Carmel Brachial Plexus Injury Attorneys

Millions Recovered for Our Clients

The birth of a baby is one of the most important emotional moments in the lives of the parents. It is also one of the most important moments in the life of the baby to make certain that the baby’s life begins safely, without injury. The vast majority of child deliveries performed in this country by health care providers occur in a safe and professional manner without injury to the baby or the mother.

Unfortunately, babies do sometimes sustain serious and permanent personal injury during the birth process as a result of a delivering health care provider’s failure to comply with reasonable standards of medical care. One of the most common serious and permanent birth-related injuries is damage to nerves in the brachial plexus nerve complex of a baby’s upper extremity during the birth process.

Contact us online or by phone at (317) 526-4467 for a free consultation. Our founding attorney at The Cline Law Firm is in the prestigious Inner Circle of Advocates and has the passion and experience needed to fight and win for his clients.

What Is the Brachial Plexus Nerve?

The brachial plexus is a network of nerves located in the shoulder that controls movement and sensory signals from the spinal cord to the arms and the hands. There are five nerves in the brachial plexus nerve complex in each upper extremity of a human being.

The brachial plexus nerves run from the neck through the shoulder and into each upper extremity. Traumatic brachial plexus injuries involve sudden damage to these nerves, and can potentially cause weakness, loss of feeling, or loss of movement in the areas in the arm, hand, or shoulder.

How Brachial Plexus Nerves Can Be Injured During the Birth Process

During vaginal delivery, the shoulder of a baby can become impacted upon the mother’s pubic bone as the baby passes through the maternal pelvis. This is a rare but well-known complication of vaginal delivery known in the medical field as shoulder dystocia. All health care providers who deliver babies are aware that shoulder dystocia can occur during delivery.

Most health care providers who deliver babies will encounter shoulder dystocia one or more times during their medical practice. All health care providers who deliver babies are taught and trained on how to recognize shoulder dystocia and how to relieve the impact that occurs during a delivery without causing injury to a baby.

Unfortunately, health care providers sometimes forget their knowledge and training and panic during shoulder dystocia delivery, causing permanent injury to the brachial plexus nerves in a baby’s upper extremity. When that happens, it is almost always the result of the failure of the delivering health care provider to comply with reasonable standards of medical care during the prenatal, labor, and/or delivery process.

When a baby’s shoulder becomes impacted upon the mother’s pubic bone during vaginal delivery, special maneuvers must be performed by the delivering health care provider and his or her assistants to relieve the shoulder impact without injuring the nerves in the baby’s upper extremities.

These maneuvers, when carefully and correctly performed, should prevent any permanent injury to a baby’s brachial plexus nerves. However, when the delivering health care providers fail to correctly perform these maneuvers, permanent injury can occur. Some health care providers, when confronted with shoulder dystocia, forget or ignore their knowledge and training and, instead, panic.

By improperly pulling or twisting on the baby’s head while the baby’s shoulder remains impacted on the mother’s pubic bone, the brachial plexus nerves leading from the baby’s neck into either arm can be stretched to the point that the nerves are ruptured or avulsed (pulled off the spinal cord). When this occurs, a baby will have a partially or fully paralyzed upper extremity for life.

Lawsuits Regarding Birth-Related, Brachial Plexus Nerve Injuries Are Important, Complicated & Difficult To Win

When brachial plexus nerves are permanently injured during the birth process, the child faces a lifetime of:

• Medical treatment
• Permanent impairment
• And substantial economic loss

You need an attorney who knows and understands the life-long implications of these injuries to children and who has substantial knowledge regarding the medicine necessary to prove that the child’s permanent injuries and impairments were caused by substandard health care.

Before hiring an attorney to handle such a case for your child and for you, you should carefully interview the attorney regarding his or her knowledge, training, and experience in handling this type of lawsuit, including the number of trials that the attorney has successfully concluded regarding shoulder dystocia deliveries.

How to Choose the Best Brachial Plexus Injury Lawyer for You

Before you hire an attorney to represent your child and yourself in this type of lawsuit, you should carefully interview any attorney you are considering to determine:

• What experience that attorney has in handling this type of lawsuit
• What the outcome has been in any such lawsuit handled by the attorney
• And whether the attorney plans on representing you and your child directly or referring you to another attorney

Mr. Cline has the knowledge, training, and experience to handle this type of lawsuit and will directly perform the work on the lawsuit. At any given time, Mr. Cline typically has at least three or four of these lawsuits in progress.

How Our Team Can Help You & Your Child

Attorney Lance D. Cline has successfully represented many babies and their parents in medical malpractice litigation involving the occurrence of shoulder dystocia during a vaginal delivery with resulting permanent injuries to a baby. He has successfully concluded 30 such lawsuits, some by verdict and some by settlement, receiving the maximum payment allowable under Indiana law in nearly every case.

He has successfully tried cases for such injured infants in Indiana, Kentucky, and Georgia. He has collected many millions of dollars for such injured children and their parents. The successful resolution of these previous cases provides no guarantee or promise what the result of your child's potential claim may be.

Call our Carmel brachial plexus injury attorneys at (317) 526-4467 to get started on your case child's case. We are a law firm nationally recognized for this work, which focuses our time and energy on representing Hoosier families and children.