A Gaithersburg birth injury lawyer from Schochor, Staton, Goldberg and Cardea, P.A. represents families whose newborns have suffered harm due to medical errors during labor or delivery.
Our attorneys guide parents through the process of seeking justice when medical care falls short of accepted standards.
For Montgomery County families facing unexpected challenges after childbirth complications, an experienced attorney provides clear explanations of legal rights, ensures compliance with Maryland’s specific requirements, builds cases supported by medical evidence, and pursues maximum compensation for necessary care and services.
Understanding Birth Injury Negligence in Maryland
Birth injury cases fall under medical malpractice law in Maryland. Not all birth complications result from negligence—childbirth carries inherent risks even with proper care. It occurs when healthcare providers fail to meet accepted standards, resulting in preventable harm.
To succeed in a birth injury claim, four key elements must be proven:
- Duty of Care: The healthcare provider had a professional obligation to deliver care that met accepted medical standards, typically established through the provider-patient relationship.
- Breach of Duty: The provider failed to meet these standards through action or inaction, such as misreading monitoring data, delaying necessary interventions, or using improper delivery techniques.
- Causation: This breach directly caused the specific birth injury, requiring proof that with proper care, the injury would not have occurred.
- Damages: The injury resulted in actual harm requiring compensation, including medical expenses, therapy costs, pain and suffering, and other losses.
Maryland requires birth injury claims to be supported by qualified medical experts who can testify about the applicable standard of care and how it was violated. A “Certificate of Qualified Expert” must accompany the claim, confirming that care deviated from such standard and directly caused injury.
These experts must have recent clinical experience in the relevant specialty, making their selection particularly important.
Common Causes of Fatal or Catastrophic Birth Injuries
Failure to Monitor Fetal Distress
Electronic monitoring during labor provides vital information about the baby’s condition. When healthcare providers misinterpret data or fail to respond to warning signs, oxygen deprivation can occur, potentially causing permanent brain damage.
Signs requiring prompt attention include abnormal heart rate patterns, decreased movement, and meconium in amniotic fluid. When Gaithersburg medical providers miss these signals, babies may develop hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE), cerebral palsy, or other neurological conditions that affect development and function throughout life.
Delayed C-Section
When complications arise during labor, timely cesarean delivery can prevent serious injuries. Delays beyond the prescribed timeframe can result in oxygen deprivation and permanent neurological damage.
Situations requiring prompt surgical intervention include prolapsed umbilical cord, placental abruption, uterine rupture, persistent fetal distress, and failed labor progression.
Improper Use of Forceps or Vacuum Extractor
Delivery assistance tools require proper training and technique. Misuse of forceps or vacuum extractors can cause skull fractures, brain hemorrhages, facial nerve damage, or brachial plexus injuries affecting arm function. These injuries may result in permanent disabilities, developmental delays, or physical disfigurement.
Failure to Address Pregnancy Complications
Proper prenatal care includes identifying and managing conditions that pose risks to mother and baby. Maternal high blood pressure, gestational diabetes, infections, and placental abnormalities require careful monitoring and appropriate treatment.
Negligent Post-Delivery Care
Even after successful delivery, newborns require careful monitoring. Failure to recognize and treat conditions like jaundice, infection, or respiratory distress can result in permanent injuries.
Untreated severe jaundice can lead to kernicterus, a form of brain damage, while delayed response to infection can cause sepsis or meningitis. These conditions can result in lifelong disabilities despite being highly treatable when addressed promptly.
Medication or Anesthesia Errors
Medication mistakes during labor and delivery can harm both mother and baby. Improper dosing of labor-inducing drugs, anesthesia errors affecting maternal blood pressure, administration of contraindicated medications, and failure to monitor for adverse reactions all represent potentially negligent care.
These errors typically result from communication breakdowns, inadequate patient monitoring, or failure to account for individual risk factors.
Who Can Be Held Liable for a Birth Injury?
Birth injury cases often involve multiple responsible parties:
- Delivering Obstetrician or Doctor bears primary responsibility for medical decisions during pregnancy and delivery. Their potential negligence includes surgical errors, improper techniques, medication mistakes, and failure to respond appropriately to complications.
- Nurses and Other Medical Staff provide direct patient care throughout labor and delivery. Their monitoring, medication administration, and communication with physicians are fundamental to patient safety. When they fail to follow protocols or communicate properly with doctors, preventable injuries can result.
- Hospitals and Medical Facilities may be liable through direct responsibility for inadequate policies or staffing, vicarious liability for employee negligence, or failure to properly credential or supervise medical staff.
- Other Healthcare Providers, including anesthesiologists, maternal-fetal medicine specialists, and neonatologists may share responsibility for errors within their specialties.
- Product Manufacturers occasionally face liability when defective medical equipment or medications contribute to birth injuries, though these cases are less common.
