Birth Injuries Caused by Medical Malpractice

Birth Injuries can occur during pregnancy, during childbirth or shortly after birth. These injuries may result from medical malpractice on the part of doctors, nurses, other medical personnel or hospitals, including situations when care was not received, care was not administered promptly or care was improper.

At Baum & Blake, we have an international reputation as successful personal injury lawyers. We understand the emotions you are experiencing because of the birth injury you or your child suffered, and we are prepared to take on the negligent professionals who caused the injuries. We provide legal help in cases involving:

Failure to Provide Care:

• Failure to screen for abnormal conditions in the newborn.
• Failure to diagnose problems during pregnancy or after birth, causing delays in treatment.
• Failure to identify that the child's size or position would lead to birthing difficulties that might result in brain damage to the infant.

Failure to Provide PROMPT Care:

• Failure to identify that baby's arrival is imminent and to make timely delivery.
• Failure of medical personnel to quickly arrive in the labor room when an emergency occurred.
• Failure to recognize an emergency or begin emergency procedures.

Failure to Provide PROPER Care:

• Incorrect response to emergency situations, such as an umbilical cord wrapped around a child's neck or interruption of oxygen, which caused brain damage to the infant.
• Improper extraction of the child from the mother, causing injury to the infant.
• Using too much medicine to induce labor, impacting the child or the mother.

If your infant sustained injuries at birth:

We work with top medical and child development specialists to determine what went wrong before, during, or after childbirth; the impact of medical mistakes on the child's body and brain development; and the long-term consequences of birth injuries. We can help you make a cerebral palsy, postpartum hemorrhage or brain trauma claim, so you can obtain the compensation you need to give your child the best possible opportunities for a normal life.

We work with specialists who understand the complex issues of raising a child with a profound disability. These issues include the special assistance parents will need and the medical care, rehabilitation, education, and therapy — speech therapy, physical therapy or occupational therapy — that your child will need to develop to his or her fullest potential. We can help you calculate the cost of such ongoing care in addition to doctor and hospital bills, nursing care, loss of potential and your child's suffering.

If your child sustained brain damage as an infant and you are considering bringing an infant birth trauma lawsuit, we invite you to review some select cases below and in our newsletter, the Baum & Blake Report. Please contact Baum & Blake to talk about your birth injury case.

Case Example: 

Client: Child

Accident: Birth

Injury: Multiple severe disabilities initially diagnosed as congenital but later shown to be caused by anoxic brain damage to the infant during delivery.

Challenge: This case required extensive investigation and the use of medical experts to prove that medical malpractice resulted in the child's injuries.

Creative Response: Careful analysis of fetal monitoring records helped prove the case.

Outcome: Award $2.8 million

Attorney: David Baum

Case Example: 

Client: Child

Accident: Birth

Injury: Mild brain damage to infant as the result of a difficult labor and delayed childbirth. Medical personnel were negligent in misreading ultra-sound, under-estimating size of 13-lb baby; personnel did not act properly when delivering baby from 100 pound mother.

Challenge: Parents now reside in California but case was prosecuted against military base hospital staff in North Dakota; case was transferred from one venue to another and rescheduled twice.

Creative Response: Case took ten years of persistence and dedication, as well as expert medical review, to finally achieve results.

Outcome: Award $1.5 million

Attorney: David Baum with co-counsel in Minneapolis.