Protecting your child's future
Birth Injury Attorneys Independence, MO
Birth Injury Attorneys in Independence, MO. After the trauma of a birth injury, you need an experienced lawyer you can trust and depend on to fight for your family in this terrible moment. Call the birth injury attorneys of Burger Law in Independence, MO right away at (314) 500-HURT to discuss your birth injury case for free and learn what we will do to help you collect maximum compensation for your damages. Let our legal experts help your family move forward and be made whole with a complete financial recovery.
When your child suffers a birth injury before, during or after delivery, it can be traumatizing and gut-wrenching. It can be incredibly enraging when the birth injury is the result of negligent or improper medical care. If your child has been harmed because of a doctor’s substandard care, Burger Law’s Independence, MO team of birth injury lawyers will fight on your behalf to receive the financial compensation you and your family are entitled to to safeguard you and your loved ones’ future and begin on the path to recovery. Call our Independence, MO birth injury attorneys now at (314) 500-HURT or contact us online to get your complimentary consultation to see why hiring Burger Law is the first step to making you and your family whole again.
Birth Injuries in Independence, MO
About six to eight out of 1,000 children born in the United States suffer a grave birth injury, which makes up about one in every 9,714 children and 28,000 infants a year. Birth injuries are responsible for around two percent of neonatal deaths. Such injuries can include fractures or disorders that have an effect on a child's development or brain function.
Many Independence, MO attorneys may have seen some medical malpractice suits, but not in birth injury cases or with the exact birth injury you or your child sustained. Our Burger Law birth injury lawyers have seen every category of birth injury and know every type of birth injury claim, and you can be certain that we will fight by your side until you get complete.
Do I Need a Independence, MO Birth Injury Lawyer?
If you feel that you or your child was hurt because of a doctor’s negligence or breach of care, then you must pursue the help of seasoned birth injury attorneys in Independence, MO. Raising a child in Independence, MO already comes with a mountain of costs and stressors including food, clothing, school supplies and more. Add to that the likelihood that your child could need months or years of medical treatment, rehabilitation or lifelong care, all because of a doctor’s negligence or careless actions. You deserve to be thinking about when your child will need new shoes, not when they will outgrow their wheelchair because a doctor broke the rules.
The accomplished Independence, MO birth injury attorneys at Burger Law will calculate your complete damages, including the dollar sum of any potential future medical costs and other expenses and damages. Your dedicated birth injury attorney will fight until you are awarded a complete and fair recovery.
Whatever your child’s condition, you want to use your energy providing your child with nourishment and happiness, not struggling to maneuver through a web of complicated legal processes. When you call our birth injury attorneys at (314) 500-HURT, we get started on your case right away to get you the best possible results. We take care of all the documentation, communication and litigation so you can focus on you and your child’s physical and emotional well-being. Our skilled birth injury lawyers will deliver maximum compensation and get you and your family on the path to recovery. We finance your case so you will not have to pay any fees until we win your case.
Luckily, many birth injuries are minor, and as babies are still developing and growing rapidly, many injuries can heal pretty fast. But whether the injury is minor or leads to lifelong disability, you are entitled to a full recovery for your medical costs, pain and suffering and other damages if the injury was incurred because a doctor or medical institution in Independence, MO broke the rules and did not give you and your newborn child the proper care they are required to.
Types of Birth Injuries
Cerebral Palsy
Cerebral palsy is a neurological condition that affects motor skills and the most common form of birth injury that affects about 4 in 1,000 children. There are three types of cerebral palsy:
- Spasticity (stiff muscles)
- Dyskinesia (uncontrollable movements)
- Ataxia (poor balance and coordination)
Spasticity is the most common type and affects about 80% of people with cerebral palsy. The disorder can be mild – the child may have an unusual gait but does not require any special assistance – or more severe, and your child might need special equipment to walk or not be able to walk at all. Diagnosing and treating cerebral palsy involves closely keeping an eye on your child’s development, and that can include exhaustive medical appointments, costly evaluations and special equipment to help your child walk or complete other basic functions. The Independence, MO-based birth injury lawyers at Burger Law insist that the at-fault party pays for all of your past, present and future medical damages related to your birth injury.
