What are the different types of birth injuries?
The most common types of birth injuries are Cerebral Palsy, Brain Damage, Erb's Palsy, Klumpke's Palsy and Brachial Plexis Palsy.

What is Cerebral Palsy?
Cerebral Palsy is a disorder that affects a person's body movements and muscle coordination. Cerebral Palsy is caused by damage to the brain before, during or shortly following birth. There are three types of Cerebral Palsy, including Spastic, which results in difficult and stiff movements; Ataxic, which causes loss of depth perception and sense of balance; and Athetoid, which causes uncontrolled and involuntary movements. The area of the brain that has been damaged will determine how Cerebral Palsy will effect a person. The different effects include mental retardation, seizures, impairment of speech, hearing and sight, abnormal perception and sensation, problems in gait and mobility, involuntary movement and muscle spasm or tightness.

What causes Cerebral Palsy?
One of the main causes of Cerebral Palsy is when not enough oxygen reaches the newborn or fetal brain. The correct amount of oxygen may be unable to reach the newborn or fetal brain due to a variety of reasons, including an unusual birth position of the baby, the placenta separating prematurely from the uterus wall, labor that is too long or too quick, or a problem with circulation in the umbilical cord. While in every labor, there is some degree of "stress" to the fetus, it is fetal "distress" that doctors and nurses must detect and relieve quickly. Lack of oxygen to the brain can cause fetal distress, which can be detected by correctly interpreting the fetal monitor strip. If the fetal distress is not diagnosed or treated soon enough, a child may be born with Cerebral Palsy or another kind of birth injury.

What is Brachial Plexus Palsy?
Brachial Plexus Palsy is when damage occurs to the brachial plexus, a group of nerves that run from the shoulder to the spine. These nerves control muscle movement in the hands, arms and shoulder. Erb's Palsy occurs when there is damage to the upper plexus. Klumpke's Palsy occurs when there is damage to the lower plexus.

What causes damage to the brachial plexus?
Injuries to these nerves usually occur during the natural delivery of a larger infant. Sometimes a baby will be too large to pass through the mother's pelvis, which may result in the baby's shoulder becoming lodged behind the mother's pubic bone after the head has been delivered. If a doctor attempts to continue with the natural delivery rather than performing a C-section, the baby's neck can be stretched causing nerve damage. Children with Erb's Palsy, which is caused due to damage to the upper plexus, have lack of movement in the arm and shoulder. Children with Klumpke's Palsy, which is caused due to damage to the the lower plexus, have less movement in the wrist and hand.

What is negligence in a birth injury case?
A doctor is negligent when he or she fails to use the degree of skill and learning ordinarily used under the same or similar circumstances by members of their profession.

What are some examples of a doctor's negligence in birth injury cases?
Fetal distress, such as cardiac arrhythmia (irregular heartbeat), bradycardia (slow heartbeat) and tachycardia (rapid heartbeat), can be determined by properly analyzing a fetal heart monitor. If a doctor fails to act quickly when a fetus is in distress, and the baby suffers a lack of oxygen to the brain, the doctor may be found negligent. In the case of Brachial Plexus Palsy, a doctor may also be found negligent if he or she doesn't recognize the indicators of a large baby and doesn't use the correct delivery technique. Some of the ways a doctor should be able to identify a large baby include: Gestational diabetes, excessive weight gain during pregnancy, an obese mother, maternal history and the fundal height of McDonald measurement, which is an external measurement from the top of the pubis to the top of the uterus.

How do you prove a doctor's negligence in a birth injury case?
Your lawyer must carefully study the baby's medical records, including neonatal and labor and delivery records, and also look for deviations from the standard of care. The fetal heart monitor strip and labor and delivery records must be examined to find out if there were irregular readings, meconium staining and fetal scalp blood pH determination. A fetus' blood pH will decrease when there is a buildup of acid level in the blood. This buildup occurs when a fetus is not receiving enough oxygen. Many cases where babies have been born with brain damage have been linked to oxygen deprivation and pH readings. It's up to a highly qualified lawyer to determine if a doctor or other medical staff deviated from the standard of care, which as a result caused your child unnecessary damage. If you feel that your child has suffered some kind of birth injury due to a negligent doctor, please contact us.

What types of damages are awarded in birth injury cases?
There are usually two types of damages awarded - economic and non-economic. Economic damages deal with anything that can be replaced with money, including expenses of necessary medical care, hospitalization, treatment, loss of income or earning capacity, loss of time, the reasonable value of services provided by family members for free and the cost of hiring someone to perform normal household duties. Non-economic damages can be awarded for those losses that don't have a dollar amount, such as pain and suffering, mental anguish, physical impairment or disability, disfigurement, inconvenience and loss of enjoyment of life. The damages awarded for birth injuries vary from case to case.