Birth Injuries

Medical Malpractice Lawyers Helping Grand Rapids, Traverse City, and Detroit Residents

Families usually look forward to the birth of a new baby. Most people do not anticipate the emotional trauma and financial costs of a birth injury. This is an injury suffered by a baby due to health care providers’ careless actions or omissions during pregnancy, or complications during labor and delivery. Birth injuries are distinct from birth defects, which often arise due to factors such as genetics. If your child suffered a birth injury, an experienced medical malpractice attorney at Neumann Law Group can evaluate your situation to determine whether it may be appropriate to take legal action. Our principal, Kelly Neumann, is an acclaimed Detroit, Traverse City, and Grand Rapids birth injury attorney who has regularly obtained more than $3 million in personal injury cases each year for the past several years.

Holding a Health Care Provider Accountable for a Birth Injury

Some common birth injuries include facial paralysis, brachial plexus injuries, fractures, cerebral palsy, bruising or forceps marks, and subconjunctival hemorrhages. It is crucial to consult an experienced lawyer right away if you suspect that your child’s birth injury is the result of malpractice.

In Michigan, a child usually has until a year after they reach legal adulthood to bring a personal injury lawsuit, but actions for medical malpractice must be filed within two years of the health care provider’s act or omission that forms the basis of the lawsuit. If you do not discover that you have a claim for your child’s birth injury within the two years, you can still file for up to six years after the act or omission, as long as you do so within six months of discovering you have a claim. However, if the birth injury affects your child’s reproductive system, you can bring suit at any time before your child turns 10 or 15.

The most common reason for birth injuries is difficult deliveries. These can be caused by babies who are especially large, babies in a breech position, a mother’s pelvis that is not able to provide room for a vaginal delivery, or prolonged labor. Doctors who regularly deliver babies are supposed to be ready for emergencies and complications, but unfortunately sometimes they are inadequate for the task or make mistakes that result in birth injuries. For example, malpractice might occur if a doctor fails to respond to fetal distress, fails to anticipate birth complications, misuses forceps, delays ordering a C-section, or inappropriately administers Pitocin.

Medical malpractice occurs when a doctor’s actions or omissions fall below the standard of care expected of doctors in the same specialty and geographic area treating a similar patient, and this breach causes injuries and damages. It is necessary for your attorney to consult an expert in the same specialty as your doctor to determine what the standard of care in a particular situation was, and whether it was breached. The expert will also need to provide an opinion as to whether the breach was the cause of the baby’s birth injury.

Contact a Birth Injury Attorney in Traverse City, Grand Rapids, or Detroit

Negligence by a health care provider requires a knowledgeable injury attorney to work up a case by consulting with a doctor and providing an affidavit of merit. Given the short window of time within which you must bring your claim, it is important to retain legal representation as soon as possible. If you are trying to recover compensation on your child’s behalf, Detroit, Grand Rapids, and Traverse City birth injury lawyer Kelly Neumann may be able to represent you. At Neumann Law Group, we can assist people in Petoskey, Warren, Holland, Midland, Muskegon, Saginaw, Wyoming, Kalamazoo, Lansing, Flint, Ann Arbor, and throughout the Upper Peninsula. Contact us at 800-525-NEUMANN or via our online form to set up a free consultation. We also can represent injured individuals in California and Massachusetts.