If your baby was diagnosed with kernicterus due to high levels of bilirubin, you may be entitled to recover compensation from a kernicterus lawsuit case or settlement claim. Contact a kernicterus birth injury lawyer to request a free case review.
A team of birth injury attorneys and personal injury lawyers is investigating birth injury lawsuit cases and settlement claims involving babies who were diagnosed with kernicterus after suffering from high levels of bilirubin due to birth related medical malpractice or negligence.
Kernicterus is serious but preventable neurological condition that occurs when bilirubin levels are so high (hyperbilirubinemia) that bilirubin moves from the blood into brain tissues, causing neurotoxic and permanent brain damage (bilirubin encephalopathy).
Bilirubin is a brownish-yellow compound that is formed when old or damaged red blood cells are broken down. Bilirubin is taken up by the liver, made water-soluble, excreted into bile salts and then, after being broken down by intestinal bacteria, leaves the body in feces or is transported to the kidneys and removed from the body via urine.
Excess serum bilirubin in a newborn baby can be due to excessive destruction of erythrocytes (red blood cells being broken down at an abnormally high rate leading to excess unconjugated bilirubin) or to reduction in glucuronide conjugation in the liver (due to the liver not functioning leading to excess conjugated bilirubin). Kernicterus (which can result from untreated severe jaundice due to high bilirubin levels) is rare, occurring in an estimated 1 in 40,000 births.
Kernicterus Lawsuit Cases
Kernicterus lawsuit and settlement cases potentially being investigated include claims involving babies who, due to possible medical malpractice or negligence, suffered birth injuries or complications from kernicterus or excessive bilirubin, including the following:
- Brain damage
- Athetoid cerebral palsy
- Hearing loss
- Vision loss
- Dental problems (dysplasia)
- Loss of tooth enamal
- Intellectual disabilities
- Mental retardation
- Death
- Other kernicterus injury
- Other birth injury lawsuit cases
Regions of the brain affected can include the basal ganglia, hippocampus, geniculate bodies and cranial nerve nuclei.
Risk factors for kernicterus include, among other things, low birth weight, premature birth (preterm babies born before 37 weeks, or 8.5 months, of pregnancy), family history of jaundice, sepsis, meningitis, babies with darker skin color, babies with feeding difficulties, babies with bruises, blood type (women with an O blood type or Rh negative blood factor), hemolytic disease, and being of mediterranean or east asian descent.
Common causes of hyperbilirubinemia can include liver disease or damage, internal bleeding or hemorrhage, enzyme deficiency, genetic disorders, lack of digestive bacteria in newborns to break down bilirubin, bile duct obstruction (biliary atresia), hemolytic anemia (red blood cells get destroyed due to cancers like leukemia or lymphoma or autoimmune diseases such as lupus), Gilbert’s syndrome, or drugs that can induce hyperbilirubinemia by impairing liver function (such as certain antibiotics, anticonvulsives, antifungals, oral contraceptives, and statin drugs).
Kernicterus Medical Malpractice Claims
Kernicterus medical malpractice lawsuit and settlement claims can include the failure of a doctor or OB-GYN to exercise reasonable care in diagnosing, treating, preventing and/or refraining from causing kernicterus injury including, for example:
- Failure to monitor baby for kernicterus signs or symptoms
- Failure to timely diagnose kernicterus
- Failure to timely and properly treat kernicterus complications
- Failure to manage a baby’s jaundice or high bilirubin levels
- Failure to identify and monitor kernicterus risk factors
- Failure to order tests (bilirubin test, urinalysis, ultrasound, CT scan, liver function test, etc.)
- Failure to recognize the signifigance of jaundice
- Failure to document bilirubin measurements
- Failure to ensure post-discharge follow-up
- Failure to respond to parental concerns of newborn jaundice
- Other negligence or medical malpractice claims
Kernicterus Signs, Symptoms or Complications
Kernicterus signs, symptoms and complications can include:
- Lethargy or drowsiness
- High-pitched crying or shill cry
- Seizures
- Irritability
- Eye weakness (ophthalmoplegia)
- Unusual eye movements
- Truncal arching (opisthotonus)
- Arched like a bow
- Bending the heels backward
- Poor feeding
- Fever
- Apnea
- Stupor
- Floppy muscles or limpness
- Hypotonia or hypertonia
- Muscle spasm
- Reduced muscle tone
- Decreased awareness
- Symptoms of jaundice
- Change in skin color
- Yellowing of skin
- Yellowing of whites of eyes
- Dark urine (brownish)
- Pale clay colored stool
- Constipation
- Extreme fussiness
- Coma
- Less than average wet diapers
- Difficulty sleeping or being woken up
- Bulging of the soft spot on the top of a baby’s head
- Other kernicterus symptoms, signs or complications
Kernicterus Treatment
Kernicterus treatment can include phototherapy or light therapy (baby is placed under a special light or on a light blanket to re-shape the bilirubin so it can be removed by the liver), plasma transfusion (replacing baby’s blood with donor blood free from bilirubin), intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg), IV fluids and an increase in milk intake.
Time Is Limited To File A Kernicterus Birth Injury Lawsuit. Connect With a Birth Injury Lawyer.
Deadlines known as statutes of limitation and statutes of repose may limit the amount of time that parents, families and other claimants have to file a kernicterus birth injury lawsuit case to try to recover compensation for injuries or complications due to kernicterus.
This means that if a kernicterus lawsuit claim is not filed before the applicable time limit or deadline, the claimant may be barred from ever taking legal action or pursuing litigation regarding the kernicterus birth injury claim. That is why it is important to connect with a kernicterus birth injury lawyer or attorney as soon as possible.
If your child has suffered a birth injury from a kernicterus due to high levels of bilirubin, you may be entitled to recover compensation from a kernicterus lawsuit or settlement. Contact a kernicterus birth injury lawyer to request a free case review.
*If you or your child is experiencing health issues or complications, we urge you to promptly consult with your doctor or physician for an evaluation.
**The listing of a company or product is not meant to state or imply that the company acted illegally or improperly or that the product is unsafe or defective; rather only that an investigation may be, is or was being conducted to determine whether legal rights have been violated.
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