Cuyahoga County Birth Injury Attorneys

Committed to results

New parents have plenty to worry about: setting up a nursery, arranging daycare, choosing the right car seat, and other kinds of other decisions. Watching a newborn suffer as a result of medical negligence is a fate that no parent should suffer. At The Eisen Law Firm, our birth injury attorneys are experienced and compassionate. We pursue multiple avenues of recovery in these tragic claims.

Birth injury statistics

Approximately one in every 9,714 babies born in the United States will suffer some type of birth injury. That means 28,000 babies are born injured every single year—and often their injuries are entirely preventable.

The most common birth injuries include:

• Brachial plexus palsy (may result in permanent damage to the arm muscles)
• Bone fractures
• Cephalohematoma (a hemorrhage between the skull and the skin)
• Caput succedaneum (fluid accumulation in the skull due to pressure from the cervix during birth)
• Perinatal asphyxia (a lack of oxygen that results in brain damage and often injury to other organs)
• Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy (“H.I.E.”, where decreased blood flow and oxygen to the brain results in brain damage)
• Intracranial hemorrhage (bleeding inside the skull)
• Subconjunctival hemorrhage (broken blood vessels in the eye)
• Facial paralysis
• Spinal cord injuries
• Cerebral palsy (a permanent movement disorder that is frequently the result of birth injuries)

Some of these conditions may not have long-lasting effects on the baby. However, other conditions, such as cerebral palsy, may cause severe, permanent injury and require lifelong care.

What causes birth injuries?

If nearly 30,000 babies are born injured every single year in the United States, what is causing these injuries? The truth is, medical doctors and other professionals make serious mistakes that result in a large number of injuries. These mistakes may include:

• Inadequate prenatal care: A baby’s care starts long before the baby’s birth. The mother’s doctors and nurses must make sure that the mother and the baby are in good health and must carefully address any risky conditions. For example, certain placental abnormalities, preeclampsia, gestational diabetes, and maternal infections are all examples of health conditions that must be closely monitored.
• Poor delivery timing: Delivering a baby too early or too late often has grave consequences. Delivering a baby prematurely may result in breathing problems, for example, requiring a stay in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Delivering a baby too late may result in a difficult birth, risking serious injury to both the mother and the baby.
• The use of certain tools during birth: The use of forceps or a vacuum to assist with the delivery of a baby have been cited in many birth injury cases. Doctors should not use these tools unless necessary for delivery.
• Overusing or misusing Pitocin: Pitocin is a drug given to mothers to jump start labor. One study showed that using Pitocin is associated with an increased risk of a NICU stay. Doctors and nurses sometimes continue using Pitocin even when it is causing contractions that are too frequent or too intense, and there is evidence the baby is not tolerating the contractions well.
• Improper monitoring: The baby’s heart rate and oxygen levels should be frequently checked during labor. Otherwise, signs of serious problems may be overlooked. Sometimes the monitor shows significant problems developing, but doctors or nurses are too slow in reacting and dealing with the developing problem.

These are just a few of the ways that birth injuries may happen. A frighteningly high number of birth injuries are caused by medical negligence.