St. Louis Birth Injury Lawyer

The birth of a new baby is one of a family’s most joyous moments, but when the joy is dampened by the trauma of a birth injury and an uncertain future ahead for a birth-injured child, the joy becomes distress. If your child suffered a preventable birth injury in St. Louis, contact Miller & Hine Law to learn about your right to financial compensation and a sense of justice for your child.

Why Choose A St. Louis Brain Injury Lawyer From Miller & Hine?

Miller & Hine is a law firm dedicated to advocating for injury victims and their families, even when it requires aggressive legal representation against negligent medical providers and their powerful medical malpractice insurers. With Miller & Hine, you’ll find the following advantages:

• A personalized strategy tailored to the unique circumstances of your case to maximize the chances of an outcome that aligns with your goals for your child’s future
• A law firm with a collaborative approach that puts over 50 years of combined experience behind your case
• Access to crucial resources, such as medical experts and occupational therapists, to provide evidence to support your birth injury claim

Call or contact Miller & Hine online for a free consultation. Your St. Louis medical malpractice lawyer works at no cost to you until we’ve recovered your compensation.

What Causes Birth Injuries?

A laboring woman’s doctor and care team have a legal duty of care to both the mother and the unborn baby. This duty requires them to treat their patients in accordance with the standard of care accepted by the medical community. The following medical errors, oversights, and negligence cause birth injuries:

• Failure to identify a high-risk patient
• Inadequate patient and fetal monitoring
• Failure to notify the attending physician of a mother’s or baby’s change in medical status during labor
• Prolonged labor
• Use of birth-assistive devices like forceps and vacuum extractors
• Delayed C-sections
• Oxygen deprivation due to cord problems, such as umbilical cord prolapse, cord compression, placental abruption, or a severe drop in the mother’s blood pressure
• Undiagnosed maternal infections
• Shoulder dystocia, which occurs when the baby’s shoulder becomes lodged below the mother’s pubic bone

The labor and delivery care team must carefully monitor both mother and unborn child, and promptly report changes in status to the attending physician. The doctor must quickly assess the situation and perform the correct corrective measures to prevent a birth injury.

Proving Liability for a Birth Injury In St. Louis

When a doctor, the labor and delivery care team, or other medical provider fails to prevent birth injury, they may be held liable for damages; however, a successful claim requires compelling evidence demonstrating the following:

• A doctor-patient relationship was in place at the time the birth injury occurred
• The doctor owed a duty of care to the mother and child
• They breached their duty of care through negligence
• The breach of duty directly caused the birth injury
• The child and parents suffered damages from the injury

Depending on the severity of the birth injury, damages range from a few extra medical bills for forceps bruises to lifelong disability from traumatic brain injuries, developmental delays, or cerebral palsy.

Recover Damages In a St. Louis Birth Injury Claim

When a child suffers a serious birth injury in St. Louis or elsewhere, the child and their family suffer life-altering consequences. While no legal process erases the injury, a successful claim recovers compensation for damages such as the following:

• Reimbursement for medical expenses
• Anticipated lifetime future medical costs, plus costs of adaptive equipment, therapies, and special education if required
• A parent’s lost wages and future income loss
• Compensation for the child’s pain, suffering, and diminished quality of life
• Compensation for parents’ emotional anguish and distress

A St. Louis birth injury lawyer carefully calculates the total economic and non-economic damages caused to the child and their family to maximize the amount they recover in their claim.

Contact Miller & Hine About Your St. Louis Birth Injury Case

Instead of leaving your claim in the hands of the medical facility, physician, or other negligent party and their insurance company, reach out to Miller & Hine for a free evaluation of your case and prompt legal action on your family’s behalf by an experienced law firm that will prioritize your family’s best interests.