What are birth injuries?
Birth injuries include any impairment of an infant’s body function or structure due to a harmful event that occurred during or around the time of birth. A birth injury can be very mild, such as a small bruise, or severe, resulting in permanent disabilities. Although many may associate the term “birth injury” with blunt trauma, it often refers to oxygen deprivation and infection.
Sometimes birth injuries are a natural outcome of labor and delivery. For example, a baby may have some bruising simply from passing through the birth canal. Other times, however, birth injuries are the result of mistakes made by medical professionals. This includes situations such as a doctor’s failure to respond to fetal distress or a failure to order or perform an emergency C-section.
Types of Birth Injuries
Birth injuries range from mild and temporary to serious and permanent. The most common types include:
- Brain damage
- Cerebral palsy (CP)
- Hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) and fetal oxygen deprivation
- Fractures of the arm, collarbone, or skull
- Intracranial hemorrhages (brain bleeds)
- Developmental or learning delays
- Erb’s palsy
- Infections like meningitis, encephalitis, and sepsis
- Premature birth
- Untreated jaundice, kernicterus, and hyperbilirubinemia
- Meconium aspiration
- Seizures
Legal Help for Birth Injuries | Detroit, Michigan Birth Injury Attorneys Helping Families Nationwide
If you or a loved one suffered from a birth injury as the result of medical malpractice, we encourage you to reach out to a birth injury attorney. Obtaining funds from a successful birth injury lawsuit can help your loved one secure the treatment, support, and lifestyle adjustments necessary to live a life of rehabilitation and well-being. To begin your free legal consultation with our birth injury attorneys, please contact us in whichever way best suits your needs:
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Related Reading on Birth Injuries
- Overview of Birth Injuries
- Overview of Medical Malpractice Law
- Medical Malpractice Attorneys for Babies
- Practice Areas (Types of Birth Injuries)
- Birth Injury Glossary
- About Reiter & Walsh ABC Law Centers
- Past Verdicts and Settlements
Video: Michigan Medical Malpractice Lawyers Discuss Birth Injuries
