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Williamsport, PA Birth Injury Lawyer

Welcoming a new life into this world is supposed to be an amazing, albeit stressful, experience for new parents. When the birth plan goes smoothly, the only thing new parents have to really worry about is then raising their child and giving them everything they need—an already daunting task on its own. However, if delivery of the baby has complications, that could make everything more stressful.

Not only could the mother suffer from added pain and injuries during the birthing process, but the baby could also be injured from delivery. Even worse still, a newly delivered baby could sustain injuries that impede them for the rest of their life. That’s where our Williamsport birth injury lawyer comes in.

At Stapp Law, LLC, we understand how difficult this time is for your family, even with a healthy baby. When your child or the mother has suffered injuries during childbirth, a birth injury attorney from our firm can help.

Types of Birth Injuries

When you’re about to give birth to your baby who you’ve been preparing to deliver for months, you likely want to focus on all the positives that could happen—the birth goes as planned, it’s quick, no extra tools need to be used, and you and your baby come out happy and healthy. Unfortunately, positive thinking doesn’t mean you’ll have a great experience.

There are so many things that can go wrong in childbirth. One of those major errors could be a birth injury. While you might not want to consider the negatives that could happen while giving birth, it’s important to be realistic. Knowing what could go wrong can help you quickly identify that a birth trauma has occurred.

That way, you know your situation and can get medical intervention and legal help right after it happens. Here are some common birth injuries, according to the Stanford Children’s Hospital, and how they happen so you can be prepared:

  • Brachial palsy. Also known as a brachial plexus injury or Erb’s palsy, this happens when a baby’s shoulder and head are pushed together during delivery and pinch the brachial plexus nerve in their shoulder.
  • Cerebral palsy. If a baby suffers a severe head trauma or loss of oxygen before, during, or after birth, they could develop cerebral palsy that affects them for the rest of their life.
  • Forceps bruise. Sometimes forceps are used to remove the baby from the birth canal, but if used incorrectly, they can cause bruises and other injuries for the baby or the mother.
  • Misshapen head. Other than forceps, doctors sometimes use vacuums to suck a baby out of the birth canal, which can cause a misshapen head, bruising, or other injuries. This can cause swelling in the tissues of the scalp, which is also known as caput succedaneum.
  • Fractures. Broken bones can happen when a doctor is too rough with a baby, or they are not in the correct position for delivery.
  • Facial paralysis. If the facial nerve is injured or pinched, a baby could suffer facial paralysis.
  • Cephalohematoma. A baby can get a lump on its head after birth where there’s swelling and bruising between the skull and its fibrous covering.
  • Subconjunctival hemorrhaging. When a baby’s blood vessels in the eyes break and cause red rings in the whites of their eyes.

On top of all these specific injuries that a baby could suffer in childbirth, they could also get infections, bruises, and head trauma. The baby isn’t the only one who could be hurt—the mother can be hurt during delivery as well.

Forceps and vacuums could hurt the baby, but the mother could also suffer injuries from these devices as well. Some other things that could have been handled incorrectly that caused harm to the mother are mistakes during a c-section, failure to monitor the mother and the baby’s vitals, ignoring gestational diabetes, and incorrect Pitocin administration.

At Stapp Law, LLC, we understand how devastating injuries to the baby or mother are during childbirth. That’s why our childbirth injury lawyer is here to help. We’ll work to get you justice for what happened to you or your baby.

Causes of Birth Related Injuries in Williamsport

Now that you understand what your baby or you have suffered during delivery, you might be wondering how those injuries happened. It’s normal to want to make sense of what happened so that you can better understand what’s going on and what these injuries mean for you.

In most birth injuries, negligence is involved. Here are some of the different ways that a doctor, nurse, or other medical professional involved in your delivery could act negligently and cause you or your baby to endure an injury:

  • Failure to monitor baby’s vitals
  • Failure to monitor mother’s vitals or blood sugar
  • Allowing the baby to be deprived of oxygen
  • Being too rough
  • Using birth tools incorrectly
  • Leaving a baby in the birth canal too long
  • Failure to order a cesarean section
  • Failure to recognize preeclampsia
  • Failure to recognize umbilical cord and placental issues
  • Improper use of anesthesia or Pitocin

While some birth injuries are caused by negligence, others aren’t from someone’s negligence, but rather from the natural course of delivery. Here are some other causes of birth injuries:

  • Large babies
  • Premature term
  • Prolonged labor
  • Pregnancy and labor complications
  • Breech baby
  • Mother has a small pelvis

Any one or combination of situations from the lists above could lead to complications, injuries, and even death while birthing your child. That’s why our birth injury lawyers are here for your family. We know that this is a difficult time for you, your baby, and your family—we’re here to help.

Our Williamsport Birth Injury Lawyer Will Support You

When you or your baby suffer a birth injury in Pennsylvania, you could use the help of our Williamsport birth injury attorney from Stapp Law, LLC. We know that it can be confusing navigating birth injuries and the law, but that’s why we’re here to do that for you.

Our firm is experienced in representing the victims of negligence during childbirth and other birth injuries. With us on your side, you can have peace of mind knowing your rights will be protected and that we’re fighting to get you and your baby justice. Reach out to us today so we can discuss your legal options and get started on your birth injury claim.

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Call us or fill out the form below to schedule a confidential case evaluation. We can help you determine if you need a lawyer, if you have a potential case, and if so, what your next step should be.

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