Birth injuries may occur when a doctor, nurse, hospital, or another medical provider fails to respond appropriately during pregnancy, labor, or delivery. These injuries can affect a child’s health and development while creating substantial medical and financial needs for the family. Our Phoenix personal injury lawyers can investigate the medical care provided, consult qualified experts, and determine whether negligence contributed to the injury.
The Mercaldo Law Firm has represented injured people and their families throughout Arizona for more than 40 years. Call (480) 227-8081 or contact us online to schedule a free consultation with a Phoenix birth injury lawyer.
Why Select The Mercaldo Law Firm for Your Phoenix Birth Injury Claim?
The Mercaldo Law Firm has over 40 years of experience and a record of success in recovering more than $400 million for injured clients and their families. With our team on your side, we bring the following advantages to your birth injury claim in Phoenix:
- Access to medical experts and other specialists to provide supporting evidence in your claim
- A dedication to personalized strategies through our team’s hands-on approach that allows us to get to know victims and their families to witness the full impacts of the injury
After your free case consultation, we go to work for you at no cost until after we’ve recovered compensation for you through a settlement or court award for your family’s damages.
Examples of Common Birth Injuries In Phoenix
The Cleveland Clinic describes birth injuries as any neonatal injury that occurs to a baby during the birthing process. Some birth injuries have permanent impacts. Examples of birth injuries in Phoenix and elsewhere include the following:
- Contusions and abrasions from forceps and vacuum extractors
- Broken clavicle (collar bone) or limbs
- Caput succedaneum, or swelling of the scalp
- Cephalohematoma, or pooling of blood beneath the scalp
- Brachial plexus injury causing Erb’s palsy, with resulting weakness or paralysis of the arm
- Facial nerve paralysis
- Eye injuries, including retinal or subconjunctival hemorrhage
- Skull fractures
- Hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy (HIE), or brain injury caused by lack of oxygen to the infant’s brain
HIE and other hypoxic brain injuries from disrupted oxygen flow to the infant’s brain cause long-term effects, such as cerebral palsy. Cerebral palsy is one of the most disabling results of a birth injury in Phoenix or elsewhere.
Proving Liability for a Birth Injury Claim In Phoenix
A laboring mother and the unborn infant are patients in a hospital or birthing center, requiring the facility, physician, and medical team to carefully monitor their medical status and to react appropriately to changes.
After a birth injury, it takes an experienced investigation to determine liability. Then the evidence must demonstrate the following:
- A doctor/patient relationship was in place when the birth injury occurred
- The medical provider had a legal duty of care to treat the patient at the medical community’s accepted standards
- They breached this duty of care through negligence
- The breach of duty directly caused the birth injury
- The injury victim and their family suffered damages from the injury
Depending on the circumstances uncovered in the investigation, the liable party could be the doctor, the medical staff, or the facility itself.
Recoverable Damages In Phoenix Birth Injury Claims
A birth injury causes lifelong economic damages to the family and devastating non-economic damages to the child, including permanent disability in some cases. A successful claim recovers compensation for losses such as:
- Past and future medical expenses
- Costs for therapies, special education, and adaptive equipment needs
- A parent’s total past and future lost earnings
- Compensation for the child’s pain, suffering, catastrophic injury, and diminished quality of life
- Compensation for the parents’ emotional anguish
If medical negligence resulted in the loss of a mother or child, our Phoenix wrongful death lawyers can explain the family’s legal options and help pursue accountability.
Contact Our Phoenix Birth Injury Lawyers
Your family can avoid the additional distress of a complex legal process during an already distressing time after a birth injury. Instead, call the Mercaldo Law Firm at (480) 227-8081 or contact us online to schedule a free consultation with our Phoenix birth injury lawyers.