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Steps To Take If Your Baby Suffers A Birth Injury

by Gene Vasquez

Welcoming a new baby into your family should be a joyous and wonderful event. Unfortunately, if your child suffers a birth injury during vaginal delivery or a C-section due to negligence on the part of your obstetrician or any other healthcare providers who are caring for you, you can be left feeling scared and anxious instead of incredibly happy and exuberant. If your new baby suffers a birth injury, it is in your best interest to take action. Take the following steps if your new baby suffers a birth injury during labor and delivery or a C-section.

Seek Immediate Care

After your newborn suffers a birth injury, the most important thing is to ensure that he or she has the proper care. Do not be afraid to ask about his or her condition and the course of treatment that is prescribed. As a new parent, you have control over your baby's care; if you do not feel comfortable with one of your child's doctor's or health care providers, you can ask for a different one. Some birth injuries can be quite serious and have lasting effects, so attending to your baby's medical care is extremely important.

Keep Documentation

As soon as you are able to, begin writing down every single detail of your labor and delivery or c-section that you can remember. If you can recall anything that your doctor or health care providers told you or said, write that down too. The more details that you can recall, the better. Writing down everything shortly after the birth of your child will make your malpractice case much stronger.

Hire a Reputable Lawyer

If you have strong reasons to believe that your child's birth injury was the result of medical malpractice, you need to hire a personal lawyer who specializes in birth injury cases. An experienced birth injury lawyer will be able to gather important evidence, line up expert witnesses if needed, and negotiate with the doctor's malpractice insurance carrier to secure the settlement that you deserve. You may want to meet with several different birth injury lawyers until you find one who you are very comfortable working with and talking about the circumstances of your child's birth that lead to injury.

Realize What Your Claim is Worth

Birth injuries can range from minor issues to extremely severe problems that can last a lifetime. It is important to work with your child's doctors and your birth injury attorney to determine what your claim is worth. If negligence on the part of a doctor during you labor resulted in your baby being deprived of oxygen for an extended period of time prior to birth, leading to brain damage, you deserve a settlement that is large enough to properly care for your baby for the rest of his or her life.  

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