Negligent Prenatal Care

Sometimes, pregnancy involves high stress. If you're pregnant, you must visit a doctor frequently to make sure that the fetus is thriving and that there are no problems that should be addressed. There may be numerous tests and a lot of advice. However, not all OB-gyns are as thorough and careful as they should be. Health care providers seeing mothers for prenatal care do make mistakes sometimes, and these mistakes can result in serious problems for an infant. If your baby is injured as a result of negligent prenatal care, you may be able to recover damages. At DeFrancisco & Falgiatano, our experienced Syracuse birth injury attorneys can evaluate the facts of your case and consult a credible expert as appropriate to determine the viability of your claim.

Pregnancies can be high risk for many reasons. Sometimes there is gestational diabetes. The mother may be of advanced age or have high blood pressure. Sometimes an ordinary OB-gyn has a duty to refer a woman with a high-risk pregnancy to a specialist that has experience providing for those who are at high risk. In other cases, a pregnancy seems to be relatively normal, but routine testing if properly administered would have revealed problems that need to be addressed such as preeclampsia or birth defects. Failure to adequately address problems detected on tests — or failure to administer tests as appropriate — may result in injuries to the baby.

When you go to see your doctor for prenatal care, you trust that he or she will administer the appropriate tests and handle your situation the way other competent doctors would. Various conditions like gestational diabetes, birth defects, and preeclampsia can be detected through different tests. The doctor has the responsibility for providing the tests, and where no provision is made, there may be injuries. To establish liability for negligent prenatal care, you will need to establish: (1) a healthcare provider owed you a professional duty of care, (2) breach of the professional duty of care, (3) causation, and (4) damages. A knowledgeable birth injury lawyer can evaluate whether your case may be able to fulfill these elements.

Where an OB-gyn's negligent prenatal care causes birth injuries, it may be possible to sue the OB-gyn. For example, if a mother has gestational diabetes, but a doctor fails to monitor the baby's growth and fails to advise that a C-section is necessary because the baby is too big, and as a result, there is prolonged labor and brain damage to the baby, this may be medical malpractice that gives rise to damages. Similarly, if a mother has preeclampsia, and a doctor fails to monitor the rapid progression of this condition, the result may be stroke or multiple organ failure or HELLP syndrome, but it could also mean the death of a child. Inducing labor is required regardless of the age of the fetus once eclampsia develops.

Other prenatal errors can include misdiagnosis of placental abruption, misdiagnosis of a mother's hypertension, failure to conduct fetal ultrasound tests, and misdiagnosis of preeclampsia.

Damages for negligent prenatal care can include medical costs, replacement services, pain and suffering, mental anguish, rehabilitation, therapy and out-of-pocket expenses. The amount of damages will depend on the extent of injuries. Sometimes the birth injuries arising out of negligent prenatal care are readily resolved, necessitating some doctor's visits, but nothing drastic. In other cases, the injuries may be catastrophic; for example, an infant with brain damage may require in-home care and special therapies. Sometimes negligent prenatal care results in death, and in that case it may be appropriate to sue for wrongful death damages.

If your baby was injured due to negligent prenatal care, it may be possible to sue for damages. At DeFrancisco & Falgiatano, our lawyers represent injured babies and their families in Syracuse, Rochester, Lyons, Ithaca, Canandaigua, Wampsville, Cooperstown, Utica, Watertown, Oswego, Lowville, Oneida, Cortland, Delhi, Norwich, Herkimer, Oswego, Ithaca, Binghamton, Cooperstown, Auburn, and Elmira. Please call us at 833-200-2000 or contact us via our online form.