2 Criteria For A Birth Injury Case

Posted on: 3 December 2018

In most cases, the birth of a new baby goes smoothly and with no problems. However, that's not always the truth. Sometimes, there are serious problems that happen, things that can cause an injury to the mother or the child at the time of birth. If there was a birth injury involved in the birth of your child, you may be able to file a suit the doctor, hospital, or other medical professionals involved. What are some of the criteria to determine if you have a birth injury case?

Injury vs. Defect

One of the criteria of a birth injury case is to figure out if it's a birth injury or a birth defect. There are differences between the two. A birth defect is something that is inherent to the child and would exist no matter what. For example, spina bifida is a birth defect, because it is an abnormality with the spine and would exist on the child no matter how or where the child was born. However, Sylvester Stallone is a prime example of a birth injury. When he was born, the doctor incorrectly used the forceps to help deliver him and a nerve was severed in his face, causing his face to be partially paralyzed. Injuries due to forceps are actually some of the most common birth injuries. 

Provable Malpractice

Another criterion for your birth injury case, you need to prove that the doctor acted negligently and cause the injury. There are different things that you need to do for this. One is that you need to prove that there was some kind of doctor/patient relationship between you and your child. One way to do that is to show that the doctor was the one who delivered the child or who supervised the birth. You can do that by affidavits from people there or by video or pictures that show the doctor was present. Another part of proving malpractice is that you are going to have to show that the doctor acted in a way that wasn't the best medical choice for the situation and in a way that another doctor, with the same training and skills, wouldn't have chosen because it was against the standard of care. That can be harder to prove because you will have to talk to another doctor and give them your side of the story. 

If you have a child who was injured at birth, you may have a case against the doctor who was there at the birth. 

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