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Birth Injuries are Common Medical Malpractice Claim

A birth injury is any damage sustained during the birthing process, most often occurring during transit through the birth canal. A difficult birth or an injury to the baby may occur because of the baby's size or the position of the baby during labor and delivery. Birth injuries may occur, also, if the birth canal is too small or the fetus is too large (this sometimes occurs when the mother has diabetes). The rate of birth injuries is much lower than in previous decades, but birth injuries do still happen and the results can often be devastating to the life of the child. Birth injuries are one of the most common forms of medical malpractice.

Some of the resulting injuries of difficult births and birth's with physician error include:

Facial paralysis: During labor or birth, pressure on a baby's face may cause the facial nerve to be injured. Forceps may also cause this. The injury is often seen when the baby cries for the first time as there is no movement on the side of the face with the injury and the eye cannot close.

Fractures: Fractures of the clavicle (collarbone) is the most common fracture during labor and delivery. The clavicle may break when there is difficulty delivering the baby's shoulder or during a breech birth.

Erb's palsy (also known as brachial plexus): Erb's palsy occurs when the brachial plexus (group of nerves that supplies the arms and hands) is injured. This happens often when there is dystocia. Tearing of the nerve may result in permanent nerve damage. A newborn with Erb's palsy will have his arm straight down at his side and will not move it and sometimes the arm may be slightly turned with a bent wrist and straight fingers.

Cerebral palsy: CP is a permanent and irreversible crippling condition that affects the brain and central nervous system. Possible causes of CP during the birth process are unrecognized or untreated signs of fetal distress; the baby being stuck in the birth canal because of its size or position; placenta being prematurely sheared by the birth process; and untreated umbilical cord compression.

The birth of a child is supposed to be one of the most joyous occasions in an adult's life, and most deliveries go smoothly and as expected. However, complications do arise during pregnancy and delivery, and these problems may result in serious and long-term injury to your newborn baby. If the harm to your baby was unavoidable, it is important to be aware of your legal rights regarding the birth of your newborn.

If your child suffered a birth injury such as Erb's palsy or cerebral palsy in Chicago or anywhere in Illinois, please contact the experienced Birth Injury Lawyers at Harvey L. Walner & Associates, LTD.

posted by rtszdeiurg @ 11:51 PM 0 comments

Work Site Injuries Cost Billions Each Year

Most Americans between the ages of 22 and 65 spend almost 50% of their waking hours at work, and every year millions of Americans suffer injuries and thousands die as a result of workplace injuries and accidents. The total direct and indirect costs associated with these injuries were estimated to be $155.5 billion or nearly 3% of the gross domestic product (GDP). Direct costs included medical expenses for hospitals, doctors, medications as well as health administration costs. Indirect costs include loss of wages, cost of fringe benefits and employer retraining and workplace disruption costs.

Workers' Compensation covers roughly 27% of all these costs and taxpayers paid approximately 18% of these costs through contributions to Medicare, Social Security and Medicaid.

Workplace deaths and injuries may be decreasing according to recent statistics published by the United States Department of Labor and Industries; however, when workplace accidents do occur, the injuries are usually serious and sometimes fatal. Construction workers, especially, are in a high-risk industry, and more work for construction companies means more pressure on construction workers to produce.

Injury rates are high in the building trades, in natural resource extraction and in some manufacturing industries. According to Leonard Smith, a spokesman for the Teamsters union local headquartered in Seattle, Washington, some employers are just not making safety a priority. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, it is estimated that 1,200 American construction workers die in falls on the job each year. While the construction industry only employs about 7 percent of the nation's workforce, construction sites accounted for 21 percent of workplace deaths.

One of the possible solutions offered to help decrease the number of construction work site injuries is to increase the inspectors-per-worker ratio in the states that do not have enough inspectors for the size of the state. For example, Idaho has just nine accident investigators covering the entire state whereas Washington just hired 11 additional inspectors for the state assigned solely to examine and certify cranes.

If other states would follow Washington's lead and hire more inspectors, the number of work site injuries and deaths may decrease in time. In the meantime, industry workers must continue to be very careful at their work sites and be aware of the hazards that surround them.

If you or a loved one has suffered or died due to a worksite accident in Philadelphia or anywhere in Pennsylvania, please contact the Work Site Accident Injury Lawyers at Pomerantz Perlberger & Lewis LLP.

posted by rtszdeiurg @ 8:13 PM 0 comments