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Although it is not as common today as it once was, obstetricians assisting pregnant women through childbirth occasionally use obstetrical forceps during prolonged labor. When a doctor does choose to take this approach, they must be extremely careful not to misuse the forceps and cause injury to the fetus, especially considering trauma to the skull or neck of a newborn infant can have life-altering repercussions.
If your doctor failed to provide you and your child with the level of care you deserved and caused a forceps injury as a result, you may have grounds for legal action. The experienced birth injury attorneys at Berkowitz and Hanna LLC have handled countless cases like these across the state, and we are ready to fight for you. No matter what effects your child’s injury has had on them, or what losses you need to seek restitution for as a result, your Stamford forceps injury lawyer can make sure your claim is as strong as possible and help maximize the compensation you receive.
If obstetrical forceps are used correctly, there is relatively little risk of them causing injury to the baby. However, if a doctor uses too much pressure, twists the baby inside the birth canal, or chooses to use forceps when a safer alternative option is available, they may be considered to have violated the “standard of care” applicable to them. In other words, they may have acted in a way that no other equally qualified physician would have acted under the same circumstances.
Proving that a doctor violated the standard of care can be tricky, especially without the help of a seasoned lawyer. As a Stamford forceps injury attorney can explain in more detail, the vast majority of medical malpractice claims filed in Connecticut must be accompanied by proof that the plaintiff conducted a “reasonable inquiry” into their case. This requires at least one qualified medical expert to agree the evidence presented to them indicates legally actionable malpractice. Our legal team knows the ins and outs of these cases, and we can assist with every step of this process.
In forceps injury litigation, it can be difficult to identify and assign a fair value to the damages the injury will cause. Because trauma to the head and neck can often have debilitating and irreversible effects on a newborn infant, civil claims must account not only for short-term losses that have already occurred by the time the legal process begins, but also for decades worth of long-term losses that have yet to manifest.
This usually includes both objective economic forms of harm, like future medical bills and lost working capacity, and subjective non-economic forms of harm, like physical pain and mental anguish. Connecticut state law does not place any artificial caps on total recovery allowed through malpractice claims, meaning a skilled lawyer can help demand comprehensive compensation for the full value of all losses caused by a forceps injury in Stamford.
Money alone cannot completely erase the damage that a forceps injury can cause, but fair civil recovery can do a lot to improve your child’s quality of life both now and well into the future. Call today to learn what a Stamford forceps injury lawyer from Berkowitz and Hanna LLC can do to help you with your claim. Your initial consultation is completely free of charge.
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