The medical world is still researching the causes and potential risk factors of cerebral palsy. They do know it happens because of abnormal development of the brain while the brain is still developing, which can occur at any time during the pregnancy or birth. When it happens during birth, many times is is because a doctor or nurse who was delivering the baby was negligent. Doctors need to correctly monitor if a child is in distress or if it is getting enough oxygen to its blood supply.
If your baby develops cerebral palsy because a doctor did not adequately monitor them, Burger Law’s Independence, MO birth injury attorneys will take on your case and make sure you are awarded the best possible compensation you deserve. If you are nervous that your child is not meeting motor skill landmarks and suspect they may have cerebral palsy, it is key to immediately contact your doctor, who will evaluate your child and may refer you to a specialist. You can also contact Missouri’s Early Intervention system for a free evaluation if your child is still under three years of age. If your child is diagnosed with cerebral palsy and you suspect a medical professional in Independence, MO is at fault, call Burger Law immediately at (314) 500-HURT for your complimentary consultation with a professional Independence, MO birth injury attorney, and start on the path to collecting maximum compensation and protecting the future of you and your family.
Brachial Plexus Injuries and Erb’s Palsy
Brachial plexus injuries are a category of birth injury that occurs as a result of damage to the brachial plexus – the group of nerves in the shoulder that directs movement and feeling in the upper extremities – during delivery. It hinders the use of the arm and shoulder. This is caused by too much stretching around the shoulder, neck or head during birth, generally when the infant’s head is stretched to the side. This can occur because the baby was very large, abnormal birthing presentations such as buttocks first or because a doctor was too rough with your baby during delivery or used improper birthing techniques. Erb’s Palsy is a kind of brachial plexus injury where the upper extremities are weak and unable to move normally. Some severe cases include the tearing of the nerves and can cause lifelong nerve damage. Fortunately, in the majority of cases, the child will regain range of motion within a few months, and there are special exercises you can practice with your child to help retain movement while he or she heals. Whatever the scope of the injury or and the price of the medical care, the Independence, MO birth injury lawyers at Burger Law will make certain that you receive the best possible compensation and that the careless party’s insurance company reimburses you every dime they owe.
Shoulder Dystocia
When the baby’s shoulder or shoulders get stuck inside the mother’s pelvis during labor, it causes a birth injury complication called shoulder dystocia. Most of the time, the infant is born without serious incident, and treatment may entail simply moving the mother’s and fetus’s position during birth. However, failure to see or sufficiently treat shoulder dystocia can result in broken bones, lack of oxygen, Erb's palsy, or extreme loss of blood for the mother. If any of these conditions occurred during your child’s birth, contact our Independence, MO birth injury attorneys at (314) 500-HURT now.
Cephalohematoma
This birth injury occurs when blood gathers between a baby’s scalp and the skull as the result of damaged blood vessels during labor or delivery. You will see a bump on your infant’s head, which most often dissipates in a few weeks. The condition is usually mild, nevertheless, there are several rare issues that can come up. Cephalohematoma can increase your child’s risk of jaundice or anemia, and your baby may need a blood transfusion or other treatments.
Bruising, Lacerations, Soft Tissue Injuries or Fractures
Bruises and cuts are typically minor birth injuries that babies recover from quickly. However, they lead to extra medical bills and unmerited worry for the parents. Oftentimes a baby can be bruised or cut by complications during labor. For instance, if the baby is oversized or labor takes a long time, the baby spends too much time pressed against the mother’s pelvis and can be injured.
Obviously, fractures are much more serious and can do much more harm. While a fracture during labor can cause long-term or lifelong disability, usually they heal comparatively quickly as children are rapidly and constantly growing new bone. Either way, a broken bone during delivery results in unimaginable pain for your baby and mental anguish for you. The delivering doctor must observe the circumstances of the birth and take precautions to protect the mother and child from injury. When the doctor neglects to care for you as the are required to, you might have a birth injury claim. Our birth injury attorneys will insist that you collect the compensation you and your, baby deserve while holding the at-fault doctor responsible.
Sometimes there are steps a Independence, MO doctor should have taken but failed to, and other times the doctor incorrectly used delivery tools or used too much force during birth. In that case, it is imperative to reach out to our birth injury attorneys in Independence, MO straight away to discuss your options. Contact us today for a complimentary case evaluation.
