The moment a newborn suffers harm due to medical negligence, time stands still for Odenton families. What should mark the beginning of a beautiful journey suddenly turns into years of specialized care, therapy appointments, and financial strain.
When healthcare providers make preventable mistakes during childbirth, your family deserves unwavering legal support from attorneys who grasp the technicalities of both medical science and Maryland law.
At Schochor, Staton, Goldberg and Cardea, P.A., our birth injury attorneys blend medical insight with purposeful legal representation for families in Anne Arundel County. We shoulder the legal burden while you provide the love and attention your child needs.
Liability in Birth Injury Cases
Birth injury claims frequently name multiple defendants whose actions collectively caused harm. Identifying every responsible party expands the available compensation for your child’s immediate and long-term needs.
Delivering Doctor’s Responsibility
Obstetricians hold primary responsibility for ensuring safe childbirth. Despite years of training, physician errors still occur:
Improper Use of Delivery Instruments: Doctors sometimes use forceps or vacuum extractors when labor slows or complications arise. These tools, while valuable in certain situations, require precise application.
In Odenton birthing centers, improper use has led to infant skull fractures, damaged facial nerves, and dangerous brain bleeds. Vacuum extractors misused have resulted in scalp lacerations, blood collection beneath the scalp, and intracranial hemorrhage.
Delayed Cesarean Sections: When monitoring shows fetal distress or prolonged labor threatens the baby’s oxygen supply, physicians must act swiftly. Even short delays can mean permanent neurological damage. Anne Arundel hospitals maintain emergency C-section protocols, yet preventable delays still occur when physicians misjudge the urgency of warning signs.
Missed Complication Recognition: Well-trained obstetricians must identify and respond to conditions like shoulder dystocia, abnormal positioning, and cord compression. Failure to recognize these time-sensitive emergencies can result in permanent disability or death for newborns.
Hospital and Staff Liability
The delivering physician is rarely the only responsible party in birth injury cases:
- Nurses, Midwives, and Support Staff: Labor nurses serve as the frontline monitors of maternal and fetal wellbeing throughout childbirth. They must track vital signs, administer medications correctly, note distress indicators, and communicate concerns promptly to physicians. Midwives assisting births must follow evidence-based protocols and recognize when medical intervention becomes imperative.
- Institutional Responsibility: Under Maryland’s “respondeat superior” doctrine (Maryland Courts and Judicial Proceedings §5-302), hospitals bear vicarious liability for employee negligence. Facilities may also face direct liability for organizational shortcomings such as insufficient staffing, inadequate training, or outdated protocols.
Odenton healthcare facilities must provide adequately equipped birthing environments with properly trained personnel. When system-wide failures result in newborn injuries, institutions themselves may bear substantial liability.
Common Causes of Birth Injuries
Medical negligence during childbirth typically falls into several recognizable patterns that violate established care standards.
Fetal Monitoring Failures
Modern electronic fetal monitoring systems provide moment-by-moment data about the baby’s condition. When used properly, they save lives.
Warning Signs and Consequences: Attentive providers must recognize patterns concerning irregular heart rates, diminished variability, late decelerations after contractions, and meconium staining. Missed or misinterpreted signals can result in unaddressed oxygen deprivation, potentially causing hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE), cerebral palsy, or intellectual disabilities.
Research published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ACOG) confirms that even brief oxygen deprivation can permanently alter brain development. In Odenton hospitals, monitoring lapses frequently occur during shift transitions, on short-staffed units, or when personnel lack specialized training in reading fetal tracings.
Delivery Complications
The birthing process presents unique challenges requiring skilled medical response:
- Delivery Tool Misapplication: While forceps and vacuum extractors help resolve difficult deliveries, their misuse remains among the leading preventable causes of birth injuries. The ACOG outlines specific guidelines for these instrumental deliveries. When physicians disregard these protocols, resulting harm constitutes actionable medical negligence.
- Shoulder Dystocia Management: This obstetric emergency occurs when the infant’s shoulder becomes trapped against the mother’s pelvic bone after the head emerges. Proper resolution requires specific maneuvers performed without excessive force. Mismanagement frequently results in brachial plexus injuries affecting arm function, clavicle fractures, or oxygen deprivation. Proper prenatal risk assessment and appropriate delivery techniques significantly reduce these dangers.
Medication and Prenatal Oversights
Birth injuries sometimes originate before labor begins:
- Labor Medication Errors: Medication administration during childbirth requires precision. Pitocin, used to stimulate contractions, demands careful dosing and continuous monitoring. Excessive amounts trigger unnaturally strong contractions that restrict fetal oxygen. Similarly, improperly administered epidural anesthesia can lower maternal blood pressure, reducing crucial placental blood flow.
- High-Risk Pregnancy Mismanagement: Many birth injuries stem from unaddressed pregnancy complications. Untreated maternal infections, undiagnosed preeclampsia, poorly controlled gestational diabetes, or missed fetal abnormalities requiring specialized delivery planning all contribute to preventable birth trauma. Healthcare providers who fail to identify and address these risks may face liability for resulting injuries.
