Long Island, New York (NewYorkInjuryNews.com) — Over the years, personal injury firms have represented many parents in medical malpractice cases who have brought lawsuits to recover money damages for injuries sustained by their children when they were born. These are heart-wrenching stories of injuries to infants, many of which could have been avoided.
Medical malpractice is defined in the law as a departure from accepted medical practice. That is, a doctor did or did not do that which a reasonable doctor would have done under similar circumstances. A mere error in judgment is not medical malpractice. These cases always require a medical expert, usually in the same field of specialty as the doctor being sued, to testify in Court that a doctor’s treatment fell below the accepted standards of practice.
The most typical types of cases are the Erb’s Palsy injury and the brain damaged baby cases.
The Erb’s Palsy case is often manifested by a shriveled arm and hand. Typically, what occurs in the Erb’s Palsy case is that a baby is too large to come through the birth canal and the shoulder becomes stuck by the mother’s pelvic bone. If a doctor does not know the proper maneuvers for extricating the shoulder he or she can by applying too much force injure the brachial plexus (the nerve which is located over the shoulder) and cause the arm to not develop naturally. There can be different degrees of severity of this injury. Some Erb Palsy’s can be treated with physical therapy (yes, they actually do therapy with newborns); the most severe, appear as shriveled up and useless arms and hands.
Another typical type of medical malpractice case that we handle is on behalf of the brain-damaged baby. Very often what happens in these cases is that the fetal heart monitor shows that the baby is in distress because of oxygen deprivation. In many cases this calls for an emergency C-Section to avoid the effects of oxygen deprivation to the brain.
Typically, medical malpractice cases are vigorously contested. Insurance companies that insure the hospitals and doctors spare no expenses in hiring excellent lawyers and well-paid experts to defend these cases. Skilled and experience attorneys are required to win these cases for the injured victims.
Contributor: Robert Sullivan -Long Island, New York medical malpractice plaintiff trial attorney.