If your baby suffered a skull fracture injury, you may have grounds to file a medical malpractice lawsuit.
If your baby suffered a skull fracture injury, you may have grounds to file a medical malpractice lawsuit. Potentially liable parties include the doctor who attended to the birth, one or more members of her staff, and the medical facility where you delivered your baby. You may be eligible to recover damages including medical and hospital bills, lost wages, and the cost of ongoing care for your child.
A skull fracture birth injury lawyer from Newsome | Melton can help you file a medical malpractice lawsuit and recover damages. We fight for the rights of injured patients and their families. Our attorneys work on a no-win-no-fee basis, which means that we get paid only when you recover money. For a free birth injury case evaluation with a member of our dedicated staff, call us today at 888-526-8947.
Holding Your Doctor Liable for Your Baby’s Skull Fracture Birth Injury
While relatively rare overall, skull fracture is an injury that regularly happens during childbirth as the force of labor propels the newborn through the resistance of the birth canal. The pressure on the skull during this process occasionally leads to incomplete or complete skull fractures, particularly during lengthy, difficult, or strained deliveries.
It is the responsibility of your doctor and her staff to take precautions to minimize the chance of a skull fracture or any other birth injury. If your labor situation is difficult, your doctor must recognize this fact and respond quickly to make a safe and healthy delivery most likely.
Examples of negligence by doctors that can lead to skull fracture birth injuries include:
Not Ordering a Caesarian Section When Necessary
Caesarian section, or “C-section,” is an alternative to traditional childbirth in which the doctor removes the baby directly from the womb via a surgical procedure. Its use has become much more widespread in recent decades as doctors weigh the risks of proceeding with difficult labor situations.
If a doctor waits too long to order a C-section, though, the window of opportunity can close, forcing the doctor and the expectant mother to carry out a potentially dangerous childbirth. This can lead to a heightened risk of skull fractures and other birth injuries.
Use of Forceps and Other Assistance Devices
When presented with a difficult delivery, some doctors turn to assistance devices such as forceps and vacuums as an alternative to a C-section. These tools help to extract the baby, shortening labor time and, ideally, reducing the risk of injury to the mother and child.
The use of these devices, particularly forceps, however, is also associated with several birth injuries including skull fractures.
Newsome | Melton Builds a Compelling Birth Injury Medical Malpractice Case on Your Behalf
The skull fracture birth injury lawyers at Newsome | Melton can hold your doctor liable, pursue her for medical malpractice damages, and help you recover damages. To do this, we need to demonstrate four things in our case:
- Your doctor owed a duty of care to you and your child.
- Your doctor did not uphold her duty of care.
- Your child suffered a skull fracture birth injury because of your doctor’s failure.
- You incurred economic or non-economic damages because of your child’s injury.
Duty of Care
The first thing your lawyer will establish in your case is that your doctor or her staff member owed you and your child a duty of care. All doctors have a duty of care to their patients, and this duty applies to their staff members as well.
Failure to Uphold Duty
The second thing we will show is that the responsible party failed to uphold her duty of care to you. If your doctor or her staff member behaved in a manner that fell short of how a reasonable person would have acted in the same situation, we can show that she did not meet the duty of care.
A reasonable person is defined as a healthcare professional with the same skills and training and facing the same situation. We can bring in medical expert witnesses to play the role of this person and to testify on how they would have acted differently.
Skull Fracture Birth Injury
Having established a duty of care and a failure of that duty, we must connect the responsible party’s failure to your child’s injury. We can draw on several forms of evidence to show it is more likely than not that the responsible party’s negligence led to your child’s skull fracture birth injury.
Economic or Non-Economic Damages
The final element of our case is listing the economic and non-economic damages you suffered as a direct result of your child’s injury.
Our Team Helps You Recover Damages for Your Child’s Skull Fracture Birth Injury
Newsome | Melton fights for the fair compensation you deserve. If your child suffered a skull fracture birth injury, you may be eligible to recover the following medical malpractice damages and more:
- Medical bills
- Lost wages
- Ongoing care costs for your child
- Pain and suffering and inconvenience
- Emotional distress
- Scarring and disfigurement