Birth-related medical malpractice is a serious threat for medical practitioners, so it is important that these professionals are well-versed about how grounds for these charges are established. Knowing the birth-related medical malpractice basics is crucial to your ability to protect yourself from medical malpractice. What are the grounds for these lawsuits? Gutglass, Erickson, Bonville and Larson Law Firm has the details, so take action and protect yourself today.
Grounds for a Birth-related Medical Malpractice
If a medical staff member, doctor, or a hospital fails to use reasonable care or acts negligently while treating the mother of a child or infant during the pregnancy period or the birth itself, a patient has grounds for filing a birth-linked medical malpractice lawsuit. As a medical professional, accidents happen. In the event that you find yourself involved in a birth-related malpractice lawsuit, contact a defense attorney immediately.
Common Birth-linked Medical Malpractice Lawsuits:
Injuries to an Infant or a Mother During Birth –> Medical Malpractice
Infant
Although it is not common, medical practitioners can sometimes cause injury during the birth process. If the infant is the one injured, his or her parents will act as his or her guardians during the medical malpractice lawsuit. Representing the infant, the parents might ask for general damages and special damages.General damages equates to the cost of suffering that includes mental and physical suffering and pain, and loss of life enjoyment. Just as the name suggests, special damages refer to special costs. Despite the uncertain nature of these damages, they serve to provide reimbursement for specific, quantifiable costs of past, present, and future birth-related damages.
In the event that a doctor does not take reasonable care and wrongly chooses to deliver a baby prematurely, the baby can suffer from serious brain damage. If this happens, the parents can sue the doctor to recover the medical costs incurred from rehabilitation, as well as the suffering caused by the trauma of their baby’s mental and physical disability.
Mother
If the doctor causes an injury to the mother due to negligence, the mother can choose to sue the doctor for medical malpractice. For instance, if the doctor does not note the mother’s blood pressure during delivery and the mother has a seizure, she can sue the doctor for medical malpractice to recover from any injuries caused by the seizure. In addition, parents can also file a claim for emotional suffering and pain they experienced due to their baby’s injury during birth.
Wrongful Birth –> Medical Malpractice
If there is a wrongful birth, a parent can file a medical malpractice lawsuit. Many cases result from the doctor not warning parents about their child’s defects, some claiming that if they knew, they would have aborted the pregnancy or even avoided the pregnancy entirely. These suits can be based on everything from negligence during pre-birth genetic testing or failure to detect mental or physical impairment throughout the early stages of pregnancy. The medical malpractice damages for a wrongful birth include any costs incurred from the child’s disorder.
Wrongful Pregnancy –> Medical Malpractice
In addition to wrongful birth claims, parents can sue for a wrongful pregnancy. These claims are filed when a couple wanted to avoid a pregnancy through pregnancy testing, abortion, or sterilization, but this did not happen as a result of a doctor’s oversight. In a wrongful pregnancy case, even if a child is healthy, parents can still file a medical malpractice lawsuit for harm caused by the wrongful pregnancy.
Protect Yourself With a Good Medical Malpractice Defense.
At times, even the best medical practitioners make errors. In the event that you find yourself in a birth-related medical malpractice lawsuit, do not take any risks — hire a medical malpractice defense attorney immediately.
To learn about our winning medical malpractice defense strategies, contact Gutglass, Erickson, Bonville and Larson Law Firm at (414) 273-1144 today.
