Birth Injury Claims

What are Childbirth Injury Claims?

Claims of this kind can arise in any situation during the act of childbirth. If a birth injury occurs and there is a medical negligence case to answer, a lawsuit settlement may follow.

 

Childbirth injuries can occur to the baby, the mother or, on occasion, both parties can be involved. Some cases can be minor while, in the most severe instances, conditions can be life affecting.

 

The list of birth injury compensation claims includes, but is not limited to:

 

  • Cerebral Palsy

  • Brain Injury

  • Erb’s Palsy

  • Infection

  • Hypoxia

  • Uterine Rupture

  • Ruptured Placenta

 

Many of the most common diagnoses are listed above but any birth injury caused by medical negligence can lead to a claim. If in doubt, you should get in touch with experienced birth injury solicitors to discuss the circumstances and to ascertain whether there is a case to answer.

 

What Causes Birth Injuries?

An injury sustained at birth can arise in many different situations. The baby can, in some cases, form a breach and its head will move into the birth canal. Subsequently, a difficult fetal extraction at cesarean delivery may cause one of a number of injuries.

 

Injuries may also be caused if a mother is not referred for a Caesarean delivery when this is the obvious course of action. Use of incorrect tools and inappropriate force can also be factors that contribute to a range of birth injuries. Those can be the most common instances but many other forms of negligence can exist which might lead to birth injury lawsuit settlements.

 

Birth Injury to Mother

When assessing birth injury compensation claims, it can be a common misconception to assume that cases are limited to the baby. This isn’t, however, the case and claims such as these can also extend to cover birth injuries to the mother.

 

Among the more likely cases are a ruptured uterus, vaginal tears and perineal tears. There can be unnecessary injuries from forceps delivery or issues when too much force is used during the birth.

 

Any injury sustained by the mother during the birth, which can be attributed to medical negligence, can lead to subsequent birth injury claims.

 

Birth Injury to the Baby

The majority of birth injury claims involve the baby but what types of incidents may be involved? As we’ve seen from the original list, cerebral palsy and erb’s palsy are among the more common cases. The two are very different with cerebral palsy affecting cognitive functions while erb’s palsy arises when nerves in the neck are damaged. Weakness in the shoulder and arms are among the most common symptoms of this condition.

 

Babies can also suffer hypoxic ischemic brain injury at birth, along with Perinatal Asphyxia and a host of other issues. As with cases involving the mother, any birth injury involving negligence on behalf of medical staff can lead to birth injury lawsuit settlements.

 

How to make a claim for Birth Injury?

Birth injury claims can arise if those injuries are caused by the negligence of a medical professional. If it is clear that this is the case or, if there is any element of doubt, the first step in the process is to get in touch with solicitors specialised in birth injuries.

 

Potential claimants will then need to supply certain information and this would typically include:

 

  • Full claims report detailing the incident and how the negligence occurred

  • Details of the injuries sustained

  • Time and location 

  • Any bills relating to medical treatment

  • Projected cost of ongoing care if applicable

 

Birth injury claims can only proceed with this information so be ready to supply all that’s required. Once in place, your appointed solicitor will then advise you on the next steps in the process.

 

What are the legal time limits for a birth injury claim?

As defined by the Statute of Limitations, there is a two year time limit to keep in mind when pursuing birth injury claims. This doesn’t necessarily mean that the claimant has two years from the date of birth.

 

In the majority of birth injury lawsuit settlements, a parent or guardian will usually file a claim on behalf of the child. However, the regulations do allow for the injured party to claim themselves, as long as that claim is made within two years of their eighteenth birthday.

 

How much compensation can I get for birth injury?

Using figures from successful birth injury lawsuit settlements in the past, it may be possible to predict future payouts moving forward. However, any sums will be subject to a number of separate factors. These would include:

 

  • Nature and severity of the injury

  • Cost of initial medical bills

  • Projected cost of ongoing medical care if applicable

 

Because each case is treated on its individual merits it is extremely hard to identify an average figure for birth injury compensation claims. This area of personal injury compensation covers a wide set of potential symptoms and previous settlements have varied between two wide sets of parameters. 

 

A more accurate figure can be disclosed when the full nature of an individual incident is known. Therefore, by getting in touch with birth injury solicitors, potential claimants can obtain a more accurate set of potential sums based on their circumstances.