Being injured by the professionals we turn to for medical help is a very difficult experience, but if your newborn child is the injured party, the matter is that much more serious. Medical malpractice is more common than people realize, and seeking the compensation to which you are entitled, and that you need to provide your child with the full range of care and support they require now and into the future is key. Seek the skilled legal counsel you need from an experienced Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, birth injury attorney today.
Is It Medical Malpractice?
Not every birth injury, such as a bone fracture, is caused by medical malpractice. When a doctor makes a mistake that another reasonable medical professional might have made under similar circumstances, it does not rise to the level of malpractice. The linchpin of medical malpractice claims is a medical practitioner or medical facility’s failure to adhere to the standards, norms, and protocols that other reasonable professionals and facilities practice in similar situations.
Finally, the doctor or facility’s negligence must be the direct cause of your newborn’s injury, and you must have suffered physical, financial, or emotional losses that are recognized by the law as a result of medical malpractice to apply. When the injury in question is a bone fracture, such losses are not difficult to establish.
Bone Fractures Sustained at Birth
Bone fractures that are sustained at birth tend to fall into one of several categories.
Collarbone Fractures
Stanford Medicine’s Children’s Health reports that fractures of the clavicle or collarbone are the kind of broken bone that an infant is most likely to experience during labor and delivery, and it is an especially painful injury. Breech deliveries increase the likelihood of a fractured clavicle or collarbone.
Skull Fractures
Skull fractures are one of the most serious forms of bone-fracture birth injuries. While a newborn’s skull has built-in flexibility that is designed to withstand the delivery process, an especially difficult delivery – such as one that involves the application of excessive pressure, a vacuum extraction, or the use of forceps – can lead to a dangerous skull fracture. Skull fractures can cause any of the following:
- Developmental delays
- Brain damage
- Long-term complications
Long Bone Fractures
When a long bone like the upper arm bone – or humerus – or the thigh bone – or femur – is fractured during the birthing process, it is often the result of medical error. These injuries are closely associated with long, difficult births that include the use of assistive devices.