Maryland Attorney for Bone Fractures During Childbirth

The force necessary to cause broken bones during delivery often goes beyond the force necessary to deliver a baby.  This means that most broken bones that occur during childbirth only occur because of complications and errors in judgment in the delivery room.  If your child suffered bone fractures during their delivery, talk to a lawyer and another doctor immediately about whether those complications were avoidable and whether your child might have been the victim of medical malpractice.

The Maryland attorneys for bone fractures during childbirth at Rice, Murtha & Psoras are here to help.  For a free legal consultation on your child’s birth injury case, call our law offices today.  We fight for families of injured newborns against negligent doctors, hospitals, and medical professionals to help get you the compensation you deserve.  For a free case consultation, contact us today at (410) 694-7291.

Common Causes of Broken Bones During Childbirth in Maryland

Newborns’ bones tend to bend a bit more than adult bones, allowing them to take more force without breaking.  Additionally, newborns’ skulls compress and their bodies fold in surprising ways.  Without these features, childbirth would cause serious injuries all the time.  Because of these attributes, broken bones are often avoidable during childbirth, especially with modern medical science that allows us to use C-sections and other delivery methods if broken bones would be likely during a vaginal delivery.  This means that broken bones tend to occur only when there are complications or medical mistakes where the doctor fails to avoid risky situations.

One of the most common ways that broken bones occur during delivery is because the doctor did not order a C-section.  When delivering a baby through a cesarean section, the doctor can avoid issues that might increase the risk of broken bones, such as a narrow birth canal or a large baby.  If the doctor does not get adequate ultrasounds or does not properly prepare for the delivery, then the doctor might make a mistake in trying to go through with a vaginal delivery, putting the baby at risk for bone fractures.

Another common cause of broken bones during childbirth is unnecessary force on the baby.  This could happen if the mother bears down too hard and the doctor does not coach the mother away from the unnecessary force.  the doctor could also use forceps when they are not necessary or could use too much force in griping the child with forceps, potentially causing injuries.

Complications that lead to awkward positioning in the womb can also lead to broken bones during delivery.  This could include breech births, which should be avoided and usually need some kind of manipulation or emergency C-section to avoid injuring the baby.

Proving Medical Malpractice in Birth Injury Cases Involving Broken Bones in Maryland

If your child did suffer broken bones during their birth, that does not automatically mean that there was medical malpractice involved.  Birth complications are often difficult to predict, and even the most expert, professional care could still leave a newborn with injuries that might have been unavoidable or that occurred before you even got to the hospital.  However, if your doctor did make unreasonable mistakes, they should be held accountable for them.  Thus, it is important to understand how courts determine whether injuries were caused by unavoidable complications or medical mistakes.

The fact that there was a bad outcome does not, by itself, mean that the doctor did something wrong.  For a doctor’s care to be considered “negligent” or for it to constitute “medical malpractice,” it must have fallen below the accepted “standard of care.”  the standard of care is not something you can look up in a medical textbook or legal statute because it is so tightly linked to the specific circumstances of the case at hand and the modern trends in medicine.  Although it is often easier to determine what went wrong in hindsight, other doctors analyzing the case should be able to determine whether the doctor’s care was reasonable given the circumstances at hand.  If the care your baby received fell below what other doctors with similar training and experience would have provided, then a court can determine that the care was indeed “negligent.”

If you and your child received negligent care that resulted in birth complications, broken bones, and other injuries, you could be entitled to file a medical malpractice lawsuit against the doctor and possibly the hospital to get damages for the injuries at hand.

Damages for Broken Bones During Childbirth in Maryland Medical Malpractice Cases

If you do sue the doctor and the hospital for your baby’s broken bone injuries during birth, you could be entitled to compensation for the injuries.  To get compensation, you must be able to prove what damages were caused by the doctor’s negligence.  In many cases, babies’ bones heal quickly and without permanent medical issues or deformities.  This is of course a good thing, though it often means that there is no permanent damage, and the court might not see the effects as something they can give compensation for.  However, there should still be damages available for medical care necessary to stabilize and treat the broken bone, ongoing medical care to check up on the fracture, and any damages caused by any lingering effects.  If the injury was more serious – such as a skull fracture that caused brain injury or a broken rib that punctured the newborn’s lung – then there may be more substantial or permanent effects that you need compensation for.  This compensation could even cover ongoing therapy, later effects on your child’s earning capacity, and pain and suffering damages.

Call Our Maryland Attorneys for Broken Bones During Childbirth

If your child suffered bone fractures during birth, call Rice, Murtha & Psoras to discuss your case and learn more about whether you might have a case against the doctor and hospital for medical malpractice.  Our Maryland birth injury attorneys for bone fractures during childbirth represent parents and newborns in medical malpractice and birth injury cases, and we fight to get justice and compensation for injury victims and their families.  For a free legal consultation, call our attorneys today at (410) 694-7291.