Birth Injury Attorney Longwood, FL

There are several ways that birth injuries can happen. Sometimes, a baby suffers a temporary injury, while other times a disability lasts a lifetime. It can be truly devastating for a parent to find out their doctor may have made a critical error which led to their baby enduring such challenges. The biggest hope for parents is that their baby will come into the world happy and healthy. When a doctor or medical staff may be to blame for the baby arriving with a serious condition, the parents may have the right to pursue legal action as a way to seek justice and financial compensation.

Q: Are all injuries noticeable right after birth?

A: A birth injury may have occurred but is not always noticeable immediately. In some cases, the baby shows obvious signs of disability, bruises, cuts, or discoloration right after birth. For others, the impacts of a birth injury may not be observed until the child starts grade school. It is the responsibility of the doctor to provide a standard of medical care prior to, during, and after the birth of the child. If a doctor or medical personnel committed any of the following, it may be time to consider meeting with an attorney:

• Used birth delivery tools in a manner it was not intended for
• Did not respond with a sense of urgency to fetal distress
• Did not administer the correct amount or type of medication during labor
• Failed to admit the mother to an emergency C-section quickly
• Failed to observe problems in the fetus prior to delivery
• Did not attentively monitor the baby’s heart rate during labor
• Failed to detect and treat the mother’s infections prior to labor

Q: What if the baby is deprived of oxygen?

A: If the baby lacks sufficient oxygen at any point during delivery, the doctor must respond rapidly with treatment strategies. In many cases, the baby becomes deprived of oxygen when the delivery has prolonged unnecessarily. Insufficient oxygen can also happen due to preeclampsia, placental abruption, placenta previa, umbilical cord issues, uterine rupture, oligohydramnios, and premature membrane rupture.

Q: What happens during a delayed birth?

A: One of the leading reasons why birth injuries happen are due to delayed births. The human body and brain was not designed to withstand pressure for an extended period of time. But, many challenging and strenuous deliveries can last 20 hours or more. Around this time, the compression the baby may experience becomes life-threatening. Signs that the baby could be in extreme fetal distress can include:

• Decreased movement in the womb
• Abnormal heart rate (tachycardia or bradycardia)
• Abnormal amniotic fluid level
• Maternal vaginal bleeding
• Maternal severe cramping

Q: How do I know whether I should meet with an attorney?

A: If your baby exhibited signs of birth injury and suffered temporary or long-term effects, you may want to talk with a birth injury attorney Longwood, FL trusts at David & Philpot, P.L. about your rights. Depending on the factors that contributed to the birth injury, you may have the foundation for a birth injury lawsuit.