Brain / Head Injury During Birth

One of the most serious personal injury cases that can occur during birth is a head or brain injury. This can be a devastating event when a child is harmed in the beginning of life. An unexpected event such as this changes the lives of every family member and its important to understand what went wrong and if it could have been prevented.

Possible Causes of Your Child’s Injury

A brain injury usually results from either mechanical injury, such as improper use of forceps by a doctor, or from loss of oxygen to the fetal brain during delivery.

Oxygen deprivation can result if the umbilical cord is knotted around the infant’s neck, the placenta prematurely separates from the uterus, the uterine wall ruptures causing a sudden drop in fetal blood pressure, or if infection or hemorrhaging (of either infant or mother) interferes with the blood supply to the fetus’ brain.

It is critical in these cases that physicians recognize and respond immediately to signs of fetal distress. In cases of uterine rupture, for example, the doctor may have as little as 13 to 17 minutes to perform an emergency c-section before permanent brain damage occurs.

Contact a Birth Injury Attorney

Doctors who fail to deliver the standard of care necessary in these emergency situations may be guilty of medical malpractice and you may be able to file a birth injury lawsuit. However, if you plan on filing a lawsuit, you should contact a lawyer immediately. Each state has a time limit, called a statute of limitations, restricting how long you have to file a claim. The time limit varies from state to state. If you wait too long you will not be able to take legal action.