Chicago Birth Injury Lawyer Blog

Omaha News reported late last month on the conclusion of a birth injury lawsuit where a jury found for the family of a girl who lost the use her arm following medical errors during her birth. As with virtually all of these cases, the family is grateful for the redress, but they would obviously return it all for their child not to have suffered the life-changing harm in the first place. Our Chicago birth injury lawyers know that while the award total might seem large at first glance, it results from the fact that young girl will likely need costly and significant medical and caregiving aid for the rest of her life.

The girl in this case suffered the permanent injury during her turbulent birth in the summer of 2008. The girl was large for an infant, weighing in at more than 9 pounds when she was delivered. Unfortunately, it seems that her obstetrician failed to properly account for her large size or deal effectively with the traumatic delivery. According to attorneys for the family that filed the birth injury lawsuit, the doctor made a series of critical mistakes during the delivery.

A vacuum was used to help the child navigate the birth canal. However, there were serious questions raised about whether or not the vacuum was necessary. As a result of that step, the child’s shoulder became caught on the side of her mother’s pelvis. This is a common problem when mistakes are made by medical professionals during a birth. In an effort to fix the problem the doctor applied too much force in pulling down on the baby’s head. The pressure ultimately caused the newborn to experience significant nerve damage to one arm. Three nerves were ripped completely out and two others were ruptured in half. The damage left the arm virtually paralyzed. She has already had several surgeries, and many more are expected. Her parents explain that the three and half year old is just now beginning to look at other kids at her daycare and wonder why she is different.

The birth injury lawyers who represented the victim explained that pulling down on the head during a delivery is a clear mistake—one that all medical professionals know should never be done. However, it seems that the doctor in this case panicked during the troubling birth and made the severe mistake. The specific name for the harm caused in shoulder dystocia. Our office has handled many cases where local victims suffered this injury as a result of excess force being applied during a birth.

As the lawyers in this case explained, shoulder dystocia can be prevented or safely handled without application of excessive force. Doctors can usually either manipulate the mother’s legs or exert pressure on the pelvis area itself. However, there are times when doctors rush and apply the extra force. That application of force is only ever necessary when the child’s oxygen levels begin to drop. But when those levels do not drop, the force is simply exerted in error—often with serious, preventable consequences.

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Our Illinois birth injury attorneys recently read about a lawsuit in which the family of a baby that was born with birth injuries sued the doctor that was responsible for the delivery, for causing the injuries to be much more severe than they would have been had he not acted negligently. The negligence lawsuit alleges that the baby suffered permanent arm and shoulder nerve damage after the doctor did not act as quickly as he should have when the baby’s arm got stuck against his mother’s bone during delivery. The stuck shoulder should have led the doctor to perform immediate emergency surgery to help relieve the arm of the pressure, and the lack of the surgery led to the baby suffering from a severe and permanent injury.

The birth injury occurred back in 1989, and the now much older boy still has a weakened arm due to the damage at birth, and there is very extensive nerve damage to his whole arm. According to Justice News Flash, the lawsuit points out that the doctor that was responsible for the birth injury admitted himself to a drug rehabilitation center just days after the birth of the baby boy. The family believes that the doctor may have been under the influence of drugs and that his judgment was impaired at a point in time where he needed to make an emergency decision that he failed to make.

The birth injury and negligence lawsuit that was filed by the family of the victim likely seeks damages not only for medical bills and costs associated with the injury and physical therapy for the injury, but also for damages to help with the pain and suffering that the boy and his family have had to deal with as a result of the doctor’s negligence. The birth injury lawsuit was filed against the negligent doctor about four years ago but now the doctor cannot be found. He has lost his medical license and even his own attorney does not know where he is located. This is obviously very frustrating for the family, and the young man who suffered the birth injuries, because with they are not able to achieve the justice that they deserve or to receive any compensation that they are owed with the doctor missing. The attorney for the doctor is trying to have the case dismissed because the doctor is unable to be located but the family has asked the court for an extension in hopes that they doctor will be located and the case can continue on and they can receive damages for the birth injury.

