Birth Injuries

At Lock Law Firm, our medical malpractice attorneys represent parents whose children were injured at birth. One specific sub-category of birth injury cases are cases called shoulder dystocia.

MS. JENNIFER E. TROAST: One type of medical malpractice or medical negligence case that we handle at the Locks Law Firm are birth injury cases and one specific sub-category of birth injury cases are cases called shoulder dystocia and shoulder dystocia is a medical term which means during the delivery process, the baby’s shoulder gets stuck in the birth canal or stuck behind the mother’s pubic bone and while the baby’s head is able to be delivered without any difficulty, once the baby’s shoulder begins to come down the birth canal, the shoulder gets stuck and the baby is unable to be delivered safely. The medical negligence comes in in a shoulder dystocia case when the delivering physician is unable to deliver the baby without using some type of force to get the baby out and the negligence occurs when the doctor will frequently apply too much force, excessive force, by placing his or her hands around the baby’s neck or on the baby’s head and use too much force to try and get the baby out of the birth canal. One of the complications that can arise when shoulder dystocia occurs is a brachial plexus injury. Brachial plexus is a medical term which describes the nerves that are found in a human neck and in the baby’s neck and in a baby they are not quite developed and when a doctor applies too much force in trying to get the baby out of the birth canal, these brachial plexus nerves can be torn, stretched and actually the nerve can be unplugged from its root. The medical negligence that occurs with shoulder dystocia, when the doctor applies too much traction, and causes a brachial plexus injury, this can be prevented. This is a preventable injury. All the risk factors are something that a doctor can evaluate prior to delivery and if those risk factors point him or her in the direction of shoulder dystocia, then the doctor must have a conversation with the mother about having an alternative to a vaginal delivery such as a C-Section that can avoid shoulder dystocia occurring. It is a very serious and significant injury, one that can be prevented, and it’s the type of birth injury that we handle very frequently here at the Locks Law Firm and if you or anyone you know has had an injury like that to a child, we ask that you call us and we will be glad to speak with you. MR. MICHAEL A. GALPERN: Another very closely related problem, and in fact the same risk factors that can cause shoulder dystocia also cause another very severe, very permanent problem known as Cerebral Palsy and Cerebral Palsy is literally death of the brain cells, most often due to lack of oxygen. Now, a lot of things can cause lack of oxygen. Most of the causes in an infant are due to medical negligence. 10,000 cases of Cerebral Palsy are diagnosed every single year and that number is also very conservative because this is a problem that is under-diagnosed, as opposed to over-diagnosed. The vast majority of Cerebral Palsy cases in infants and newborns are due to improper delivery. Now this is not a fleeting or transient injury. This is a life-long problem that will devastate the child and devastate the parents and devastate everybody in the family. Conservative estimates are that it will cost over $2 million in medical and lifetime expenses to care for a child with Cerebral Palsy. It’s such a tragedy and what’s even worse, is this is also usually a preventable injury. If you or a loved one believe that you are the victim of a medical negligence and specifically that you or a loved one has a child who you believe has Cerebral Palsy, it’s important to speak to an attorney as soon as possible so the attorney can get a clear copy of the records and analyze them and have them reviewed by an expert physician. One other problem that we see quite often is people know that a Cerebral Palsy child has until his 18th or 20th birthday, in most states, to file a lawsuit. It’s a mistake to wait that long to see an attorney. If you believe that your child has Cerebral Palsy or any other of the various birth defects that can be caused by improper delivery, it’s important to just talk to an attorney that handles these cases on a regular basis. At the Locks Law Firm we have dealt with many cases of Cerebral Palsy and we have enlisted the assistance of many specialists in this field to help analyze and cull through the medical records and we will be able to properly analyze if you have a case of medical malpractice for shoulder dystocia or Cerebral Palsy or some of the other devastating birth defects.