The injury your baby suffered could have been prevented. You did everything right by immediately going to the emergency room when you knew you needed medical care during your pregnancy. Once you were at the ER, you depended on the doctors, nurses, and staff to act with reasonable care so that your baby would be safe, but that’s not what happened.
ER Malpractice Can Cause Birth Injuries
Different types of malpractice can occur in an emergency department, all of which can harm a baby before or during delivery. For example, a baby could suffer a birth injury if there was a:
- Failure to diagnose. If your ER care team failed to diagnose a problem that should have been diagnosed given your symptoms and the circumstances of your ER visit, this could be malpractice.
- Failure to bring in a specialist. ER staff need to know when to call an obstetrician or other specialist. The failure to bring in a specialist can be malpractice.
- Delayed C-section or other treatment. ER staff must make difficult decisions about which patients need to be treated first. However, if a C-section is not ordered in a timely manner and your baby is injured because of it, you may have cause for malpractice.
- Medication mistake. Some medications are not safe during pregnancy because they can cause harm to an unborn baby. A medication error may occur if an ER doctor writes an unsafe prescription or if the pharmacy provides you with the wrong medication.
These problems can cause oxygen deprivation and other issues that result in serious birth injuries, including but not limited to brain damage and cerebral palsy.
Protect Your Child’s Future After an ER Birth Injury
You did everything you could to protect your child when you went to the emergency room, but the negligence of emergency room staff caused your child’s injury. Now, it is up to you to protect your child’s future by fighting for your child’s legal recovery. A birth injury lawsuit could help pay for past, current, and future costs associated with your child’s malpractice injury. This could include, for example, healthcare costs, assistive devices, home renovations to accommodate a disability, living expenses, pain, suffering, and more.
Our experienced birth injury lawyers and our staff nurse will help you fight to give your child the best possible life. Call us or start a live chat with us today to schedule your initial case consultation.