One or two out of every 1,000 babies born will be diagnosed with Erb’s palsy, a form of brachial plexus birth palsy. If your child was diagnosed with Erb’s palsy as a result of medical negligence, the Bethlehem Erb’s palsy lawyers of Munley Law are here for you.
What is Erb’s Palsy?
According to The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, Erb’s palsy occurs when an infant’s neck is stretched to one side during a prolonged delivery, resulting in injury to the neck nerves. These nerves control feeling and movement in the shoulders, arms, hands, and fingers.
When these nerves are injured, the result can be loss of motion and weakness in the arm and hands. While most children will recover feeling and movement in the impacted limb, they must undergo physical therapy to strengthen and heal those nerves.
What Is the Treatment for Erb’s Palsy Birth Injuries?
With time, some children will recover without intervention. However, most cases require daily physical therapy. Unfortunately, this can physically and financially strain parents and caretakers.
If physical therapy does not work within three months, a doctor may suggest surgery to repair the nerves. However, surgery is unlikely to restore full function in the arm and is not typically successful in older infants.
In successful cases, the function can return to the arm in months or years, but only with additional physical therapy and rehabilitation.
How Does Medical Malpractice Cause Erb’s Palsy?
Sometimes, a child may develop Erb’s palsy because of how they were positioned in the womb during pregnancy at no one’s fault.
However, medical malpractice may be the cause of your child’s birth injury if a doctor used excessive force during delivery, pulling and stretching your baby’s head and shoulders to pass through the birth canal.
If you believe your medical provider did not exercise proper care during your child’s birth, you may have a medical malpractice claim. Munley Law can help.
How to Prove Negligence in Bethlehem Birth Injury Lawsuit
To prove negligence in a Bethlehem birth injury lawsuit for Erb’s palsy, you and your Bethlehem birth injury lawyer must show there was a deviation from the accepted medical standard of care during birth or throughout the pregnancy.
Further, you must illustrate that there was a:
- Doctor-patient relationship
- The doctor was negligent
- The negligence caused harm
- The harm leads to specific damages
Who may be responsible for this breach of care can vary depending on when the negligent act occurred. Liable parties in your child’s birth injury case include:
- The obstetrician or gynecologist (OBGYN)
- Nurse
- Midwife
- The hospital or medical facility where the birth occurred
Proving negligence in an Erb’s palsy case can be complicated because you must show how the doctor behaved, not how another physician would have handled it in a similar situation. An experienced birth injury attorney in Bethlehem can help you establish negligence.
Can I Recover Damages for an Erb’s Palsy Birth Injury?
You can recover damages for an Erb’s palsy birth injury. In most medical malpractice claims, you may be entitled to compensation for:
- Medical treatment, including current and future costs, as well as ongoing rehabilitation
- Time away from work
You may also be entitled to damages for pain and suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, diminished quality of life, and a reduced earning capacity if you cannot return to work because you must be a full-time caretaker to your child.
Though there is no average settlement amount, families have recovered thousands of dollars to help afford medical treatments and therapies for the duration of the child’s life. However, no two birth injury cases are the same, so working with a birth injury lawyer will be critical to maximizing your compensation.
How Can Birth Injury Lawyers Help Me?
Erb’s palsy attorneys can help you with your medical negligence case to recover financial compensation for your child’s brachial plexus injury. Our attorneys work with you to take on negligent medical professionals by determining the cause of your child’s birth injury and the total value of your claim.
Further, working with birth injury lawyers gives you access to invaluable resources like expert medical testimony and representation in negotiations or court.
Medical malpractice lawsuits can be overwhelming as you are fighting the people who are supposed to provide you with proper medical treatment. When that trust has been broken, they need to be held accountable.
Our birth injury attorneys in Bethlehem handle cases of:
- Cerebral palsy
- Erb’s palsy
- Brain injury and permanent brain damage
- Hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy
- Nerve damage
If your baby suffered from a doctor’s negligence, the legal team from Munley Law in Bethlehem, PA, can help you and your family.
What to Look For in a Bethlehem Erb’s Palsy Lawyer
Finding a birth injury lawyer can be complicated as there are many subcategories of birth injury law. Not all medical malpractice lawyers handle injuries like Erb’s palsy, so finding the right attorney for your case is vital.
To find a Bethlehem Erb’s palsy lawyer, consider the following:
What Is The Firm’s Legal Focus in Medical Negligence Law?
Some attorneys only handle brain injury claims, while others may specialize in nerve damage cases, including those of Erb’s palsy. Others still may only handle cerebral palsy cases.
Knowing the birth injury lawyer’s focus will be your first step in narrowing your search.
Does the Law Firm Have Connections to Medical Experts?
Your lawyer needs to know more than the legal side of medical malpractice cases. Birth injury attorneys must also have extensive knowledge of obstetrics, neonatal care, etc. This helps them to consult with medical experts who can review medical records to build the case.
Does the Lawyer Have a Track Record in Erb’s Palsy Verdicts and Settlements?
You want to recover compensation for your child’s injury. Knowing that your birth injury lawyer has a track record in these cases can be crucial. Ask them what types of compensation they have recovered for past clients, including:
- Medical care
- Lost wages
- Assistive technology, if needed
- Home modifications
- Care and lifestyle support
- Diminished future earning capacity of the child
- Non-economic damages like pain and suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, etc.
If the lawyer cannot answer these questions, keep looking. Or call Munley Law for a free consultation. We represent Bethlehem, PA, families with their Erb’s palsy claims.
The Munley Law Birth Injury Attorneys Fight For Injured Children.
If a negligent doctor caused your child to suffer birth injuries, the Erb’s palsy attorneys of Munley Law are here to fight for you. We handle claims of medical negligence related to an Erb’s palsy diagnosis.
Call Munley Law for a no-obligation, free consultation. The two-year statute of limitations on birth injury cases begins when your child turns 18, but you should take legal action immediately. Call the Bethlehem medical malpractice lawyers of Munley Law now.
