When your innocent baby is born with a birth injury, due to no fault of your own, it’s a devastating feeling for any Philadelphia parent. We want our children to have the healthiest lives possible, and when we see our children with serious health problems, it’s never easy.
Also, it might not be easy financially, which is why many parents choose to pursue personal injury lawsuits when their children are born with birth injuries. When evaluating whether they should pursue such a lawsuit, parents usually have a lot of questions.
Here are some questions that personal injury lawyers frequently answer for parents of children with birth injuries:
What circumstances could lead to a birth injury lawsuit? Most birth injury lawsuits happen after errors made by the treating physician. Perhaps your doctor didn’t identify a problem with you or your baby early enough, or maybe your doctor failed to respond appropriately to problems that led to your baby suffering an avoidable birth injury. Other birth injuries might relate to recklessly prescribed prescription drugs, or dangerous drugs that never should have been manufactured.
Do all birth injury cases result in a viable claim for damages? Not all birth injuries are the fault of the doctor. Sometimes, they are naturally occurring issues that your doctor couldn’t have prevented.
What’s the difference between birth injuries and birth defects? Although the terms are often used interchangeably, there is an important difference. Birth injuries happen while the mother is actually given birth. Something goes wrong, and the baby gets hurt. Birth defects happen while the baby is forming in the mother’s womb during the pregnancy itself.
Are birth injuries and birth defects common? Approximately five birth injuries happen out of every 1,000 babies. Approximately seven birth defects happen out of every 100 babies.
If your baby was born with an injury, it’s important to determine exactly what happened to cause that injury. Parents may, therefore, wish to speak with a doctor, pediatrician and other experts as soon as possible to determine why their baby is hurt.