You may have had complications in your birth delivery. In turn, your newborn may now be experiencing certain injuries that carry long-term consequences. Understandably so, the last thing you want is to watch your child suffer. And while it may not entirely make up for it, you may consider helping them in pursuing a birth injury claim to recover some of their lifetime damages. Read on to discover the types of injuries your child might incur from a birth delivery and how a seasoned New York City birth injury attorney at Mark L. Bodner, P.C. can help your child possibly pursue a claim down the line.
What types of injuries might my child incur from a birth delivery?
Unfortunately, the doctors, nurses, midwives, and other medical professionals in your delivery room may have been physically present during your child’s birth. Still, they may have not been mentally present. In other words, they may have failed to remain attentive, notice warning signs, and react properly and promptly. Ultimately, their deviations from the medical standard of care may have caused your newborn to incur certain types of injuries. They read as follows:
- Your newborn may have cerebral palsy due to a twisted umbilical cord during birth delivery.
- Your newborn may have Erb’s palsy due to their shoulders becoming impacted during birth delivery.
- Your newborn may have a forceps and vacuum extraction injury due to getting stuck in the birth canal during delivery.
- Your newborn may have brain damage due to being in fetal distress during birth delivery without an ordered C-section.
What is the statute of limitations for my child’s birth injury claim?
Generally speaking, New York State places the statute of limitations for medical malpractice claims at 30 months or 2.5 years. This deadline may get complicated if such a medical malpractice incident has a minor child as the victim. In your child’s case, they may have three years from their eighteenth birthday to file such a claim. However, state law may hold that the negligent action or omission in question must have occurred within the previous 10 years.
An exception to this may be the discovery rule, in which your child may not have reasonably discovered or known about their injury until a considerable amount of time has passed. For example, if your child developed cerebral palsy, it may not have been diagnosed until the first or second year after their birth. If their symptoms are mild, it may have taken a few more years to reach this diagnosis.
An alternative option is that you may bring forward a claim on your child’s behalf. With this, you must abide by the 30-month or 2.5-year statute of limitations. So even if you are considering a birth injury claim, consult a competent New York City medical malpractice attorney from Mark L. Bodner, P.C. Contact our firm today.