Your baby was born and spent significant time in the NICU. Your infant later fails to meet his/her developmental milestones. The doctors tell you he or she may have cerebral palsy. You have many questions about the cause of your child’s developmental delay – questions that your treating pediatrician or pediatric neurologist are unwilling to answer.
Often times, physicians are unwilling to give you specific answers for fear of litigation. This is where I come in. I have over 13 years of experience helping families find the answers to those questions. If your child’s brain injury was preventable, I have the experience and expertise to seek justice and compensation for your family. I have obtained compensation for families with children with cerebral palsy where special trusts are established to provide financial security for their child’s future medical, rehabilitative, and living needs.
Cerebral Palsy is a generic diagnosis that can have many causes. Some of the ones I commonly handle are hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy (brain damage from a lack of oxygen/blood flow), Periventricular Leukomalacia (PVL – primarily due to prematurity), Kernicterus (brain damage due to untreated hyperbilirubinemia), and Intracranial Bleeds (bleeding in brain many times caused by trauma during the labor and delivery). Sometimes these types of brain injury are preventable and therefore caused by the negligence of the treating physician or nursing staff at the hospital.
One of the common areas where negligence occurs that causes brain injury involves fetal monitoring during the labor. This is accomplished using a fetal monitor that is connected to the mother during labor either by a belt or a fetal scalp electrode. During the labor, the monitor displays real-time fetal heart rate information that nurses and obstetricians are trained to interpret to assess fetal wellbeing. The forces of labor can be traumatic on a fetus. And if the fetus begins to show significant signs of distress on the monitor, it is critical for the nursing staff and/or physician to recognize this in a timely manner and respond with intrauterine resuscitative measures and an emergency c-section if necessary.
Medical malpractice law is very complex and filled with obstacles and pitfalls that require an experienced attorney to handle your case. I am experienced in reviewing the labor and delivery, NICU, neurology, and fetal monitoring strip records to determine if the physician and/or nurses’ interventions were timely and if your child’s brain injury was preventable. I also have access to some of the most respected and credentialed medical experts in the field of obstetrics and neurology to assist in your case.
