Indianapolis Birth Injury Lawyer

Holding Medical Professionals Accountable For Birth-Related Injuries

Unfortunately, both a baby and a mother can be injured during the delivery process as a result of a delivering health care provider’s failure to comply with reasonable standards of medical care under the circumstances that exist. A birth-related injury to a baby can have life-long adverse consequences for both the child and the child’s family. This is particularly true when the birth-related injury involves a neurological injury to a baby’s brain or extremities.

Such injuries can result in substantial medical expenses, lost income for the child and the child’s parents, and future support care for the child. Such injuries can also result in devastating, life-long impairments in the child’s physical, cognitive, and emotional condition. Our Indianapolis birth injury attorneys are serious and dedicated in our representation of babies and children who have sustained birth-related injuries and of the families who have such a child as a member.

We Are Experienced in Birth Injury Investigation

If you are concerned that you have a child who has sustained a birth-related injury that may be the result of substandard health care during the pregnancy, labor, or delivery process, our birth injury lawyers are ready to help you. We can conduct a thorough investigation of the facts regarding the pregnancy, labor, and delivery to determine if the treatment provided to the mother and child was reasonable and safe or failed to comply with reasonable standards of medical care under the circumstances that existed. We have substantial knowledge, training, and experience in handling this type of litigation and have collected many millions of dollars for children who have sustained negligently-caused birth injuries.

Contact us online or by phone at (317) 526-4467 for a free consultation from our award-winning birth injury attorneys in Indianapolis.

Types of Birth Injuries that Can Be Caused By Negligent Health Care

Babies can be injured in several different ways as a result of negligent health care during the pregnancy, labor, or delivery process. Common types of birth injury that can cause severe and permanent injuries, impairment, harms, and losses to a child include the following

• Brain Injury: A baby can sustain a permanent and devastating brain injury during pregnancy or during the labor and delivery process. The primary way that a baby can sustain a brain injury is due to inadequate oxygenation during the labor and delivery process. This can be caused by a lack of adequate oxygenated blood flow to the baby through the umbilical cord caused by umbilical cord compression or prolapse or by inadequate blood flow through the umbilical cord caused by disruption of the placenta or the umbilical cord. The neurological status of a baby’s brain in utero is monitored through a fetal heart rate monitor during labor. Mistakes in the interpretation of fetal heart rate tracings or failure to timely review fetal heart rate tracings can result in permanent injury to a baby’s brain in utero before or during labor and prior to delivery.

• Cerebral Palsy: Cerebral palsy is a group of disorders that affect a person’s ability to move and maintain balance and posture. It is the most common motor disability in childhood. Symptoms can include exaggerated reflexes, floppy or rigid limbs, poor coordination, and tremors. Although cerebral palsy can be a congenital process unrelated to the birth process, cerebral palsy can also be caused by the negligent mismanagement of labor and delivery, primarily when a baby does not receive adequate oxygenated blood or other nutrients from the umbilical cord during labor or the delivery process. In addition to physical injuries and impairments, children with cerebral palsy can also have cognitive and emotional injuries.

• Brachial Plexus Nerve Injuries: These injuries occur when a baby’s shoulder becomes impacted upon the mother’s public bone during the vaginal delivery process. If a delivering health care provider fails to comply with reasonable standards of medical care in relieving the shoulder impact, then nerves leaving the baby’s neck and entering into a baby’s upper extremity can be stretched, ruptured, or pulled off of the spinal cord, resulting in permanent injury and impairment in the affected upper extremity. This type of injury is also known as Erb’s Palsy or Klumpke’s Palsy depending upon the specific nerves injured.

• Group B Strep and Neonatal Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV): A baby can be exposed to harmful bacteria and viruses during the labor and delivery process. Exposure to harmful bacteria and viruses can cause severe and permanent injuries and impairments in the baby if the bacteria or virus are not timely diagnosed and treated.

• Injuries Caused by Obstetrical Instruments: A baby can be injured during the delivery process through the use of forceps or a vacuum extraction device. These injuries can include skull fractures, brain injury, scalp hematomas, and physical disfigurement.

• Death: Babies can be injured during the labor and delivery process. This is particularly true if they do not receive adequate oxygenation from blood through the umbilical cord during labor and delivery or as a result of an infection process during labor. The lack of adequate oxygen delivery to a baby in utero can result in the death of the baby in utero or after birth.

How Our Birth-Injury Team Can Help You And Your Child

Attorney Lance D. Cline has 40 years of experience in handling birth injury cases. He has successfully handled scores of such cases for Indiana families. He is familiar with the medical issues and medical literature relevant to birth injury litigation. He has consulted with obstetricians, maternal-fetal medicine specialists, neonatologists, and pediatric neurologists throughout the country on the cases that he has handled for fellow Hoosiers.

Before hiring an attorney to handle such a serious legal matter as a birth injury lawsuit, be certain to interview the attorney regarding his or her direct experience in handling such complicated litigation. Ask the attorney if he or she will be directly handling the lawsuit for your family or refer it out to another attorney and about his or her experience in trying such cases before a jury or a judge. Look for an attorney who has the knowledge and experience to handle the complicated matter with which you will entrust the attorney.

Seek justice on behalf of your loved one. Call our Indianapolis birth injury attorneys today to schedule your same-day or next-day appointment at (317) 526-4467. We look forward to hearing your story and to representing your child and your family.