Southfield, Michigan Birth Injury Attorneys Helping Children with Cerebral Palsy & Other Birth Injuries

Award-Winning Michigan Birth Injury & Cerebral Palsy Lawyers | Southfield, Michigan Birth Injury Attorneys

The story is not a new one but is tragic nonetheless. A young woman living in Southfield, Michigan is pregnant with her first child. She is excited and very cautious. She eats well, gets the right amount of rest, exercises and is diligent about her prenatal visits. Everything she does is for the health and well-being of her unborn child. When the time comes and labor begins, she reports to the hospital in Southfield as she and her obstetrician discussed. Everything seems to be going well until there are some unusual heart rate readings on the fetal monitor. Her doctor is unavailable so residents step in and manage her labor and delivery. All throughout the day, the residents monitor her but little progress is made toward delivery and the non-reassuring heart rate continues. Finally, after several hours, the woman’s doctor comes in, reads the fetal monitor strips and immediately calls for an emergency c-section. Although the procedure was done fairly quickly, the damage to the infant was already done. After not receiving an adequate supply of oxygen for an extended period of time, the baby suffered severe brain damage from hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy (HIE).

Southfield, Michigan Birth Injury Attorneys Helping Children for Almost 3 Decades

The award-winning birth injury attorneys at Reiter & Walsh ABC Law Centers have helped hundreds of children affected by hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy and cerebral palsy.  Jesse Reiter, president of ABC Law Centers, has been focusing solely on birth injury cases for over 28 years, and most of his cases involve hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) and cerebral palsy.  Partners Jesse Reiter and Rebecca Walsh are currently recognized as two of the best medical malpractice lawyers in America by U.S. News and World Report 2015, which also recognized ABC Law Centers as one of the best medical malpractice law firms in the nation.

If your child experienced a birth injury and now has seizures, HIE, brain damage, cerebral palsy or any other long-term condition, contact Reiter & Walsh today at 888-419-2229.  Our  are Southfield, Michigan birth injury attorneys available 24/7 to speak with you.

Birth Injury Cases Handled by the Southfield, Michigan Birth Injury Attorneys at Reiter & Walsh

Over the years, our firm has witnessed many tragic situations. Families with hopes and dreams for a new baby had them dashed by the negligence of medical professionals. Families are left wondering how an injury to their baby could have happened.

Listed below are some of the types of birth injury cases we have handled for Michigan families.

• Cerebral palsy
• Hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy (HIE)
• Erb’s palsy / brachial plexus injuries
• Periventricular leukomalacia
• Hydrocephalus
• Intellectual and developmental disabilities
• Developmental delays and learning disabilities

Southfield, Michigan Birth Injury Attorneys Discuss the Causes of Birth Injuries

If physicians don’t follow standards of care and properly manage conditions that occur during pregnancy, labor and delivery, birth injuries can occur.  Common causes of birth injuries include the following:

• Placenta previa
• Umbilical cord problems, such as a nuchal cord or umbilical cord prolapse
• Failure to quickly deliver a baby when fetal distress is evident on the fetal heart rate monitor (delayed emergency C-section)
• Oligohydramnios (low amniotic fluid)
• Anesthesia mistakes, which can cause blood pressure problems in the mother, including a hypotensive crisis
• Premature rupture of the membranes (PROM) / premature birth
• Prolonged and arrested labor
  
• Ruptured uterus (womb)
• Placental abruption
• Postmaturity syndrome
• Fetal stroke
• Preeclampsia / eclampsia
• Intracranial hemorrhages (brain bleeds), which can be caused by a traumatic delivery.  Forceps and vacuum extractors can cause brain bleeds.  Sometimes intense contractions (hyperstimulation) caused by labor induction drugs (Pitocin and Cytotec) can cause head trauma.  Mismanagement of cephalopelvic disproportion (CPD), abnormal presentations (face or breech presentation), and shoulder dystocia also put a child at risk of having a brain bleed.
• Hyperstimulation caused by Pitocin and Cytotec can also cause oxygen deprivation that gets progressively worse.
• Improper management of the baby’s respiratory status after birth.  This includes failure to properly manage apnea (periods of breathing cessation), failure to properly manage a baby on a breathing machine (which can cause overventilation injuries, such as hypocarbia and a hole or holes in the lungs), and failure to give proper amounts of surfactant, which helps with lung maturity and lung compliance in premature lungs.
• Improper management of anemia (low red blood cell count), which can cause the baby to lack the capacity to carry oxygen to the cells and tissues in the body, including brain cells.
• Improperly treated neonatal hypoglycemia (low blood sugar).
• Improperly treated high bilirubin levels (jaundice) that cause a form of brain damage called kernicterus.
• Brain infection such as meningitis, which can be caused by infections in the mother that travel to the baby at birth.  These maternal infections include the following: Group B Strep (GBS), herpes simplex virus (HSV), urinary tract infection (UTI), bacterial vaginosis (BV) and chorioamnionitis.

Southfield, Michigan Birth Injury Attorneys Focusing Solely on Birth Injury Cases

The city of Southfield, Michigan is known for many things, including being the home to the consulates of Iraq and Macedonia.  A part of Metro Detroit’s upscale business area, Southfield’s skyline is a cluster of five golden skyscrapers called the Golden Triangle that form the stunning 2,200,000 square foot Southfield Town Center business complex that includes a Westin Hotel.  There also is a residential skyscraper in the Golden Triangle that includes many young couples.  Thousands of babies are born in the Southfield area each year.  Most of the time, the babies are healthy.  But when a birth injury occurs, it is devastating.

The nationally recognized Southfield, Michigan birth injury attorneys at Reiter & Walsh ABC Law Centers have been helping children with birth injuries in Southfield and throughout the nation for almost 3 decades.  Jesse Reiter, the firm’s co-founder, has been focusing solely on birth injury cases his entire 28+ year career.  Jesse helps children all over the country, and when he takes a case, he spends a lot of time getting to know the child and family he is helping so he can fully understand the child’s needs.  Jesse has won many awards for his advocacy of children, and he is currently recognized as being one of the best medical malpractice lawyers in America by U.S. News and World Report 2015, as well as one of the 10 Best Attorneys in Michigan by Super Lawyers magazine.

Jesse and his team of Southfield, Michigan birth injury attorneys are passionate about helping children obtain all the support, therapy and treatment they need so they have a good quality of life and a secure future.  The team will carefully review all medical records to determine if negligence occurred.  Once Jesse sees medical malpractice, he aggressively fights to obtain compensation for lifelong care and support of the child, which typically includes treatment, medical devices, housing and education.

Birth injury law is a difficult area of law to pursue due to the complex nature of the medical records. The nationally recognized Southfield, Michigan birth injury attorneys at Reiter & Walsh ABC Law Centers have decades of experience with birth injury cases, and have won numerous awards for their advocacy of children.  To find out if you have a case, contact our firm to speak with an experienced attorney.  We handle cases in Michigan, Ohio, Washington, D.C. and throughout the nation.  We have numerous multi-million dollar verdicts and settlements that attest to our success, and no fees are ever paid to our firm until we win your case.  Email or call our Southfield, Michigan birth injury attorneys at 888-419-2229.

Video: Southfield, Michigan Birth Injury Attorneys Discuss Cerebral Palsy

Watch a video of the Southfield, Michigan birth injury attorneys at Reiter & Walsh talk about how birth injuries such as birth asphyxia and HIE can cause cerebral palsy.