Birth Injury Resulting from Emergency C-Section Errors

Undergoing a C-section can be a traumatic event for both the mother and child. When an emergency C-section is necessary, it can be even more so, with the risk of serious complications significantly increasing.

Emergency C-section errors can leave you with physical and emotional injuries and change the course of your child’s life.

If your child suffered injuries in an emergency C-section, contact Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard P.C. for a free consultation about your case. Our experienced Chicago emergency C-section lawyers can review the incident and your medical records to determine the best course of action. We’ll explain your legal rights and your options for seeking the compensation you need and deserve.

How Our Chicago Birth Injury Attorneys Can Help After an Emergency C-Section Error

When delivery complications arise during an emergency C-section procedure, it’s essential that you seek out the help of a highly qualified Chicago birth injury attorney. For over 40 years, the birth injury lawyers of Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard have been helping Chicago parents seek compensation for injuries they and their children sustained during birth.

Our team will do everything we can to help you maximize your compensation, from identifying the at-fault parties and gathering supporting evidence to calculating the value of your losses and negotiating with insurance companies. We also always prepare every case for trial, just in case litigation becomes necessary.

Significant birth injury recoveries our lawyers have obtained for clients includes:

$75.8 million for brain damage and physical injuries
$50.3 million for a hypoxia birth injury
$25 million in a confidential settlement
$15.35 million for brain injury during birth
$13.3 million for shoulder and arm birth injuries

We want to help hold the responsible parties accountable if you or your child suffered a serious injury due to medical errors. Contact us today for a free case assessment.

Emergency Cesarean Section Complications and Preventable Birth Injuries

Emergency cesarean section complications often lead to two types of preventable birth injuries: oxygen deprivation injuries and birth trauma injuries. These serious injuries typically result when healthcare providers improperly prepare for a rushed C-section or fail to follow best practices when performing a cesarean delivery.

Oxygen Deprivation

Infants can experience oxygen deprivation during a cesarean section delivery in several ways. For example, if the infant’s oxygen levels aren’t being properly monitored, delayed delivery could cause them to go without the necessary level of oxygen for several minutes, leading to various types of brain injuries.

Additionally, if the infant’s umbilical cord becomes tangled around their body during the procedure, it can cut off their oxygen supply. Infants who experience oxygen deprivation during an emergency procedure for a C-section must receive immediate emergency care to prevent their injuries from worsening.

Birth Trauma

Birth trauma injuries include broken bones, fractured skulls, lacerations, and other injuries caused by excessive force on the infant’s body. These injuries may occur if the doctor improperly uses medical tools to grab the infant or handles the infant without due care.

Traumatic injuries like these may cause lifelong impairment due to damage to the bones and soft tissues. If your child experienced lacerations, they may have permanent scarring or disfigurement.

Common Emergency C-Section Errors and Surgical Mistakes in Illinois Hospitals

Doctors and nurses can contribute to emergency C-section errors and surgical mistakes in several ways that could cause you or your child harm. Some of the most common errors leading to C-section injuries in Illinois hospitals include:

Delayed C-Section Decision: The time it takes for a medical provider to determine that an emergency C-section is necessary could significantly affect your child’s well-being. If the decision is delayed, it could result in your child going without adequate oxygen for several minutes, causing severe brain injury.
Improper Surgical Technique: Surgical errors made during the C-section procedure could cause damage to your nerves or internal organs and may lead to laceration and nerve damage in your child. Even in emergency situations, a properly trained surgeon must perform the procedure to minimize the risk of harm to the patient.
Failure to Prepare: Proper preparation is required even when doctors perform an emergency C-section. Nurses should have made these preparations before the procedure was even considered, just in case something went wrong, and a C-section was required.
Failure to Monitor Fetal Distress: Doctors and nurses must monitor your child’s vital signs throughout the procedure. Failure to monitor for warning signs of distress could result in several types of preventable birth injuries and serious harm to your child.

Doctors and other medical providers must act quickly once they realize you or your child is in danger of harm. If they fail to act according to the accepted standard of care, their actions (or inactions) can be considered medical malpractice.

