While more often than not, the birth of a child leaves everyone involved, parents and child, happy and healthy, birth injuries do occur, and they are often the result of a doctor’s negligence or error. Birth injuries can vary greatly in severity, with children experiencing few set-backs or issues for minor incidents, to catastrophic injuries with long-term or life-long effects and in some cases, the death of a child as a result of a doctor or medical professionals error.
So who can be held liable for an infant’s birth injury? Depending on the type of injury, anyone from health care service professionals, pharmaceutical companies, anesthesiologists, nurses, doctors and even health care facilities and hospital can be included in a medical malpractice suit.
Vicarious liability is often cited and can be used to not only hold a hospital responsible, but hold employees of the hospital responsible for negligence as well. Hospitals may also be found negligent if it failed to properly educate or train its employees, provide adequate staff members on hand to assure a patient’s health and well-being and for failing to properly perform or document medical procedures and keep records of a patient’s history while at the hospital.
Pharmacies may also be guilty of neglect if it can be proven that they failed to properly warn a doctor of potential dangers or side-effects associated with taking the product. If your child suffered from a birth injury, it is crucial to address the situation in a prompt manner. Due to the complexities involved with proving medical malpractice, it may be in your best interest to find a firm with a history of successful malpractice claims. Having the right team at your side may make all the difference.
Source: findlaw.com, “Responsible Parties in Birth Injury Cases: Who Can Be Sued?” Accessed Feb. 7, 2017