If you or a loved one suffered birth injuries that were the result of a doctor, nurse, or other medical professional’s negligence and you feel that you are entitled to monetary compensation for this negligence, please contact our Illinois personal injury lawyers immediately to talk about your case. Our personal injury firm has helped recover millions of dollars for clients all over Illinois and we are here to talk to you about what has happened to you and you family.

Recently, our Chicago birth injury attorneys read about a 16-pound baby born to a woman in Texas. While the majority of onlookers reveled in the newborn's cute and happy photos, it is important to note that there are a number of dangers to both mother and child surrounding an infant with macrosomia (a newborn with an excessive birth weight). Macrosomia is a serious condition often linked with birth injuries such as shoulder dystocia. In addition, babies who are born with Macrosomia are subject to increased risks in the development of asthma, cancer, diabetes, allergies and life-long struggles with obesity.

There are a number of reasons as to why some babies are born with a high birth weight. Some babies are born large because their parents are large people. Some babies are large because they are born after their due date. Hispanic women have an increased chance of delivering overweight children when compared with other races. While these risk factors cannot be prevented, there are a number of others that can be. According to a board-certified OB/GYN on the Daily Beast Health Blog, the “three most significant risks for having an overweight baby are… obesity prior to getting pregnant, excessive weight gain during pregnancy, and uncontrolled diabetes.”

Because of the increased risks in child birth that overweight babies present, it is important that physicians identify the size of a child before his or her birth and to take the necessary precautions in preventing birth injuries when it is known that a baby will be born with macrosomia. If physicians do not follow proper practice in these instances they may be subject to medical malpractice liability.

One of the many concerns that need to be dealt with in the delivery of an overweight child is the possibility of shoulder dystocia. Shoulder dystocia occurs when a mother is able to deliver the head of her child, but the body gets stuck in the mother’s birth canal. When this happens a baby has a high chance of developing nerve damages or other serious injuries including the possibility of death. The chances of delivering a baby with shoulder dystocia are greatly increased for babies that are delivered with macrosomia.

Our Chicago birth-Injury lawyers recognize the difficulty that delivering overweight babies presents. Since our practice was founded, we have represented a number of families in cases involving birth injuries like shoulder dystocia during a macrosomic birth. In one of these cases, our client's physicians failed to perform an ultrasound to determine the size of the baby even though the mother's first child was macrosomic. They also failed to inform the child's mother of the risks associated with delivering a baby of this size or inform her that a c-section was an option to reduce these risks. As a result, our client's daughter suffered a shoulder dystocia and the family pursued a personal injury lawsuit to recover compensation for her injuries and to pay the child's past and future medical care and treatments. We settled the family's shoulder dystocia lawsuit in 2009 for $1.35 million against the negligent physicians and hospital staff that caused her injuries.

Our Chicago birth injury attorneys often receive troubling calls from heartbroken parents describing incidents of shoulder dystocia. According to a recent article from MissionLocal.org, shoulder dystocia is a birth complication often associated with, but not limited to pregnant women with diabetes. Shoulder dystocia occurs when a child’s head is delivered, but the shoulders of the child are unable to pass through the birth canal. When this occurs, the child is immediately in jeopardy of suffering serious birth injuries or even death. According to the report, sometimes doctors are able to avoid injury by quickly repositioning the child, but others aren’t so lucky.

Shoulder dystocia is one of the most dangerous birth complications. Once the head of a baby is delivered, significant strain is placed on the umbilical cord. In a typical childbirth setting this is not a problem because of the relatively short period of time between delivery of a baby’s head and shoulders. In shoulder dystocia cases, however, the prolonged stress often leads to permanent injuries.

John Perconti filed a lawsuit against Evanston Hospital in 2005 for complications suffered by Denise Juarez when the birth complication of shoulder dystocia caused her to ultimately suffer from Erb’s palsy, which is the weakness or loss of movement caused by damage to the nerve bundles at one’s shoulders.

