What Constitutes Birth Injury Malpractice?
Birth injury malpractice can result from medical malpractice occurring before, during, or even after a birth.
What is medical malpractice?
Medical malpractice (or med-mal) occurs where a medical professional (for example: a doctor, nurse, nurse midwife, physician’s assistant, etc.) (1) provides inappropriate care, and (2) that inappropriate care causes injury to the patient(s).
In legal terms, malpractice occurs when a medical professional provides care to a patient below the standard of care required. The standard of care is the care that a reasonable medical professional of the same specialty would have provided to a patient under the same or similar circumstances.
In a medical malpractice case, the standard of care is defined by expert medical professionals of the same specialty (same area of practice), who sign an affidavit or testify in court as to the negligent medical professionals’ breach or non-compliance with the required medical standard of care.
Once the standard of care has been established, other medical experts must testify based on their knowledge, training and experience that the breach of the standard of care by the negligent medical professionals caused the patient’s injury.
What constitutes a birth injury?
The term “birth injury” generally refers to injuries suffered prior to birth or in the period after birth. A birth injury can occur during pregnancy from inadequate testing to ensure maternal and fetal well-being.
A birth injury can also occur during labor and delivery as the result of lack of oxygen or blood flow to mom and baby.
In addition, a birth injury can occur after birth from the failure to provide appropriate after care to a newborn baby or postpartum mom, such as: providing help breathing after birth; performing appropriate lab testing of blood sugars, bilirubin levels, and blood pressures; providing blood transfusions, or appropriately monitoring the mother and the baby’s condition.
See more information about common types of birth injuries.
What information do I need before I contact the firm about a potential birth injury or minor medical malpractice case?
Nothing. You don’t need to have any information available for your first contact with us. Just tell us your story. Please give us a call for a free consultation and we’ll assist you in obtaining any medical records or other information necessary for us to complete a free review of your case by our attorneys and nurses.
Please call us today if you believe your family experienced a birth injury at 800-366-8653. We are here to answer your questions and see if we can help you with a potential case to get your child justice.
More Information
- Birth Injury Resource Center
- Birth Injuries
- Why Choose Us?
- How Do I Know if I Have a Birth Injury Case?
- Retaining Birth Injury Experts
- The Birth Injury Legal Process
- Birth Injury FAQs & Fees
- Brain Injuries & Cerebral Palsy
- Neonatal Injuries
- Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy
- Developmental Delays
- Lifetime Care
- Help for Families
- Seizures in Newborns
- Jaundice at Birth
- Head Injury at Birth
- What a Cerebral Palsy Diagnosis Means
- Brachial Plexus & Shoulder Dystocia Injury