Giving birth to a child is supposed to be one of the greatest joys of your life. However, if something goes wrong before, during or after delivery, you may soon find yourself in a challenging position.
Any type of birth injury is serious, as this has the potential to result in long-lasting medical concerns.
Once your child receives the necessary treatment and you understand their prognosis, its time to turn your attention to your legal rights. Depending on the circumstances, you may be able to take legal action.
Here are some of the most common responsible parties in a birth injury case:
- Hospital: There are many forms of hospital negligence, such as hiring unlicensed medical professionals and failure to ensure that there is a sufficient staff on hand at all times.
- Medical professionals: When it comes to your pregnancy, labor, delivery and after-care, youll be in contact with many types of medical professionals. These include but are not limited to medical doctors, nurses and anesthesiologists. Any of these people could make a mistake that causes a birth injury.
- Pharmaceutical company: Many people overlook the fact that a pharmaceutical company could be responsible for a birth injury. This typically happens if the manufacturer neglected to warn physicians about potential reactions and dangers.
What should you do next?
A birth injury can change the life of you and your child forever. While follow-up treatment is top priority, you dont want to wait too long to do the following:
- Get a second opinion
- Learn more about the cause of the injury
- Determine if there was anything that could have been done differently to prevent the injury
- Talk to your medical team about your childs prognosis
Depending on your findings, the next logical step may be filing a medical malpractice claim against the negligent party.
If youre heading down this path, collect as much information as possible to back up your claim. This will come in handy as you protect your legal rights and attempt to receive compensation for your childs injuries and other damages.
Read our past blog posts and visit our website for more information on medical malpractice, birth injuries and related subject matter in Hawaii.