Birth Injuries

New Mexico Birth Injury Attorneys

How will you care for a child with a birth injury?

During pregnancy you may have done all you could to keep your child safe. Yet during labor, delivery, or post-partum care, your child was injured because of obstetric malpractice on the part of the physician, the delivery room nurse, the anesthesiologist, or another medical professional.

Now your family may be wondering how to provide nursing care for a child with a permanent disability or, if the birth injury was fatal, is dealing with grief over the loss of your baby. At Branch Law Firm® in Albuquerque, New Mexico, our lawyers have extensive experience in helping families recover the compensation they need following a serious birth injury.

If your family suffered a loss because of a preventable birth injury, please contact an attorney at our Albuquerque, New Mexico firm for a free consultation.

Why was your baby injured during birth?

A common cause of birth injuries is failure of the ob-gyn to perform a cesarean (c-section), or failure to perform it soon enough to prevent a birth injury during childbirth despite fetal monitor readings suggesting fetal distress, a breach delivery, or indications during the pregnancy that the baby's head was too large for the birth canal.

As a result of unnecessarily prolonged labor because of failure to perform a c-section the baby may suffer oxygen deprivation. The respiratory distress at birth may result in cerebral palsy, a permanent form of brain damage. The cerebral palsy may have been caused by a lack of oxygen during unnecessarily prolonged labor or because of a uterine rupture, an instrumental delivery with improper use of vacuum extraction, pre-eclampsia, toxemia, low blood pressure, or a treatable infection in the mother.

Erb's palsy, an obstetrical brachial plexus injury (shoulder injury during birth) can result in permanent disability. Obstetrical malpractice causing Erb's palsy includes failure to note warning signs before birth, including fetal macrosomia, maternal weight gain, and breech birth. A forceps injury or suction can also result in Erb's palsy.

Some brachial plexus injuries can be repaired. A physician's failure to diagnose an injury can, however, delay treatment until the injury is permanent.

The Costs of a Permanent Birth Injury

If your infant died during birth, you pay the greatest possible cost in your grief. A wrongful death claim may result in changes that prevent another family from experiencing the same tragedy. If your child lived you may now be faced with an impossible task: providing for a child with a catastrophic injury that requires a lifetime of nursing care. As lawyers with extensive experience in birth injury claims, we will help your family determine the full value of your claim and work relentlessly to recover the damages you need to take care of your child and your family.