(845) 303-1000Childbirth can be a physically and emotionally intense experience for both mother and child, even if both of them have the best possible medical care, and sometimes the stresses of labor can lead to complications that doctors can only do so much to alleviate. That said, obstetricians and other medical professionals who assist with childbirth must quickly identify and properly handle complications when they arise, and a healthcare provider’s failure to meet that standard of care could serve as grounds for legal action.
If your doctor’s misconduct led to your child suffering avoidable damage to the nerves in their brachial plexus, which is located in the shoulder between the head and upper arm, you should consider speaking with a Schenectady shoulder dystocia lawyer about a possible civil claim. This type of birth injury can potentially have life-altering consequences, but our compassionate birth injury attorneys can help determine whether it could have been prevented with proper medical care and, if so, demand comprehensive compensation from the doctors at fault for it.
How Medical Negligence Can Lead to Shoulder Dystocia
The most common cause of shoulder dystocia—the medical term for damage from unnatural stretching or tearing of the nerves in the brachial plexus—in newborns occurs when the baby’s shoulder gets caught behind the mother’s pubic bone during delivery. This complication places significant pressure on the nerves and may lead to lasting impairment if not addressed quickly. This complication is fairly rare but is more likely to occur when babies have high birth weights or a mother’s pelvic opening is particularly small, but there is no way for even diligent and capable doctors to predict in advance when this complication is going to occur.
What doctors do have the ability to do, though, is identify when this complication is occurring and act the same way any other equally qualified doctor would in order to ensure a safe delivery to the fullest extent possible. If a doctor misuses medical tools or techniques, fails to identify a difficult delivery quickly enough, or is too rough when removing a child from the birth canal, that child may experience avoidable shoulder dystocia, which our Schenectady attorneys may be able to help you sue over.
Are Hospitals Liable for the Negligence of Individual Doctors?
Because shoulder dystocia can lead to permanent and debilitating physical problems later in life, effectively seeking civil recovery from a doctor who negligently caused your child to suffer this type of harm can require a very long-term view. In addition to future financial problems like medical bills and lost working capacity, you may also need to account for non-economic forms of harm like physical pain, emotional anguish, and a decline in overall quality of life, all of which, combined, may be too much for a single doctor’s insurance or personal assets to pay for.
Fortunately, it is sometimes possible to hold hospitals and other healthcare organizations vicariously liable for an individual doctor’s negligence, if that doctor was an employee of theirs as opposed to an independent contractor. A shoulder dystocia lawyer from our Schenectady office can discuss this and other options with you during a confidential consultation.
Contact a Schenectady Shoulder Dystocia Attorney for Legal Support
Shoulder dystocia stemming from medical malpractice is something no child should ever have to experience. Unfortunately, this kind of injury nevertheless occurs in far too many births nationwide, as our experienced birth injury attorneys know all too well.
If your family experienced this type of birth trauma, a Schenectady shoulder dystocia lawyer from our team could guide you step by step through the process of seeking civil restitution. Contact us today for a free consultation.