Phoenix Birth Injury Attorneys
Providing legal services to the victims of birth injuries in Arizona
You’ve spent nine months or more waiting to welcome your new baby into the world. You’ve decorated the nursery and installed the car seat in anticipation of your child’s grand entrance. Unfortunately, for many families, that joy and happiness ends abruptly when an act of negligence results in a tragic loss or severe injury. These incidents can affect the mother as well as the baby, and when they occur, you need the help of an experienced Phoenix birth injury attorney to walk you and your family through the legal claims process.
At Plattner Verderame, P.C., we care about our clients and understand the pain that a birth injury causes. We have helped numerous families secure the compensation they need to provide an injured child with necessary medical treatment for a long and happy life. Contact us today for practical, honest guidance about your future.
How can we help?
Experienced representation for a variety of birth injury cases
We understand that you may be hesitant to initiate a claim, but you should seek legal representation as soon as possible after the injury occurred, because of the statute of limitations. Lawsuits involving medical malpractice generally must be filed within two years of the injury.
Our skilled Phoenix birth injury attorneys have helped families secure compensation for the following types of catastrophic injuries:
- Developmental delays. Birthing injuries can cut off oxygen to the baby’s developing brain. When this occurs, the newborn may experience intellectual disabilities that require a lifetime of therapy and living assistance.
- Hematomas and head injuries. A newborn may experience internal bleeding between the skull and the skin of the head, sometimes as the result of a skull fracture. This injury often results from prolonged labor, or when the baby’s head is too large to fit through the pelvis. This condition can worsen into jaundice and permanently damage the brain.
- Cerebral ischemia. Lack of blood flow to the brain can cause its cells to die. Infections and maternal medications of the mother can lead to this condition, which can prevent the development of certain brain functions, like loss of memory, muscle weakness and urinary incontinence.
- Shoulder dystocia. Difficult births can result in injury to the nerves of the baby’s shoulder, or lead to brachial plexus injuries such as Erb’s palsy. This injury presents as partial or total paralysis of the shoulder, arm and hand. While many of these injuries are temporary, some cases are permanent, causing psychological and physical pain for the child to experience throughout his or her lifetime.
- Cerebral palsy. Oxygen deprivation and trauma during delivery can lead to cerebral palsy. While this condition presents as impaired movement, it also affects the development of the baby’s brain. The most catastrophic cases can rob your baby of his or her communication abilities or the ability to perform common tasks like sitting or walking independently.
Each of these injuries can have lifelong implications for the injured child and their family. The most severely injured children may never experience independent living, instead relying solely on medical devices and nurses for even their most basic needs. This level of treatment is extremely costly and can put a financial strain on the family, but our highly skilled Phoenix catastrophic injury lawyers know how to mount a case that secures the level of compensation you need to adequately care for your child. When money is one less thing for you to worry about, you can put much more of a focus on providing quality care for your child who may now have special needs due to birth injuries.
Understanding what negligence looks like
Victims of negligence are not always aware of the situation. Common negligence scenarios include:
- Not properly reading a patient’s charts to check for potential issues and allergies
- Not coming into the hospital room often enough to check on the mother-to-be or her baby
- Improperly diagnosing the mother-to-be or not providing a diagnosis at all
- Inappropriate use of drugs during labor and delivery
- Failure to monitor the baby’s condition
- Poor planning and poor judgement call during an emergency
- Excessive or negligent use of extraction tools
While different acts of negligence can occur, these are a few of the signs of medical negligence. If you experienced any of these situations, you may be a victim who is entitled to monetary compensation.
Long-term costs associated with childbirth injuries
Labor and delivery negligence leads to a number of associated costs: emotional, physical, and financial. A birth injury can lead to substantial hardships, especially if your child will be affected for the rest of his or her life. While insurance may cover all pre-existing conditions now, there is no way to ensure that this will always be the case, or that caps will not be reinstituted. Even if they are not, your out-of-pocket costs simply to care for your child may be too much for your family to bear.
Those costs can include:
- Cost of routine medical treatment for injuries that regularly require medication or medical treatment
- Cost of surgical procedures performed on the mother or child because of injuries sustained during childbirth
- Cost of physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, and other forms of therapy to assist a child born with brain injuries and/or cognitive disorders
- Cost of around-the-clock care provided by a registered nurse or LPN
Depending on your personal situation, you may be able to file a claim seeking compensation for various damages. These damages can help you ensure that your child will get the help he or she needs, now and in the future. A birth injury lawsuit can seek damages for:
- Current and future medical bills
- Lost wages, and loss of future earning potential
- Pain and suffering
Trusted legal services for injured mothers
When mothers are injured during the birthing process, it often stems from a condition that developed during the pregnancy. That’s why regular maternal checkups are so important; tests can identify potential problems and adequate treatment can begin for the protection of the mother and her developing baby. As reported by the Centers for Disease Control, roughly 700 women per 100,000 births will die in America during childbirth each year. Thousands more experience severe injuries that require extensive treatments and medical care.
Many of these deaths and injuries could have been avoided but occurred because of negligence and poor decision-making on behalf of medical professionals that were trusted to provide high-quality care. In fact, one common cause of maternal injury and death after childbirth is poor post-partum care. Complications can occur when a woman and her baby are not properly monitored by medical personnel, and life-threatening conditions, like preeclampsia and post-partum hemorrhage, can go untreated. At our firm, we promote the wellbeing of your entire family by fighting for all injured mothers and babies.
Our honest Phoenix birth injury attorneys will not move forward with any catastrophic injury case unless we are sure that an honest injury has occurred. To assist in this process, we solicit the help of qualified healthcare professionals to review our potential catastrophic injury cases before bringing the claim. We pride ourselves on seeking justice for honest people who have been affected by life-changing injuries.
Do you have a Phoenix birth injury lawyer near me?
Our Phoenix office is conveniently located at 316 E Flower St., Phoenix, AZ 85012. We meet clients away from the office when necessary.
Contact our experienced Phoenix birth injury lawyers
The effect of a birth injury on an Arizona family can be extremely painful and financially challenging. At Plattner Verderame, P.C., we seek to lessen some of the burden by offering our legal services on a contingency basis. We take care of all up-front costs, and you don’t pay us unless we secure a settlement or verdict on your behalf. If your family has been affected by a birth injury and you are seeking honest legal assistance, call us at 602-783-8793, or complete our contact form today, and schedule a consultation at our office in Phoenix.