Injuries to Children
Florida injury lawyers focusing on children that are injured throughout Florida including the greater Miami and Ft. Lauderdale areas.
When you are in the care of a knowledgeable obstetrician, you trust that he or she will do everything possible to make sure you deliver a healthy child. A trained obstetrician is taught to follow a very specific protocol during labor and delivery. Because pregnancy is a vulnerable condition prone to complications, any deviation from protocol can put babies at risk, or cause them to suffer severe and lifelong injuries, including death.
A “birth injury” is defined as damage sustained during the birthing process. Most births are joyous events handled properly by medical care professionals. However, about three in every 100 births result in some type of serious birth injury. If your child suffers from the effects of a birth injury, and you feel something could have been done to prevent it, contact Chalik & Chalik. We have skilled medical experts trained to recognize evidence of malpractice, and we will go in-depth to find out what really happened to your child.
Complications in the process of pregnancy, labor and delivery can result in a wide variety of complications for a newborn baby. Birth injuries vary greatly – from very minor to being so severe as to cause the death of the infant. Common types of birth injuries include:
- Fractures of the collar bone and arm
- Brain damage or brain injury
- Paralysis
- Skin irritations
- Head and neck injuries
- Cerebral palsy
- Erb's palsy
- Brachial plexus palsy
The most serious birth injuries involve damage to the infant's brain, causing brain damage, traumatic brain injury, seizures and mental retardation. These brain injuries are caused by oxygen deprivation or bleeding inside the brain from trauma during pregnancy, labor or delivery.
There are also many "natural" circumstances wherein oxygen deprivation can occur during the labor and delivery process: the umbilical cord can become compressed or twisted in the birth process; the baby is too large to pass through the birth canal easily or the baby is breach or sideways in the womb.
If your child has been diagnosed with a birth injury due to the negligence of others, you may be entitled to monetary compensation. To determine if a birth injury was caused by negligence, all the medical records need to be obtained and reviewed. An expert needs to review the records, a summary of the records should be made, and medical literature often needs to be collected to determine whether the case has merit. The process can take several months.
There may be time limitations to a birth injury case, so please contact the birth injury attorneys Chalik & Chalik as soon as possible. In the state of Florida, medical malpractice actions must be commenced within two years from the date of the act giving rise to injury, or within two years from the date the injury was or should have been detected, but no malpractice action may be commenced more than four years following the act giving rise to the injury. These limitations apply to minors aged 8 or older. For injuries to a child under the age of 8 resulting from medical malpractice, under Florida law the child must file suit by his or her 8th birthday or within the standard limitations period outlined above, whichever time period is greater.
If your doctor made a mistake during labor and delivery, Chalik & Chalik will hold the doctor or hospital accountable and get you the financial compensation you need to care for your child. Contact our Florida birth injury attorneys today for your complimentary medical malpractice consultation.
