If you or your child sustained injuries while giving birth, contact the Columba, MO birth injury lawyers at Peterson & Associates, P.C. to learn about your legal options.
Following the devastation of a birth injury, families need an attorney they can trust and depend on to fight for them during this challenging time. The Columbia, Missouri birth injury attorneys at Peterson & Associates, P.C. are ready to discuss your birth injury case and explain how we can help you collect the maximum amount of financial compensation for your damages. Our legal professionals are here to help you and your family move forward with complete financial recovery.
When a newborn is injured after, during, or before delivery, it is painful and traumatizing, particularly when the birth injury is caused by insufficient or improper medical care or negligence. If your child sustained an injury due to a physician’s breach of care, the Columbia team of birth injury attorneys at Peterson & Associates, P.C. will fight for you to get the recovery that you and your family deserve to safeguard the future of you and your child.
Contact our Missouri birth injury lawyers to schedule your complimentary case evaluation to see how Peterson & Associates, P.C. can help.
Birth Injuries in Columbia, MO
Between 6 to 8 of 1,000 babies born in the United States will sustain a significant birth injury, or about 28,000 infants each year. Birth injuries are the cause of roughly 2% of neonatal fatalities. These injuries include fractures and disorders that impact a newborn’s brain function and development.
Many Columbia lawyers have experience dealing with medical malpractice lawsuits, but not with birth injuries or the exact birth injury your child endured. The birth injury attorneys at Peterson & Associates, P.C. have seen nearly every kind of birth injury and are familiar with every type of birth injury claim. You can rest assured we will stand by your side until you are awarded a full economic recovery.
Do I Need a Birth Injury Attorney?
If you feel that your child was injured because of substandard care or a physician’s negligence, then we strongly suggest you seek the advice of a birth injury lawyer in Columbia. Having a child already brings excessive stress and expenses, like clothing, food, school supplies, etc. Mix those in with the possibility that your child may require months, years, or even a lifetime of medical care, rehabilitation, or round-the-clock care–all due to a nurse’s or doctor’s careless or negligent actions.
No matter your child’s condition, you should be spending your time and energy providing them with love and attention, not attempting to find your way through a labyrinth of complicated legal processes. After you speak to our birth injury lawyers, we get to work on your case immediately to achieve the best possible outcome.
We will handle all of the litigation, communication, documentation, and negotiation, so you can put your focus where it belongs–on your baby’s emotional and physical well-being. Our professional birth injury attorneys will secure the maximum amount of financial compensation on your behalf, putting you and your child on the road to recovery.
We work on a contingency fee basis, so you pay us nothing unless we win.
Common Forms of Birth Injuries in Missouri Cerebral Palsy
Cerebral palsy is the most common birth injury in the United States. It is a movement disorder that impacts roughly four children out of every 1,000 nationwide.
There are three kinds of cerebral palsy:
Spasticity
Spasticity is a condition that presents an abnormal increase in stiffness of muscle, or muscle tone, which can interfere with speech, movement, or be associated with pain or discomfort.
Dyskinesia
Dyskinesias are writhing, erratic, involuntary movements of the arms, face, torso, or legs. They are usually fluid but can cause slow, extended, or rapidly jerking muscle spasms.
Ataxia
Ataxia is a medical term describing a set of disorders that impact speech, balance, and coordination. Although any area of the body can be affected, people with ataxia most frequently have difficulty walking and balance, swallowing, speaking, problems with vision, and tasks that demand a high degree of muscle control, like eating and writing.
The most common type of cerebral palsy is spasticity, which affects nearly 80% of those diagnosed with cerebral palsy. The disorder can range from very mild (a child may move somewhat awkwardly but does not require any special assistance) to very serious (a child being unable to walk without the aid of specialist equipment, or being unable to walk at all).
The diagnosis and treatment of cerebral palsy involves closely observing a child’s growth and development and often includes lots of doctor appointments, costly tests, and specialized equipment your child needs to help them walk or accomplish other routine tasks.
The Missouri birth injury attorneys at Peterson & Associates, P.C. relentlessly ensure that the person, persons, or entity responsible for your child’s injury pays for all of your past, current, and anticipated damages related to the birth injury.
Shoulder Dystocia
When a newborn’s shoulders get stuck in the mother’s pelvis during labor, it produces an injury known as shoulder dystocia. In many instances, the baby is born safe and healthy, and treatment often requires nothing more than adjusting the position of the fetus and the mother during the birth. Unfortunately, failing to detect or adequately treat cases of shoulder dystocia can result in bone fractures and a lack of oxygen for the baby.
If these conditions were present during your child’s birth, contact our Columbia birth injury lawyers immediately.
Erb’s Palsy and Brachial Plexus
An Erb’s Palsy injury is a form of brachial plexus when the arm muscles are feeble and shoulder joints lack a complete range of motion. Some severe cases involve tears in the nerve endings and can result in permanent damage. Luckily, in most Erb’s Palsy cases, full movement is restored in just a few months. In the meantime, there are specific exercises you can do with your newborn to help maintain their current range of motion while they recover.
No matter the severity of the injury or the expense of the medical treatment, the Columbia birth injury attorneys at Peterson & Associates, P.C. will ensure that you are awarded the full amount of financial compensation.