While some cases involving shoulder dystocia can not be predicted, many others can, and failing to diagnose a fetus with a high propensity of suffering a shoulder dystocia is medical malpractice. In the case of Denise, the facility was negligent in a number of ways. The staff failed to perform an ultrasound prior to delivering Denise to determine her size, given the fact that Denise’s mother had previously delivered a large baby. Additionally, the staff failed to inform Denise’s mother of her increased risk for shoulder dystocia and failed to offer a Caesarean section as an option to reduce these risks. Finally, during delivery, the labor and delivery team failed to perform the proper disimpaction techniques, and the doctors applied excessive force causing Denise’s permanent nerve damage.

John and the rest of the birth injury lawyer team at Levin and Perconti, using their knowledge gained over many years practicing in the area, were able to settle Denise’s case for $1.3 million dollars. This money will help provide Denise the care and treatment necessary to live a more normal life.

Chicago injury lawyers at Levin & Perconti are very familiar with cases involving brachial plexus injuries. These injuries are some of the most common forms of medical malpractice at birth, and often have life-long effects on the injured child and his or her family.

The Mayo Clinic website defines the brachial plexus as a “network of nerves” originating at the back of a person’s neck in the spinal cord that branch down through a person’s shoulder, arm and hand. Most of the brachial plexus injuries we see occur during birth, many as a result of shoulder dystocia. A dystocia occurs when a baby’s shoulders get caught against its mother’s pubic bone during delivery. This can happen if a baby is too large to fit through the birthing canal. When a dystocia occurs and a medical provider, such as an obstetrician or midwife, uses excessive force or improper movements to try to dislodge the baby, these movements can damage a child’s brachial plexus nerves.

Injuries may occur in several different ways. For instance, if the brachial plexus nerves are stretched, it may result in short term injury and the victim usually can fully recover. The nerves may also tear partially or completely, with varying effects. In the event of a tear, nerves can often heal. An avulsion is the most severe type of brachial plexus injury because the nerves are not able to repair themselves. The extent of the injury is also determined by the location of the injury. For instance, if the injury occurs in the upper part of the brachial plexus network, Erb’s palsy occurs. Lower injuries can cause Klumpke’s palsy which affects the hand or the child’s wrist.

The long-term repercussions of a brachial plexus injury at birth vary. In some cases, the injury is slight and some brachial plexus injuries fully heal on their own within the first few months of a child’s life. Some of the symptoms of a brachial plexus injury include limpness or paralysis of the arm, a lack of controlled muscle movement in the arm, hand, or wrist, and lack sensation in the arm, wrist or hand. Physical therapies or surgeries may be used to treat these injuries in an attempt to restore functionality.

Continue reading "Chicago Birth Injury Lawyer: Spotlight on Brachial Plexus Injuries " »

Aboutlawsuits.com is reporting that a hospital will appeal a $56 million New York Supreme Court jury verdict awarded to a young boy, now seven, who suffered severe injuries during birth. According to the report, during delivery, the infant’s shoulder became impacted against his mother’s pelvic bone, causing a shoulder dystocia.

When shoulder dystocia occurs, it is crucial for labor and delivery staff to take immediate action to reduce harm to the baby. There are a number of maneuvers that practitioners should know to help decrease the risk of serious injury when dystocia occurs. However, if these maneuvers are performed incorrectly, infants can suffer serious birth injuries. In this case, the jury determined that the obstetrician and hospital staff failed to alleviate the shoulder dystocia in a timely manner, causing the newborn to suffer brain injury and nerve damage. The boy now lives with developmental delays and his speech is impaired.

Continue reading "$56 Million Shoulder Dystocia Verdict Appealed " »

Parents who suffer from a combination of gestational diabetes (GDM) and obesity have recently been linked to an increased chance of delivering children with macrosomia. Macrosomia, having a very high birth weight, can lead to various birth injuries if not recognized and approached correctly by a patient’s doctor.

