Birth Injury Lawyer Chicago, Illinois

Chicago birth injury lawyers focus on proving that a preventable medical error and not a natural cause is responsible for the child’s injury. Here are some of the common injuries investigated by lawyers:

1. Oxygen Deprivation Related Brain Damage –Brain injuries are unfortunately among the most common injuries that can occur during birth. In fact, they are the main cause of cerebral palsy, which is a disorder that affects body movement and muscle coordination. A brain injury can happen if the baby is deprived of oxygen during pregnancy or labor.

   • HIE refers to the brain injury itself, caused by Hypoxia (lack of oxygen) and Ischemia (lack of blood flow). This acute crisis usually happens when, fetal Distress is ignored on the monitor, a compressed umbilical cord is not promptly addressed or an emergency C-section is delayed by precious minutes.

   • Cerebral Palsy: It is a chronic, permanent disorder that often results from a severe injury like HIE. It is a group of disorders affecting body movement, posture, and muscle coordination.

2. Physical Trauma and Nerve Damage – The injuries sustained from the application of excessive or inappropriate force of forceps or vacuum extractors during a difficult vaginal delivery, often when the baby is too large for the birth canal (fetal macrosomia).
   • Shoulder Dystocia and Brachial Plexus Injuries (Erb’s Palsy): This occurs when the baby’s shoulder gets stuck behind the mother’s pelvic bone. If the doctor uses excessive downward pulling or forceful rotation, the Brachial Plexus (the network of nerves controlling the arm and hand) can be stretched or torn, resulting in weakness or paralysis (Erb’s Palsy or Klumpke’s Palsy).
   • Fractures and Head Trauma: Cases involving preventable skull fractures, clavicle (collarbone) fractures, or soft tissue trauma caused by the misuse of delivery instruments.
3. Neonatal Sepsis: A maternal infection (like Group B Strep, or GBS) was not properly screened for, treated, or managed during delivery. When an infection rapidly progresses to sepsis in the newborn, it can cause severe brain damage, organ failure, or death.
   • Meningitis: Cases arise when an infection that could have been identified and treated with timely antibiotics is missed, allowing it to progress and cause inflammation of the brain and spinal cord lining.
   • Undiagnosed or Mismanaged Infections – This involves a failure in prenatal or neonatal care by hospital staff to cause dangerous infection to the child.