What if deep down you feel the OB caused your baby’s birth injury? For some mothers, this is a conclusion that they reach soon after they are told that their baby has suffered a brain injury, as they play back in their mind their entire labor and delivery experience. Other mothers, and families may reach this conclusion later down the line, as more information is discovered.
If you are in this place right now, this birth injury educational article is here to help you understand how to “prove” that your OB, or other medical professional, might be the cause of your baby’s birth injury. When children suffer injuries at birth, especially brain injuries, many parents have lots of questions as to not only how it happened, but what does the future hold for their baby.
WHY DOES THE STANDARD OF CARE MATTER?
Before tackling the question of what if deep down you feel the OB caused your baby’s birth injury, and how do you “prove” it, I need to explain to you the importance of the standard of care. If you have taken the time to watch my other videos, or review some of the information on my website, you have more than likely ran across the phrase standard of care.
In these types of cases, the standard of care deals with the care doctors must give you in your situation. The simplest way to look at the standard of care is the care a reasonable and prudent doctor would use under the same set of facts as your matter. The standard of care is what guides doctors when treating patients.
Let us take this example of two women presenting to the emergency room for labor and delivery. In both cases, the mother presents with meconium in the fluid, a non-reassuring strip for a considerable amount of time, and heart rate issues for the mother. To put it another way, the labor and delivery has red flags all over the place. OB 1 decides that because all of this is going on, and the baby is in clear fetal distress, with things not getting better, an emergency C-section is the way to go. Contrast the same example with OB 2 who sees the same thing and decides to allow mom to continue to labor down and deliver through a vaginal delivery, with the baby suffering a brain injury.
Hopefully you can see that an argument can be made that OB 1 followed what the standard of care would suggest, being faced with the above example, and OB 2 strayed from the standard (moving to an emergency C-section) by allowing mom to continue to deliver with a vaginal delivery despite all the signs pointing to an emergency C-section.
WHAT IF DEEP DOWN YOU FEEL THE OB CAUSED YOUR BABY’S BIRTH INJURY?
So now, with the above explained, I can move to how do you prove the standard of care, or what if deep down you feel the OB caused your baby’s birth injury? Maryland law requires to prove the standard of care, and whether the treating doctor deviated from the standard, causing the injury, we use medical experts. Medical experts can explain not only what the standard requires, but if the departure from the standard is what caused the injury.
If you cannot get a medical expert to agree with your position regarding a departure of the standard, causing the injury, then your case will not be successful. With some cases, you can have a bad result and doctor staying within the standard of care, as this is a reality of medicine.
WHAT CAN YOU DO IF YOUR BABY HAS A BRAIN INJURY FROM BIRTH?
What if deep down you feel that the OB caused your baby’s birth injury? Hopefully now, you have a better understand as to how you can process and move forward with these feelings. To speak with me further regarding your baby’s birth injury (cerebral palsy diagnosis, HIE hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy, etc…) this is what I invite you to do.
Pick up the phone and give me a call. I can be reached at 301-850-4832. I talk with families regarding birth injuries dealing with the brain, cerebral palsy, and other types of injuries all the time and I would be happy to listen to what happened with you and your baby.
Marcus B. Boston, Esq.
2 Wisconsin Circle, Suite 700
Chevy Chase, Maryland 20815
1-833-4 BABY HELP
