Baltimore, Maryland Birth Injury Attorneys at the Law Offices of Susan R. Green

If your child has been injured in the delivery room by a negligent physician, the medical malpractice attorneys at the Baltimore, Maryland area law offices of Susan R. Green can help you get monetary compensation. Susan and her team of medical malpractice attorneys have served Baltimore, Maryland and the surrounding area since 1983. The medical malpractice attorneys at the firm have experience in litigating many types of cases involving preventable birth injuries including:

Receiving financial compensation can be essential in offsetting the cost and difficulty that a serious birth injury can cause throughout your child's life. Depending on the injury, years of expensive and time-consuming treatment may be necessary. The injury may even cause permanent disability. Contact the medical malpractice attorneys at the Baltimore, Maryland area law offices of Susan R. Green to find out how receive compensation in your birth injury case.

Erb's Palsy

Erb's palsy is the most common form of a type of birth injury known as brachial palsy. It occurs when nerves in an infant's arm are damaged, and common symptoms include paralysis, lack of muscle control, and lack of sensation in the arm, hand and wrist.

The brachial plexus is a bundle of nerves that is responsible for transmitting signals between the spinal chord and the arm. If this group of nerves is damaged, it impairs the functioning of the arm. Sensations in the arm cannot be communicated back to the brain, causing numbness. Messages from the brain cannot be communicated to the arm, resulting in paralysis. Depending on the severity of the injury, paralysis caused by damage to the brachial plexus can be partial or complete, temporary or permanent. Erb's palsy is characterized by paralysis affecting the upper arm and rotation of the lower arm, caused by an injury to the upper brachial plexus. A less common form, known as Klumpke's palsy, results from damage to the lower brachial plexus, and causes paralysis in the lower arm and hand.

The most common cause of brachial plexus injury, and, hence, of Erb's palsy and Klumpke's palsy, is birth injury. In medical malpractice cases, our attorneys in the Baltimore, Maryland area work to hold negligent health care providers accountable if they have caused, or could have prevented, a birth injury. Brachial plexus injuries at birth are usually caused by shoulder dystocia, where the baby's shoulder becomes trapped behind the mother's pelvic bone during birth. Shoulder dystocia is more prevalent when the baby is large, and if physicians fail to take into account risk factors, or fail to alleviate shoulder dystocia when it occurs in the delivery room, they may be considered negligent. Brachial plexus injuries may also result when the delivering doctor exerts too much force on the infant's head or neck. If your child has Erb's palsy, Klumpke's palsy or another brachial plexus injury, and you believe that a physician's negligence was a factor in the injury, contact our medical malpractice attorneys near Baltimore, Maryland, to discuss your case.

Brain Injuries Caused By Forceps and Vacuum Extraction

If delivery of a baby is exceptionally difficult, doctors may on occasion opt to use forceps, which resemble a large pair of tweezers, or a specially-designed vacuum extractor designed to aid delivery by applying suction. Both of these tools can be beneficial when properly used, but if a physician fails to take appropriate safety precautions, they can cause serious damage to an infant. The medical malpractice attorneys at the Baltimore, Maryland, area law offices of Susan R. Green can help you get monetary compensation if your child has been injured by a negligent physician.

While brain injury does occur in a tiny percentage of all babies delivered, a recent study has shown that the incidence of brain injury can double, even triple when more intrusive extraction methods are used. When using potentially dangerous implements such as forceps and vacuum extractors, a physician must take even greater care to avoid injury to the child. If the physician acts carelessly or recklessly, forceps can cause bruising, bleeding, indentations in an infant's skull, even head trauma resulting in brain damage.

Injuries caused by an improperly used vacuum extractor can be equally severe, involving serious bruising and swelling of the scalp, called Caput Succedaneum. Jaundice, characterized by yellowing of the skin and eyes, often develops as this bruising heals. If the jaundice is treated, it should fade in a couple of weeks, but if it is not properly monitored, it can eventually cause brain damage and even death.

If a physician's negligence has caused your child harm, please contact the law offices of Susan R. Green, PC. Our medical malpractice attorneys near Baltimore, Maryland, will fight to get the financial compensation you and your child need.

Group-B Strep

Group-B Strep (GBS) infection, while not serious in adults, can be dangerous, even deadly to newborns. The bacteria that cause GBS are present in the in the vaginal area of 10 to 35 percent of women, and, when the bacteria are present, studies show that infants are infected in roughly one percent of deliveries. If GBS is allowed to spread into the bloodstream, it can lead to pneumonia, sepsis (blood poisoning), and meningitis, an infection of the membrane surrounding the brain. Any of these can lead to brain damage or even death.

Signs of GBS usually appear within the first week of an infant's life, often within the first few hours. In some cases, however, it can take up to two months for the disease to be discovered. Symptoms of GBS include fever, seizures, breathing difficulties, grunting sounds and generally unusual behavior. Fortunately, if a doctor recognizes these signs early, GBS can be treated with antibiotics.

It is important that physicians take into account the possibility of group-B strep in the weeks leading up to the delivery of a baby. The doctor needs to stay alert to signs that a woman may be carrying the GBS bacteria, and if tests indicate that she is a carrier, the doctor can prevent the disease from being transmitted during childbirth by administering antibiotics when labor begins.

If a doctor has failed to prevent, diagnose or properly treat a group-B strep infection in your child, contact our medical malpractice attorneys in the Baltimore, Maryland area to find out how you can receive compensation for your child's injuries.