Settlement for birth injury

An Arizona hospital and a physician are paying a medical malpractice settlement to a boy who suffered a permanent injury to his shoulder during delivery.  The lawsuit claimed that the child who was born weighing 12 pounds, 1 ounce and should have been delivered by a c-section.

The type of injury suffered by this child was likely a shoulder dystocia injury or Erb's palsy injury.  This occurs when the child's shoulder is caught against the mother's pelvis during delivery.  When this happens, the nerves passing through the child's shoulder, known as the brachial plexus, can be stretched or torn, resulting in a loss of function to the shoulder and arm.

This situation occurs frequently with large babies, technically referred to as macrosomic infants.  One means of preventing this type of injury is to deliver the infant by c-section when it is known that the infant is going to be a large baby.  Careful review of the prenatal records and the delivery records will reveal whether a birth injury was the cause of medical malpractice.  As experienced Chicago personal injury lawyers, we recommend as a first step in any possible medical malpractice case that a full set of medical records be obtained for careful review by a qualified physician.