Birth Injuries

Prior to starting the Flynn Law Firm, LLC, attorney Jonah Flynn defended hospitals, nurses, and nurse midwives in medical malpractice litigation while working at one of the largest insurance defense firms in Atlanta. This experience gives Jonah Flynn an insight into how nurses and healthcare providers defend birth injury cases, including cases related to cerebral palsy, erb’s palsy (brachial plexus injuries), and labor and delivery negligence. This invaluable experience will be put to work prosecuting your birth injury lawsuit, and provides clients of the Flynn Law Firm a valuable edge when holding negligent healthcare providers accountable.

Even though most women give birth in modern hospitals surrounded by healthcare professionals, seven out of every 1,000 births result in injuries. Newborns are fragile and susceptible to damage in many different ways.

Their bones are very soft, their organs are newly developed, they have weaker immune systems, and their size means those infections, diseases, and other conditions that don’t harm adults can be devastating to them.

Injuries sustained at birth can have terrible permanent effects. Unfortunately, these injuries are often the result of a doctor or other medical professionals’ negligence. When a medical mistake is responsible for an injury to the child, financial compensation may be available through a birth injury lawsuit.

In most cases, birth injuries occur when medical staff doesn’t properly respond to: compressed umbilical cords, excessive bleeding, infections, lack of oxygen (for either babies or the mothers) and the need for immediate delivery via C-section

Birth injuries also occur when medical professionals choose the incorrect method of delivery. Specifically, inappropriate use of vacuum extraction and/or forceps can also result in severe, incurable child birth injuries.

Some Common Types of Birth Injuries Are:

Caput Succedaneum

Caput succedaneum is one of the types of birth injuries that affect a newborn’s head. Caput succedaneum is a severe swelling and/ or bruising of a baby’s scalp that usually disappears within a few weeks. Traumatic vacuum extraction and other medical procedures usually cause this type of head birth injuries

Facial paralysis

This is another one of the types of birth injuries that affects a newborn’s face. This injury occurs with excessive pressure on the face during delivery and may require surgery to correct.

Brachial plexus palsy

This is another of the types of birth injury that may require surgery. This birth injury occurs during shoulder dystocia and can result in paralysis in the upper arms. The most common fractures that can occur during child birth are of the clavicle or collarbone. Immediate treatment is required.

Cerebral Palsy

Cerebral Palsy is one of the most serious types of birth injuries that a child can develop. It usually describes a range of neuromuscular disorders caused by injury to an infant's brain during late pregnancy, birth, or any time during the first three years of life. Cerebral Palsy is a group of diverse conditions that cause varying levels of motor and sometimes mental dysfunction. Most children who suffer from Cerebral Palsy have difficulty performing easy functions such as moving, speaking, and eating due to damaged nerves, tendons, muscles, and bones. There is also an increased chance of mental retardation in children with Cerebral Palsy.

Approximately 2 per 1000 individuals in the United States have Cerebral Palsy. Other countries have reported higher rates. Improved obstetric techniques over the past few decades have reduced the likelihood of brain injury during birth. But increased survival of premature infants—those born after only 25 to 37 weeks of pregnancy and weighing less than 2500 grams (5.5 lbs)—some of whom develop cerebral palsy, has kept the incidence in the United States fairly stable.

Injury to the brain in individuals with Cerebral Palsy is permanent, and full recovery is not possible. Damaged brain tissue does not regenerate, but to some extent, normal nerve cells and nerve pathways can take over some function from injured areas, with limitations. If you suspect that your newborn has Cerebral Palsy, contact Jonah Flynn, an Atlanta birth injury lawyer, immediately.

Early signs of Cerebral Palsy

The early signs of Cerebral Palsy appear in the first years of a child's life, typically prior to age 3. In more than 80 percent of cases, Cerebral Palsy develops within the first month of life.

Signs that you may observe in the delivery room, or shortly after birth, that may suggest possible brain injury include:

  • A floppy appearance, indicating lack of muscle tone
  • The infant is dusky, or blue in color
  • The infant fails to breathe immediately following delivery
  • The infant requires some type of resuscitation at delivery
  • Seizures that develop shortly after delivery

Signs of Cerebral Palsy that may appear over time include:

  • Not reaching developmental milestones on time (sitting up, crawling, walking, talking, etc.)
  • Inability to walk, or difficulty walking
  • Spasticity, or "tight" muscles in arms and/or legs
  • Limp or "floppy" muscles

Unfortunately, doctors and hospitals will almost never admit fault...

Unfortunately, doctors and hospitals will almost never admit fault or offer to pay reasonable damages.

Therefore, it is extremely crucial to consult an experienced Georgia birth injury attorney early because records and other information that are important to knowing whether negligence occurred might be lost over time.

Frequently hospitals and doctors will destroy or lose records within a few months of the delivery. Also, important witnesses such as nurses and other staff will forget details or move, making it difficult to retrieve essential facts. Further, almost any time there is a bad result to a patient, the hospital personnel and doctors will meet with their own lawyers to begin formulating a strategy to defend any potential lawsuit. If you believe you have been the victim of delivery room negligence, contact Jonah Flynn, a Georgia birth injury lawyer, today.

The Flynn Law Firm will protect your rights and litigate your cerebral palsy lawsuit, erb’s palsy lawsuit, or birth injury lawsuit through trial. The Flynn Law Firm represents clients in Savannah, Columbus, Muscogee County, Chatham County, Atlanta, and Fulton County. Jonah Flynn has been involved in medical malpractice litigation involving Columbus Doctors Hospital, Memorial University Medical Center, Atlanta Medical Center, St. Joseph’s Hospital, Candler Hospital, and St. Francis Hospital.