A recent investigation reported by Dr. Metzger, M.D., of Northwestern University School of Medicine in Chicago found that obese women had a 13.6% increased chance of delivering a baby with macrosomia compared to women of a healthy weight. If an obese woman then develops gestational diabetes her risk of delivering a macrosomic child is 20.2% above that of a woman of normal weight.

Delivering a baby with a high birth weight takes much more finesse than delivering a baby of normal weight. If a doctor fails to recognize that a baby is macrosomic they may not be able to take the necessary precautions to minimize the risks posed by the delivery. According to Allahyar Jazayeri, M.D. in an article posted by emedicine, attempts at perinatal diagnosis of macrosomia have proven difficult and are often inaccurate so a doctor should always be prepared for the possible complications of macrosomia.

Continue reading "Gestational Diabetes and Obesity Linked to Increased Birth Weight in Babies" »

An obstetrician recently received a public reprimand from her state’s medical board. The reprimand states that the doctor’s negligence caused a newborn baby to suffer Erb’s Palsy. According to the report in The Mercury News, the negligent doctor tried a suction delivery, but the baby was too large for natural birth. This risky move caused the baby’s shoulder to become locked on the mother’s public bone, damaging the baby’s shoulder nerves and causing Erb’s Palsy, which left his arm and shoulder paralyzed.

Levin & Perconti have represented clients in a number of Chicago birth injury cases involving Erb’s Palsy. In 2009, John Perconti and Patricia Gifford settled a lawsuit for $1.35 million on behalf of a 9-year-old Waukegan girl who lost movement in her arm. Her doctors failed to inform the girl’s mother of her increased risk for shoulder dystocia. They also failed to perform the proper techniques during labor and delivery to disimpact the newborn's shoulder, causing her injury. To learn more about this birth injury lawsuit, read our latest newsletter.

A judge has ruled that a doctor violated the standard of care and found him responsible for causing cerebral palsy in a child during a traumatic birth where the doctor had to use a vacuum extraction for almost 50 minutes. The cerebral palsy lawsuit was filed by the child’s parents and accused the doctor of medical malpractice. The judge found that the doctor had caused a serious birth injury when she tried to deliver the baby through vacuum extraction, which uses suction to pull the child’s head through the birth canal during difficult deliveries. The child is now 9 years-old and will require around-the-clock care for his entire life because of his brain damage and cerebral palsy. The doctor herself testified that it was the most disastrous delivery that she’d ever been a part of. An expert witness testified that the baby’s scalp was bobby and that he suffered a sugaleal hematoma, which occurs when blood pools between the scalp and the skin. He did not breathe for 10 minutes and suffered seizures within 24 hours of being born. The judge noted that as a result of the violation of standard of care “severe and repeated trauma as well as shoulder dystocia was inflicted” on the victim. To learn more about the cerebral palsy lawsuit, please click the link.

A family was awarded nearly $900,000 in a birth injury lawsuit against a hospital and two doctors. The family accused the doctors and hospital of negligence in the handling of the woman’s labor and delivery, which caused a permanent shoulder injury to their son. The jury awarded the family $893,684 after the seven-day trial including $110,000 for future loss of earning capacity. The birth injury lawsuit alleged that the doctors should have known that the baby would likely weigh more than 10 pounds at delivery. As a result of this inaction, the baby’s shoulder got stuck behind his mother’s pubic bone after his head was delivered. This prevented his body from easily following his head during delivery. The birth complication caused injury to the nerves in the baby’s shoulder when his nerves were stretched. He has suffered permanent injuries, pain and suffering, disability and expenses as a result of the limited strength, dexterity and motion in his shoulder. To read more about the birth injury trial, please click the link.

A doctor recently unveiled medical software that may predict the probability of shoulder dystocia during birth. Shoulder dystocia is one of the most common complications during delivery and 20% of cases result in birth injury. Although some doctors believe that shoulder dystocia is both “unpredictable and unpreventable,” users of the new software hope to calculate the risk of this birth injury through algorithms based on data from the mother and baby. Read more about this new software that may predict shoulder dystocia in newborns.

