San Diego Birth Injury Lawyer

Did your doctor make a mistake during your child’s labor and delivery in San Diego, CA? Serious birth injuries can impact your child’s entire future. An experienced San Diego birth injury lawyer at Mission Personal Injury Lawyers can help you fight to recover compensation for medical bills, specialized care, and your family’s pain and suffering. 

We’ve been fighting to protect families across Southern California since we were founded. We’ve successfully won tens of millions of dollars in compensation for San Diego clients.

We’re passionate about holding negligent healthcare providers accountable for mistakes. To learn more about how we can fight for you, call our law offices in San Diego, California at (619) 777-5555, for a free consultation.

How Mission Personal Injury Lawyers Can Help With a Birth Injury Claim in San Diego

How Mission Personal Injury Lawyers Can Help With a Birth Injury Claim in San Diego

The birth of your baby should be one of the happiest days of your life. When something goes wrong, you deserve to know why. An experienced San Diego personal injury attorney can help.

At Mission Personal Injury Lawyers, our attorneys have over 43 years of experience in personal injury law. Our success rate is 99%–meaning that we recover compensation in 99% of the cases we take on.

More specifically, hiring us means you’ll have a lawyer to:

  • Investigate to pinpoint the cause of your child’s injury
  • Locate all responsible parties and insurance coverages
  • Hire the specialists and experts you’ll need to prove your case
  • Assess the value of your case
  • Demand fair compensation from everyone who played a role 
  • Negotiate with the insurance companies and defense teams for the maximum compensation you deserve

Your baby deserves all the love and protection you can offer. Our San Diego personal injury lawyers are here to fight for the money you need to protect your child’s future. Call today to learn more about our track record of success and how we can help with your claim.

Overview of Birth Injuries

Doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals have a legal duty to monitor you and your baby during pregnancy, labor, and delivery. Careful monitoring is designed to prevent harm to both mother and baby.

A birth injury is any type of injury that occurs to your baby during childbirth or immediately after the birth. Not all birth injuries are caused by preventable mistakes. Sometimes, we don’t know exactly why a child is born with certain birth defects. 

In other cases, children suffer because of medical negligence. Do you have questions about your rights under California medical malpractice laws? Call our law firm for a free case evaluation today.

Types of Birth Injury

Babies can be resilient, but they’re also delicate. Despite developments in technology and testing, not all doctors and healthcare professionals are careful. Time and time again, babies suffer from the same types of birth injuries during delivery.

Some of the most common types of birth injuries include:

  • Cerebral Palsy
  • Shoulder dystocia
  • Brachial plexus injuries
  • Erb’s Palsy
  • Neonatal stroke
  • Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy (HIE)
  • Intracranial hemorrhage
  • Subconjunctival hemorrhage
  • Broken bones, including collar bone fractures
  • Spinal cord injuries
  • Cephalohematoma
  • Caput Succedaneum
  • Brain damage
  • Placental abruption, which can lead to brain injuries 
  • Uterine rupture, which can cause the baby to suffocate

Many of these conditions can be caused by medical errors during labor and delivery. In other cases, birth injuries happen because your OB-GYN or doctor made a mistake during pregnancy.

How Common Are Birth Injuries?

According to some estimates, about 28,000 infants are born with a birth injury each year in the U.S. That’s approximately 76 birth injuries each day and three birth injuries every hour.

What are the Signs and Symptoms of Birth Injuries?

Some birth injuries are obvious from the moment your child is born. In other cases, it could take you months to realize that something is wrong.

Of course, it’s always important to carefully monitor your newborn baby. Some specific signs to watch for immediately after birth include:

  • Extremely pale or blue skin
  • A need for resuscitation at any stage
  • Trouble breathing
  • Rapid breathing
  • Bruising or swelling, especially in the head, neck, and shoulders
  • Weak reflexes
  • An abnormally high pitched cry
  • Extreme arching of the back
  • Seizures 
  • Low heart rate 

Signs and symptoms of a birth injury may appear later in life when you’re expecting your baby to begin reaching developmental milestones.