Brachial plexus injuries are a form of birth injury that arises from injury to the brachial plexus during the birthing process. The brachial plexus is a cluster of nerves in both shoulders that control feeling and movement in the hands and arms. An injury to this nerve cluster severely restricts the corresponding shoulder and arm use. These injuries are primarily caused by extreme stretching of or around the head, neck, or shoulder during the birthing process, generally when the baby’s head is stretched too far to one side. Excessive stretching can occur due to many reasons. These include: the newborn’s head being too big to pass through the mother safely, a breech birth, and nurses or physicians being too rough with the infant during the delivery process.
Lacerations, Bruising, Fractures, or Soft Tissue Injuries
Lacerations and bruises are birth injuries that are usually relatively minor and heal quickly. Nevertheless, they still result in extra medical expenses, undue anxiety, and stress for the parents. Babies can often sustain cuts or bruises due to complications in the birthing process. For instance, if a baby is larger or longer than average or spends a long time pressed against the mother’s pelvis, it can be injured.
If a nurse, doctor, or other healthcare provider violated the duty of care they owed you, you might have a valid birth injury claim. Our Columbia birth injury lawyers will work hard to secure you and your family the economic recovery you deserve while bringing the negligent party to account.
Cephalohematoma
Cephalohematoma is a birth injury that occurs when blood collects between a newborn’s skull and scalp. It is caused by blood vessels that were damaged during labor or delivery. As a parent, you will notice swelling or bulging on your baby’s head, which usually dissipates after a couple of weeks. Under normal circumstances, the condition is not very serious. However, in rare situations, a few complications may arise.
Cephalohematoma increases an infant’s risk of anemia and jaundice, and they may require a blood transfusion or other treatment.
Emotional Trauma
Not all damages caused by birth injuries are quantifiable. In a worst-case scenario, you and your baby might have to learn to cope with never being able to enjoy the activities other children take for granted or having specific medical conditions and requirements for the rest of their lives.
Receiving the full amount of recovery for your pain, suffering, and mental trauma is a vital step in making your life whole once more. To collect the total amount of compensation to which you are entitled, you need dedicated and experienced birth injury lawyers backing your case. The birth injury attorneys at Peterson & Associates, P.C. team can help.
Injury to the Mother
Occasionally, only the mother or both mother and child are injured during the birthing process. The mother can undergo extreme blood loss or experience other complications. Sometimes, the mother is hurt due to a physician’s negligence. For example, if the mother has high blood pressure before or during birth, it could indicate preeclampsia, which can result in seizures.
You could be awarded damages if you had a seizure during the birthing process after a doctor failed to document your high blood pressure. Our birth injury lawyers will fight to ensure you are appropriately compensated.
Medical Malpractice Suits
Doctors, nurses, other healthcare professionals, and Columbia medical institutions have professional liability insurance, commonly called medical malpractice insurance. Like any other provider, these insurance companies will try to deceive, trick, and bully you with misleading and complex legal double-talk.
The experienced birth injury attorneys at Peterson & Associates, P.C. will take over all litigation and communication on your behalf and stand up to the individuals who work for insurance companies to ensure they are held to account.
Cases of medical malpractice in Columbia can be challenging, but our birth injury lawyers have decades of experience trying and winning birth injury cases. Our attorneys will compile the necessary facts, evidence, expert testimony, and, ultimately, the financial compensation the law entitles you to.
To see a successful outcome to your medical malpractice claim, the following three factors must be present:
Establish and show negligence
Not every case of birth complications or birth injuries is caused by a healthcare provider’s negligence. You will have to show that the physician or other individual violated the duty of care that a competent physician in the same field would have shown you. Our network of Columbia medical experts and doctors will help decide if negligence played a role in your case and help prove it.
Get a letter of support
You will also have to work with a Columbia nurse or doctor in the same medical field, in your case, neonatal care, to write an affidavit saying the care you received was substandard, improper, or negligent. As your birth injury lawyers, the Peterson & Associates, P.C. team can obtain a valid letter of support.
Prove that negligence was the direct cause of the injury
Your baby could have been born with a broken collarbone caused by shoulder dystocia or have developed cerebral palsy. The doctor might or might not be to blame. You will need to show that the doctor’s action or inaction was the direct cause of your or your child’s injury. You need to have a Columbia birth injury lawyer you can rely on to demonstrate how the defendant’s negligence led to a birth injury that has hurt you and your child.
Our dedicated team of Columbia birth injury lawyers will be with you through every phase of the legal process, be by your side every step of the way and deal with all the legal complexities for you so you can focus your time and energy on the health and well-being of you and your baby.
Reach Out to Our Columbia Birth Injury Lawyers Today
If your baby sustained an injury during the birthing process, it is not uncommon to experience a wide range of emotions, such as confusion, fear, grief, and anger. If the birth injury occurred as a result of medical malpractice, Peterson & Associates, P.C. will have your back when it comes to fighting for the total amount of financial compensation you need to start your journey to recovery.
Our Columbia birth injury attorneys will work diligently on your behalf, starting during your free consultation, until your suit is successfully resolved. Let us help you safeguard your child’s future. Schedule a review of your potential case today by calling us at (816) 430-2544.