Tampa Birth Injury Attorneys

At MattLaw, our medical malpractice lawyers have the experience and working relationships with pregnancy and birth delivery doctors to handle all types of birth injuries, including:

• Brachial palsy injuries. This injury happens when the group of spinal nerves that connect to the baby’s arms and hands (brachial plexus nerves) are injured. This injury commonly occurs when moving the baby’s shoulder becomes difficult (shoulder dystocia). Shoulder dystocia injuries can cause bruising and swelling of the brachial plexus nerves. With competent medical care, the newborn’s movements should return within a few months. If a nerve is torn, the damage can be permanent. A brachial plexus injury can cause loss of feeling, weakness, and loss of movement in the affected arm and hands.
• Improper use of forceps and vacuum extractors. Obstetricians who improperly use forceps or vacuum extractors can cause bruising of a baby’s face, head, and scalp. These instruments are generally used to help deliver a baby through the mother’s birth canal.
  • The improper use of forceps can also cause facial paralysis – pressure on the newborn’s face can damage facial nerves. Surgery may be required if a nerve is torn.
  • Babies who are delivered by vacuum extraction are also more likely to suffer a “significant swelling of the soft tissues of the baby's scalp.”

• Cephalohematoma. This condition involves bleeding “between the skull bone and its fibrous covering.” A common symptom is a raised lump on the newborn’s head. This condition can take several months to heal. If there’s a lot of bleeding, some babies may “develop jaundice as the red blood cells break down.”
• Fractures. Newborns may suffer a fractured clavicle or collarbone during labor/delivery. “The clavicle may break when there is trouble delivering the baby's shoulder or during a breech delivery.” Parents may notice the break because a baby with a fractured clavicle rarely moves the arm on that side. Fortunately, “healing occurs quickly. As new bone forms, a firm lump on the clavicle often develops in the first 10 days.”
• Subconjunctival hemorrhage. This condition involves breaking the small blood vessels in the newborn’s eyes. This condition normally takes 7-10 days to heal.

Our Tampa birth injury lawyers also represent newborns and families in these birth injury claims:

• A wrongful birth. Your newborn may die during the delivery or may be born alive but die shortly after birth – due to medical malpractice.
• Cerebral palsy. Cerebral palsy (CP) is a neurological condition that is caused by damage to the brain during fetal development or delivery. This brain damage results from the lack of oxygen to the brain. Cerebral palsy affects your baby’s ability to control their muscle movement. CP may cause cognitive disabilities in addition to physical disabilities and emotional trauma. The Cleveland Clinic estimates that between 5,500 and 13,100 children in America are born with CP each year. Some of the complications of cerebral palsy include seizures, epilepsy, intellectual disabilities, communication challenges, bone and muscle damage, hearing and vision problems, feeding issues, and behavioral challenges.
• Birth (oxygen) asphyxia. This condition causes severe damage to your newborn’s brain. This birth injury occurs when your newborn’s brain and organs don’t receive the oxygen they need during labor and delivery. Possible complications include seizures, comas, respiratory damage, digestive disorders, and circulatory disorders. This birth injury occurs when your baby’s brain doesn’t get enough oxygen. Hypoxia may occur during delivery if your physician leaves the baby’s head in the birth canal for too long or misuses a suction device. Hypoxia can cause catastrophic injuries, including brain injury, nerve injury, breathing difficulty, seizures, coma, and death. Our Tampa birth injury lawyers work to hold obstetricians liable for medical malpractice when hypoxia occurs.
• Erb’s palsy (also called brachial plexus palsy). As discussed above, brachial plexus injuries occur when the brachial plexus nerves are stretched or torn. Erb’s palsy involves the upper nerves in the plexus. Palsy means the partial or complete loss of muscle function — which can cause muscle weakness or paralysis. Our Tampa birth injury lawyers understand the different types of Erb’s palsy disorders and what steps your doctors should have taken to prevent them.
• Klumpke paralysis. This birth injury happens when the baby’s shoulder nerves are damaged during delivery. Klumpke paralysis limits your newborn’s ability to move their hand and lower arm.
• Meconium aspiration syndrome (MAS). MAS occurs when a newborn has difficulty breathing because meconium (a sticky substance that becomes your baby’s first poop) gets into your newborn’s lungs just before or during birth. Inhaling meconium can damage your child’s airways and lung tissue - and “block surfactant (the substance that helps open your baby’s lungs at birth). MAS can cause respiratory problems and, in rare cases, be life-threatening.”
• Medical Negligence and Preterm Births. Preterm birth can cause an infant to experience complicated health issues that may impact them for the rest of their life. Some instances of preterm birth can’t be avoided. Another scenario, however, is when a medical provider's error causes preterm birth when prompt and proper care could have prevented it.

We also represent newborns and parents when the following birth injuries occur:

• Kernicterus
• Femoral nerve dysfunction
• Lumbosacral plexus injury
• Perineal tears
• Uterine prolapse, which affects the mother’s health
• Pregnancy disorders
• Other delivery disorders
• Post-delivery disorders