It’s an unfortunate fact that thousands of children every year are born healthy — or would be, if it weren’t for the fact that medical malpractice caused cerebral palsy and other brain injuries, simply because of mistakes made during delivery.

Has your child been born with cerebral palsy and perhaps other related disabilities because of your doctor’s mistakes? If so, you may be entitled to compensation; you can file a medical malpractice claim with the help of a personal injury attorney in New York City against your doctor, and receive compensation for your pain and suffering. You will also likely need compensation to take care of your child and to provide the special treatment he or she will now need, perhaps for the rest of his or her life.

Types of mistakes that can cause cerebral palsy and other birth injuries:

  • Failure to see that the mother has dangerous conditions like high blood pressure or toxemia, both of which can cause birth complications like cerebral palsy
  • Excessive force during birth, such as with a vacuum extraction
  • Improperly using forceps
  • Failure to ascertain that the umbilical cord has wrapped around the child’s neck, depriving the brain of oxygen
  • Not performing a caesarean section even when the baby is clearly in danger
  • Not responding to a slow fetal heart rate, which could signal that the baby is in trouble
  • Failure to diagnose and treat jaundice in time to prevent damage
  • Failure to properly treat seizures after birth, resulting in permanent brain damage

Medical staff, including the doctors and nurses directly responsible for the delivery, are expected to provide a certain standard of care that keeps your child and you safe before, and during and after the birth process. When this minimal standard of care is not met, your child can suffer permanent brain damage they could have lasting effects. Your personal injury attorney in Manhattan, Queens, or the Bronx will do everything he or she can to see that at least some justice is done, and you receive compensation for the negligence, incompetence or carelessness shown by your doctor and surrounding medical staff.

How do you know you and your child have been the victims of medical malpractice?

  • Your baby required resuscitation after he or she was born
  • Your child required care by a specialist, perhaps spending time in the neonatal intensive care unit.
  • The child had seizures right after birth or within the first few days afterward
  • Your child had an emergency birth, a birth that necessitated a caesarean section or emergency use of forceps or a vacuum for withdrawal.
  • Your child required assistance with breathing or oxygen after birth.

Contact a NYC personal injury lawyer if you need help

Although no one can erase what happened to you and your child during his or her birth, you can at least receive compensation for pain and suffering so that you can take care of your child and any special needs he or she may now have. Consult with a personal injury attorney in NYC to have your case reviewed, at no charge. If your attorney agrees to take your case on, he or she will fight for you to get the best compensation possible, and won’t charge anything up front.