Birth Injuries Caused by Emergency C-Section Malpractice

Emergency C-section malpractice can cause severe injuries to infants that lead to permanent cognitive and physical impairment. You must understand the following injuries and their causes so you can properly seek the compensation your child will need for their future medical expenses and care:

Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy: HIE is a brain injury caused by an infant not receiving enough oxygen. This injury may occur while the infant is still in the womb, which could necessitate an emergency C-section, or it could occur shortly after birth if the procedure isn’t performed correctly.
Cerebral Palsy: This brain injury can also result from a lack of oxygen and results in the infant developing coordination and movement issues that affect them for the rest of their life.
Brachial Plexus Injuries: These injuries damage the nerves that connect the arms to the spinal cord, resulting in pain, numbness, weakness, or loss of movement in the arms.
Skull Fractures: Newborns’ skulls are particularly fragile and can become fractured if too much force is applied, such as when doctors use medical instruments to extract the child.
Fetal Lacerations: Medical instruments like forceps can cause lacerations on a child’s body, exposing them to significant infections and causing scarring and disfigurement.

What Are Your Legal Rights After an Emergency C-Section Birth Injury in Chicago?

After an emergency C-section birth injury in Chicago, you have the right to seek compensation from the parties responsible through a medical malpractice lawsuit. Understanding the statute of limitations and the affidavit of merit requirement is essential for protecting your rights.

Statute of Limitations

Under Illinois’ statute of limitations, families have two years to file lawsuits for injuries their children sustained during birth, including during delivery by cesarean section. In certain circumstances, this deadline may be extended, such as if the extent of your child’s injury is unclear at first. However, you cannot bring a lawsuit more than four years after the injury occurred.

It’s always important to consult an experienced birth injury lawyer as soon as possible to determine how long you have to file your lawsuit. Additionally, the more time you give your lawyer to investigate and build your medical malpractice claim, the stronger it will be.

Affidavit of Merit Requirement

You must have an affidavit of merit when filing a medical malpractice lawsuit, such as one based on emergency C-section errors. This is a document signed by a medical professional who has reviewed your case and determined that it has merit. The medical professional must:

Be knowledgeable about the relevant issues of your case
Have practiced or taught medicine within the last six years
Be qualified in the subject matter of your case

Pursuing Compensation for Emergency C-Section Malpractice in Illinois

If you and your child were victims of emergency C-section malpractice in Illinois, you could seek compensation for various losses you experienced as a result. For your losses with objective, tangible value, you can seek economic damages. For losses with subjective, intangible value, you can seek non-economic damages.

Economic Damages

Losses covered by economic damages include:

Medical Expenses: Past and future surgeries, hospital stays, medical treatments, physical therapy, and rehabilitation costs
Lost Wages: Wages you lost due to the complications of your C-section and the added care you need to provide for your child
Lost Earning Potential: Wages you will lose due to the caretaking needs of your child throughout their life
Disability Accommodations: The cost of accommodating your child’s injuries, such as making your home or vehicle accessible or purchasing necessary medical devices

Your lawyer can help calculate your economic damages by adding up your medical bills and lost wages and estimating your child’s future medical expenses and your future lost wages with the help of expert witnesses.

Non-Economic Damages

Losses covered by non-economic damages include:

Pain and Suffering: The physical pain you experienced because of the C-section error or that your child will experience because of their birth injuries
Emotional Distress: The anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and other psychological effects that you experience because of your child’s birth injuries
Permanent Disability: The extent to which your child’s birth injuries will leave them physically or cognitively disabled and how it will affect their life
Scarring and Disfigurement: The impact that your child’s scarring and disfigurement caused by the medical malpractice will have on their life and emotional well-being

Estimating non-economic damages can be challenging since they are subjective. However, a compassionate birth injury lawyer can help you determine a fair value for the intangible losses you and your child experienced and will likely experience in the future.

Contact Our Chicago Emergency C-Section Error Lawyers for a Complimentary Consultation

If your child sustained birth injuries caused by an emergency C-section in a Chicago hospital, contact Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard P.C. for a free consultation with a highly qualified emergency C-section lawyer. During your free consultation, we’ll review the details of your case and explain which parties could be liable and the compensation you could seek through a legal claim.