You might suspect that your child has suffered a birth injury if you notice:

  • Hearing problems
  • Trouble grasping items
  • Unusual movements or muscle spasms
  • Difficulty crawling
  • Delayed walking
  • Delayed speech

An experienced doctor can help diagnose any conditions that your child may have suffered. Our lawyers can help you find the quality medical care you need. Just give us a quick call to talk about your legal options.

What are the Long-Term Consequences of Birth Injuries?

The long-term consequences of birth injuries can be far-reaching. Some include:

  • Cognitive disabilities
  • Problems with motor function
  • Paralysis 
  • Learning disorders
  • Seizure disorders
  • Inability to earn a living
  • Loss of a normal childhood

Parents also suffer from medical mistakes during childbirth. Even if you weren’t physically harmed, the emotional losses you’ve experienced can be overwhelming. It’s common to suffer from depression and anxiety while you struggle to come to terms with the harm your child has suffered.

What Causes Most Birth Injuries?

Birth injuries can happen for any number of reasons. Often, they occur because a doctor or health care provider was careless. While not every birth injury is caused by medical malpractice, it never hurts to have an experienced San Diego birth injury attorney review your case.

At Mission Personal Injury Lawyers, we handle all types of birth injury claims. Some of the most common causes of birth injuries include:

  • Delayed C-Section
  • Medication errors
  • Anesthesia errors
  • Failure to monitor the fetus during pregnancy
  • Failure to monitor during labor and delivery
  • Misdiagnosis or failure to diagnose a condition
  • Failure to recognize certain risk factors
  • Improper use of forceps, vacuum extractors, or other labor-assistance devices
  • Communication errors
  • Understaffing
  • Inexperienced medical staff
  • Failure to take a full patient history

Do you believe your child was harmed because of medical negligence? Call our medical malpractice attorneys today. We’d be happy to discuss your case in detail during a free case review.

What is My San Diego Birth Injury Case Worth?

Putting a fair value on a birth injury case can be challenging. You’ll need an experienced attorney by your side. At Mission Personal Injury Lawyers, we have decades of experience handling complex injury claims. We’ll work tirelessly so that our insurance demand includes every penny your family deserves.

Generally speaking, any birth injury settlement must account for damages sustained by both parents and child. Additionally, your settlement must also include your anticipated future costs.

Factors that can impact your case value include:

  • The type of injury involved
  • How the injury will impact your child during childhood and as an adult
  • The cost and duration of your child’s medical treatment and rehabilitation
  • Time you miss from work because of your child’s condition
  • Your family’s emotional suffering
  • Your child’s physical pain
  • Your child’s overall prognosis

You’re probably wondering how a single settlement check can possibly cover a lifetime of costs. We’ll often bring in leading experts in medicine, life planning, economics, and other specialties. Their expertise can significantly strengthen your case–and convince the insurance companies to take you seriously.

What Compensation Can I Recover for Birth Injuries in San Diego, California?

Compensatory damages are divided into two categories. Economic damages compensate your family for current expenses and anticipated future expenses. Non-economic damages account for pain, suffering, and other intangible losses.

By filing a birth injury claim, you may be entitled to compensation for:

Do you have questions about the types of damages you may be entitled to receive? Call our birth injury lawyers in San Diego for a free initial consultation right away.

How Long Do I Have to File a Birth Injury Lawsuit in California?

In California, the statute of limitations in medical malpractice cases is three years. However, if you don’t discover the injury until later, a “discovery rule” applies. In these cases, you have one year from the date you discover the injury to file a medical malpractice lawsuit.

A “reasonableness” standard also applies to the discovery rule. The one-year clock starts running on the date you reasonably should have known about the birth injury.

Contact a San Diego Birth Injury Lawyer for a Free Consultation

Some parents hesitate to take legal action because they don’t know whether they have a case. If you wait too long, you risk losing your right to seek compensation.

To protect your rights, call an experienced San Diego birth injury lawyer at Mission Personal Injury Lawyers for a free consultation today.

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