Birth Injury Attorneys

If your family has suffered a birth injury, or if you lost your child or your partner during childbirth, we may be able to help in a case against the medical staff and facility that handled the birth. Let us focus on your case, so you can focus on your family.

As parents, Michelle, Chris and Jessica know that the birth of a child, after months of eager anticipation, is a joyous occasion. Tragically, the negligence of hospitals and healthcare providers can turn this wonderful day into a nightmarish experience with severe and lasting consequences. Many of these profound injuries could and should have been prevented. Injuries experienced during birth can change your and your child’s lives forever. Birth injury can bring emotional, financial, and physical challenges, require ongoing medical treatments, therapies, and change the course of your family’s future. If these injuries were caused by medical negligence, a lawsuit can result in compensation to assist with the overwhelming expenses of raising a child with mental or physical disabilities.

Birth Injuries Suffered By Mothers

Giving birth in Texas should not be dangerous, but – based on information collected by the Texas Department of health and Human services, nearly 400 pregnant or new mothers died in Texas over a three year period of time. Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Rates | Texas DSHS

Most maternal deaths and severe health outcomes during and after pregnancy are preventable. These include the failures to treat infection resulting in sepsis, postpartum hemorrhage (PPH), Group A Strep infections, uterine ruptures, ectopic pregnancies, previable premature rupture of membranes, and miscarriage mismanagement.

At Marynell Maloney Law Firm, PLLC, we represent women through the entire spectrum of reproductive healthcare and focus on violations of reproductive and civil rights.

Birth Injuries Suffered By Babies

Birth injuries can be extremely varied. Birth injuries can be caused during fetal development by inappropriate medications or failure to diagnose gestational diabetes, during the birthing process, or even shortly after birth. Medical providers are responsible for caring for the expectant mother and fetus during pregnancy, during labor and delivery, and immediately after delivery. Hospitals are required to have processes in place to assure adequate care during these vulnerable times, and their failures to do so can cause injury to your child.

Some common – but devastating birth injuries suffered by babies include:

• Cerebral palsy: A neurological disorder that affects muscle coordination and voluntary movements.
• Hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE): Caused by low blood-oxygen levels, typically during prolonged labor or complicated pregnancy.
• Facial paralysis and nerve injuries including Erb’s palsy: Weakness or paralysis on one side of the face due to damage to facial nerve branches
• Shoulder dystocia and brachial plexus injury: Occurs when the baby’s shoulder is stuck behind the pelvis during delivery, and can cause damage to the nerves of the shoulder, arm, and hand caused by excessive stretching, and brain injury.
• C-section errors: Mistakes during the process of performing a C-section, often putting both the mother and child at risk.
• Intracranial hemorrhage: Bleeding within brain tissue due to trauma during the delivery process, resulting in serious consequences for the infant’s health and development.
• Skull fractures and broken bones: Bone fractures sustained during labor or the delivery process, often due to medical negligence.

Brain Injury From Birth Trauma

Health care providers must respond quickly in a crisis; any hesitation or mistakes when faced with unexpected bleeding, umbilical cord entrapment, or signs of fetal distress may result in serious injury to your child. Medical mistakes and failures like understaffing are the cause of thousands of brain injuries during delivery. Deprivation of oxygen can cause irreparable harm and permanent damage resulting in cognitive, speech, and motor defects. While some infants are diagnosed shortly after birth, others are diagnosed later in childhood, often upon failure to meet developmental milestones. There is no cure for brain injuries, including cerebral palsy, but therapies and resources can help your child live the best life possible.

I Suspect My Child’s Injuries Are The Result Of Medical Negligence, But I’m Hesitant To Contact A Lawyer.

While it’s understandable that you would prefer to concentrate on your child’s well-being in this difficult time, it’s important to consider your and your child’s future. If your child’s prognosis is long-term or permanent, think about their long-term care. Depending on the extent of the injury or disability, this care may range from extensive physical therapy to assisted care to adaptive technologies to expensive medications — all with attendant medical bills. Furthermore, Texas law imposes strict deadlines on the time in which you can bring a medical malpractice case. If you wait, you and your child may lose your causes of action against a negligent health care provider. We are deeply committed to holding those responsible for birth injuries to infants accountable, and we will fight to see that your child gets the best quality of life possible.

If you have any questions, or just want to get answers, you can contact us at 210-446-0035 or complete our contact form.