A computer program is shaping up to be the new hero in the prevention of shoulder dystocia and brachial plexus injuries. A new software program, called CALM Shoulder Screen, has been developed that calculates the risk of shoulder dystocia with permanent injury. The program analyzes several factors, including the mothers’ height and weight and determines whether they are at risk of suffering shoulder dystocia during delivery. Those ascertained to be at high risk can avoid the birth injury by opting for delivery by c-section. Obstetricians throughout the country have began utilizing this web-based system and it has been proven effective to be effective. The program can be used anytime after the 37th week of gestation.

For more information about this birth injury prevention software, click here.

A new study published in this month’s issue of the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology finds that women who experience shoulder dystocia incur an increased risk of the complication recurring in subsequent deliveries. The study, which looked at the deliveries of womens’ second children, found that shoulder dystocia occurred in 0.8% of all women, but that women with shoulder dystocia in their first delivery had a 7.3% risk of recurrence. While the prior experience of shoulder dystocia does increase the likelihood of future delivery complications, the study’s authors emphasized that the baby’s birthweight is the most important factor in predicting the probability of the birth injury's occurrence.

Click the following link for more information on the shoulder dystocia study.

A new study has found that treating even mild gestational diabetes significantly reduces the risk of certain birth injuries and lessens the need for emergency C-sections. Gestational diabetes occurs during late pregnancy, when a mother’s body is unable to produce and use all the insulin that it needs. Without enough insulin, the body is unable to convert the glucose into energy and, as a result, it builds up in the mother’s blood. This blood then reaches the baby through the placenta, giving it more sugar than it needs. The baby stores this excess energy as fat. Because the baby is larger than normal, there is an increased risk of its shoulders becoming lodged behind the mother’s pelvis during delivery, a situation known as shoulder dystocia. If the doctors and healthcare providers are negligent in their delivery, the baby can suffer from Brachial Plexus injuries. These injuries can be severe and permanent and may include paralysis and deformation of the baby’s arms. If you have been diagnosed with even a mild case of gestational diabetes, it is therefore important that you receive proper treatment in order to reduce these risks.

Read more about gestational diabetes and its risks here.

A common birth injury known as Brachial Plexus can leave a newborn baby injured. This birth injury is commonly associated when pulling and injury occurs to a infant's neck or shoulders during the birth. To illustrate to those parents whose injured newborn has suffered from this birth injury please watch the video below. If you think a birth injury was caused by a doctor or physician error a medical malpractice lawsuit may be filed. Levin and Perconti is not responsible for the content and manufacture of this video; this video was obtained via YouTube.

Next week, October 19-26, will be the 9th annual Brachial Plexus Injury Awareness Week. This event was created by the United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc. with the goal of increasing general awareness of brachial plexus injuries.

A brachial plexus injury occurs when the network of spinal nerves which controls the muscles of the fingers, hand, arm, and shoulder, called the brachial plexus, is damaged. These nerves originate at the back of the neck and extend through the axilla (armpit) and into the arm, where they form 3 trunks in the upper shoulder. Erb’s Palsy refers to an injury to the upper trunk while a lower trunk injury is called Klumpke's Palsy.

A brachial plexus injury can result in full or partial paralysis of one or both arms and can be permanent if the nerves do not completely heal. In less severe instances, the nerve damage may cause weakness or a loss of muscle control in the arm, hand, or wrist, resulting in the impaired ability to grasp, extend, or reach, or a lack of feeling or sensation in the arm or hand. Physical appearance can also be affected.

Most brachial plexus injuries occur during an emergency birth condition called shoulder dystocia in which the baby’s shoulder becomes wedged behind the mother’s pubic bone while in delivery. There are several techniques or maneuvers to free the baby’s shoulder and complete the delivery safely but if the person performing the delivery is careless or applies excessive force to the baby’s head or neck, the brachial nerves can become stretched or torn.