City Biz List reported last week on the conclusion of a new birth injury lawsuit that was filed on behalf of a child who was severely injured following mistakes being made during the child’s birth. The suit was first initiated two years ago by a family of the injured child against the negligent midwife involved in the suit. The lawsuit alleged that the defendant-midwife was negligent in failing to deliver the child in a timely fashion. The family argued that the child could and should have been born hours before his actual birth. Doing so would likely have prevented the harm that ultimately developed.
Specifically, the family of the victim explained that the delay in delivering the child led to oxygen and blood flow problems. As so often happens in these situations, the prolonged lack of oxygen and blood flow to the brain of the child led to permanent brain damage which will have permanent consequences on the child that otherwise would have lived a normal life. Our Chicago birth injury lawyers have worked on many cases just like this one where a child suffers profound lifelong impairment because of failure on the part of caregivers to respond in a timely fashion.
It was explained during this birth injury trial that babies have something known as “fetal reserves” which are essentially resources which allow them to undergo often turbulent problems during birth. However, they cannot withstand every problem. Those delivering a child must be sure to monitor the fetal heart rate. When the monitor shows irregularities, it is vital for the care giver to take action in a timely fashion to ensure the irregular condition does not persist indefinitely. Often that means forcing a child to be born immediately. However, in this case, it seems that the midwife did not respond appropriately to the problems.
The consequences, as so often happens in these cases, are severe. The baby was born with severe mental deficiencies due to damage to the frontal lobe of his brain. No matter who is delivering a child, whether a doctor or midwife, there are legal obligations that the individual act reasonably. That means that the professional must act in a timely manner when problems are identified to ensure that the child is given the best chance at being born without injury. There is no excuse for ignoring or failing to respond to warning signs. Failure to do so gives rise to a birth injury lawsuit.
In this case, the jury ultimately awarded the victim $4 million due to the error. The funds will go to pay for the around-the-clock care that the child will need for the rest of his life. The trial in this case lasted four weeks and involved testimony from a wide range of involved parties, including several expert witnesses. Those witnesses explained how the specific injuries suffered by this child were caused by a brain injury developed during birth and not alternative causes. The need to connect the actual birth injury to the ultimate harm faced by the victim is a constant issue in all of these cases.
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