fee arrangement and any costs with you before moving forward.
What Are The Common Types Of Traumatic Birth Injuries?
Brain injury, Peripheral nerve birth injury, Cranial nerve and spinal cord birth injury, Bone birth injury, and Intra-abdominal birth injury.
What Type Of Compensation Is Available For Birth Injury Accidents In California?
California recognizes several types of damages for which you can seek compensation. These are economic, non-economic, and punitive damages.
- Economic Damages — These are losses that you and your family have incurred due to the birth injury. Generally, they are things that can be calculated numerically, such as medical bills, lost earnings, and future medical expenses.
- Non-Economic Damages — These might be better described as the human toll of an injury. They include pain and suffering, emotional distress, lost enjoyment of life, anguish, and so forth.
- Punitive Damages — Under Section 3294 of the California Code of Civil Procedure, injury victims can seek punitive damages in certain types of cases. Unlike many states, California does not arbitrarily limit these, but they are rarely granted. Punitive damages are used for two primary purposes: to deter bad conduct and to punish extremely reckless, intentional, malicious, or wanton behavior. It is rare to find this level of conduct in a medical malpractice case, but it does indeed happen sometimes.
Wrongful Death Caused By Birth Injuries
Losing a child during delivery is a profound and devastating experience, and you may have questions regarding what happened and whether medical negligence played a role.
In California, certain family members may be able to pursue a wrongful death claim, which can address expenses such as funeral costs and counseling, as well as provide a way to hold healthcare providers legally accountable.
Typically, wrongful death lawsuits are filed by a parent or, if unavailable, by other heirs such as siblings or grandparents under California probate laws. While parents usually receive compensation, in rare cases, other relatives, like a grandparent, may also be entitled, especially if the parents are deceased. The damages awarded often include mental health and grief counseling, emotional distress, burial and funeral expenses, and other support to help the family cope with the loss of a child.
Hire A California Birth Injury Lawyer Who Can Advocate For You
If a terrible birth injury has rocked your family, you should not have to go through it alone. Sometimes it helps to get answers and understand why and how the injury occurred. Arash Law provides free initial case consultations, during which you can get answers to some of your more complex legal questions.
Our birth injury lawyers can review your situation and explain your legal options. If an investigation suggests that a medical provider did not meet the applicable standard of care, we may assist you in pursuing compensation.
An investigation can help families understand the true causes of an injury, especially when details are not otherwise available. Thus, a family may go years wondering about the true causes of an injury. Our investigation process aims to provide families with accurate details about the circumstances surrounding their case.
Whether you choose to pursue compensation or not, this can be a healing and helpful process. To start an investigation or to discuss your case with a birth injury lawyer near you, call our injury law firm at (888) 488-1391. We provide free initial consultations.
