Medical malpractice causing a baby’s HIE brain injury is a question that is asked by a lot of families who contact us. If the question is not asked this specific way the basic variation of the question remains. What this question is asking when stripped away is how a family will know if medical malpractice is the cause of their baby’s HIE brain injury at birth.
The basic focus of this educational article and supporting video will focus on what is HIE in our context and how negligence, specifically medical malpractice, is proven here in Maryland.
What Is An HIE Injury For A Baby At Birth?
HIE or hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy is a type of traumatic brain injury which can occur due to a reduction in blood and oxygen which can lead a baby to suffer a brain injury. An HIE injury can occur in several ways. For example, certain genetic conditions can lead a baby to suffer an HIE injury. In addition, if a baby has developmental challenges this can also cause a baby to suffer an HIE injury.
With the above stated, an HIE injury can also happen because of birth trauma. In other words, the action(s) or non-action of medical professionals can also lead a baby to suffer an HIE injury. In many of our cases that we investigate problems can occur when a baby is displaying problems on the fetal heart monitor and those problems are either missed or ignored, causing a cascading of further issues. This is just one area of analysis in complex cases like these.
Medical Malpractice Causing A Baby’s HIE Brain Injury
To understand if medical malpractice caused a baby’s traumatic brain injury one must be able to have a concept of what is negligence. Negligence in the legal context deals with whether there was a duty owed and whether there was a breach of said duty, causing the injury or harm done. In addition, there is a requirement of whether there was a departure from the standard of care which caused the injury or the harm. For standard of care the better way to understand this is what would a reasonable and prudent medical professional do under the same set of facts and circumstances.
Birth injury attorneys like myself use medical experts to give opinions and explain that the standard of care is for the given situation. Maryland law, like many other states, requires that medical experts are the ones who give the opinion as to the standard of care and whether the departure, if there is one, caused the injury or the harm.
The above are the types of reviews that take place to determine whether medical malpractice is the cause of the injury. Another point to make before closing out this article is that if this is something that you or a family member or friends is experiencing it is crucial that you speak with the type of attorneys who have the experience dealing with these specific types of issues.
To speak with me further about your baby’s HIE injury and a birth injury investigation I invite you to contact me at my contact information below. I speak with families like yours all the time about these types of issues and I would be happy to listen to your baby’s story.
Marcus B. Boston, Esq.
9701 Apollo Dr. Suite 100
Largo, Maryland 20774
1-833-4 BABY HELP
