Although we don’t hear about them very often, medical malpractice cases involving pregnant women are quite common. In case you or someone in your family has had a birth-related malpractice situation on their hands, you need a reputable accidents attorney’s help and a lot of additional info on who you can sue and how damages can be obtained.

What is a birth related medical malpractice case?

This is typically a malpractice situation when staff in a hospital or medical facility acts in a negligent manner. What does negligent manner mean? Well, typically that they failed to use reasonable care, which resulted in injury to both the mother and child, wrongful birth, wrongful pregnancy or other life threatening conditions.

There are different rules related to each of the above, and the damages correspond to the severity of the situation.

Birth injury to the child or the mother

This may typically occur during the birth process or prior to it, and may result in injuries to the mother, the infant or even both. Some of the very difficult medical cases involved here include negligently failing to control blood loss post delivery on the mother, failing to control oxygen intake for the baby or the mother, pre or post delivery.

Typically, if the baby is injured post delivery, the parents, as the legal guardians, are the ones who must bring the lawsuit. There are both general and special damages involved with such trials. These may include the cost of suffering (physical and or mental)).

There are more serious cases, where a doctor or medical staff will erroneously decide to deliver an infant prematurely, resulting in brain damage. More damages can be paid on such cases, including rehabilitation, developmental needs and medical expenses recovery.

In case of injury to the mother during or after child birth, she is the one who legally has the right to sue. Several malpractice issues with the mother can occur during birth, prior or even after. One typical case could be the fact that the doctor did not observe the mother’s high blood pressure, a condition known as preeclampsia, and the mother has a seizure during.

What happens in wrongful birth cases?

Typically, parents claim that the doctor should have warned them about their child’s impending birth defects and that if they had known, they would have either avoided the pregnancy or ended the pregnancy.

You should know that birth related cases of malpractice are pretty complex and can entail a lot of legal and medical issues. This means you should never rely on your own knowledge and represent yourself. Do your best to contact a specialized accidents and personal injury attorney who will be able to represent your interest best.