Woman’s Birth Injury Claim Rejected After Judge Finds Alternate Causes for Injuries to Newborn Child

A decision was recently handed down in a birth injury case that rejected the plaintiff’s claim and will possibly result in her being held responsible for the legal fees incurred by the defendant in defending the claim. The court reasoned that there were alternate causes for the injury that were noticed after the baby was delivered. According to a local news article describing the case, the judge ruled that the plaintiff’s claim that the baby was delivered too quickly in response to an alleged problem leading up to delivery did not warrant damages because there were other possible causes for the injuries. The court found that the doctor handled the birth correctly and was not negligent. According to the report, the court has set another hearing to address the defendant’s request that the plaintiff be required to pay their legal fees.

The Plaintiff ‘s Allegations of Malpractice

The plaintiff began to go into labor in the care of the defendant hospital. According to her lawsuit, the delivery did not go as planned, since the baby was stuck in the birth canal and suffered from shoulder dystocia, which required the medical providers to employ additional maneuvers to dislodge and deliver the child. The plaintiff alleged that the doctors did not properly treat the shoulder dystocia and rushed to deliver the baby in only two minutes and with too much force, causing permanent injuries to the child’s arm and shoulder. The hospital claimed that they did employ additional precautions to deliver the baby, but there was no shoulder dystocia diagnosis or treatment, and they did not deliver the baby too quickly under the circumstances or cause any injuries. The hospital claimed that the injuries to the baby most likely resulted from her abnormal positioning in her mother’s womb.

Birth Injuries Can Come from Multiple Sources

The court sided with the defense in this case and found that the doctor had the experience to identify whether shoulder dystocia was present and that the injuries to the baby were probably caused in some other way. The article does not explain which arguments the plaintiff made to dispute the defendants’ claims that the injuries came from another source, and there is no mention that the plaintiff used the testimony of a medical expert to try and convince the court that their child had been suffering from shoulder dystocia, which would have required a more careful birth. The strength or weakness of medical expert testimony can make a difference in a disputed birth injury case.

Should You Contact an Attorney?

If you believe you or a loved one may be a victim of medical malpractice because of a birth injury, a qualified medical malpractice attorney can help fight your case. The experienced birth injury attorneys at Wais, Vogelstein, Forman, Koch & Norman want to help you hold the responsible parties accountable for their mistakes, and get you and your family the compensation that you deserve. At Wais, Vogelstein, Forman, Koch & Norman, we utilize respected medical experts to help prove that our clients should be compensated, and we have the results to show for it. We focus our practice on birth injury cases and want to hear about your case. Contact the experienced birth injury lawyers at Wais, Vogelstein, Forman, Koch & Norman today. Call us at (410) 567-0800 or contact us through our website to schedule a risk-free consultation.