Injury to the Mother
Occasionally, the mother or both the mother and child were hurt during labor. The mother may experience excessive blood loss or other complications. In some instances, the mother is injured because of a doctor’s negligence. For example, high blood pressure before or during delivery can point to preeclampsia, which can lead to seizures. If you had a seizure while giving birth after a doctor did not observe your high blood pressure, you are owed damages and our birth injury attorneys will fight to make certain you are justly compensated.
Emotional Injury
Not all damages in birth injury cases can be calculated in dollars. If you or your child were hurt because of a negligent physician, then you have experienced undeserved worry, anxiety, devastation, trauma and more. In the worst cases, you and your child may have to accept the chances of your child never being able to enjoy typical Independence, MO childhood activities or having special medical requirements for the remainder of their life. Getting a full recovery for your pain and suffering and mental anguish is an important step in making you whole again. In order to collect maximum compensation you and your family are entitled to, you need experienced birth injury attorneys in Independence, MO on your case. Burger Law’s team of birth injury lawyers can help.
It is important to realize that there are several potential causes of birth injuries that do not have to do with medical negligence or substandard care. For example, many Independence, MO birth injuries take place during a delayed birth (labor that lasts over 18 hours). In some instances of delayed birth, a Cesarean section may have been the best method of treatment and in others, it could not have been. That depends on your unique labor. Each patient and each birth is different and individual cases vary greatly.
Our Independence, MO birth injury attorney at Burger Law has experience with every variety of birth injury suit and will help you understand if the standard of care you were given is less than that which a competent doctor would have given you. Our network of Independence, MO physicians and medical experts will help us understand the details of your claim, calculate the value of your damages and conclusively demonstrate the medical professional’s negligence in breaching their standard of care so that we can get you maximum compensation to make you and your child whole.
Medical Malpractice Lawsuits
Physicians, healthcare professionals and Independence, MO medical institutions have what is called medical professional liability insurance, also called medical malpractice insurance. Like any Independence, MO insurance company, these insurers will try to bully, trick, and deceive you with serpentine and misleading legal vernacular. The shrewd birth injury lawyers at Burger law will handle all communication and litigation for you and will stand up to bullies like resistant insurance companies to make sure they are held responsible and give you the full compensation you are entitled to. Medical malpractice cases in Independence, MO can be hard, but our birth injury attorneys have over two years of experience trying and winning birth injury lawsuits and will acquire the evidence, proof, expert testimony and, eventually, the complete compensation you are owed.
In order to win a medical malpractice lawsuit, you must do three things:
- Determine and demonstrate negligence. Not all cases of birth complications or birth injury are because of a doctor’s negligence. You must prove that the physician breached the industry standard of care that a competent doctor in the same field would have given you. Burger Law’s network of Independence, MO physicians and medical experts will help determine if there was negligence, and prove it in your case.
- Get a affidavit of support. You will need to hire a Independence, MO doctor or nurse in the same field—in this case, neonatal care—to write an affidavit agreeing that the care you experienced was negligent, improper, or substandard. As your birth injury attorneys, the Burger Law team will acquire your letter of support.
- Prove that negligence caused the injury. Your child may develop cerebral palsy or may be born with a broken collarbone because of shoulder dystocia. The doctor may or may not be negligible, and you will have to prove that the doctor’s behavior or inaction directly led to the harm. You need a Burger Law Independence, MO birth injury lawyer you trust to help demonstrate how the defendant's negligence caused a birth injury that has harmed you and your family.
Burger law’s dedicated team of Independence, MO-based birth injury attorneys will fight by your side every step of the way and manage all the legal work for you so you can spend your energy on the well-being of you and your child.
The Independence, MO lawyers of Burger Law have the experience and knowledge to help you receive the full recovery you deserve after any accident or injury caused by someone else leaves you injured. Learn more about our fields of expertise below.
Call Our St. Louis Birth Injury Attorneys Today
If your baby sustained a birth injury, it is expected to feel an array of emotions: terrified, confused, angry and heartbroken. If the birth injury is incurred because of medical malpractice, Burger Law will stand by your side to fight for your maximum compensation and put you on the path to recovery. Our determined Independence, MO birth injury lawyers will take up your lawsuit and work around the clock for you, from initial case evaluation until we win your lawsuit. Allow us to help you safeguard you and your family’s future. Get a free case review today by calling us at (314) 500-HURT or by filling out this form.