If your baby was injured by obstetrical forceps used during a vaginal birth delivery, you may be entitled to recover compensation from an obstetrical forceps injury lawsuit case or settlement claim. Contact a 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 injured by obstetrical forceps during a vaginal birth delivery due to medical malpractice or negligence.
Obstetrical forceps are a type of birth assistance tool used by OB/GYNs to grip a fetus’s head and help move a baby out through the birth canal in a vaginal delivery. Forceps have a handle, lock, shank, and two oval or elliptical branches or blades that look like spoons. It has been estimated that forceps deliveries make up about 1.1% of vaginal deliveries.
Obstetrical Forceps Injury Lawsuit Cases
Obstetrical forceps injury lawsuit and settlement cases potentially being investigated include claims involving babies who, due to possible medical malpractice or negligence, suffered obstetrical forceps delivery related complications or injuries during assisted vaginal delivery, including:
- Brain damage
- Spinal cord injury
- Head trauma
- Hematoma
- Hydrocephalus
- Neonatal intracranial hemorrhage
- Cerebral palsy
- Brachial plexus nerve damage
- Erb’s palsy
- Klumpke’s palsy
- Hypoxic ischaemic encephalopathy (HIE)
- Skull fracture
- Clavical fracture
- Seizures
- Nerve damage
- Cranial nerve VI damage
- Eye trauma
- Strabismus
- Hyperbilirubinemia
- Shoulder dystocia
- Fetal death
- Other obstetrical forceps injury lawsuit cases
- Other birth injury lawsuit cases
Obstetrical Forceps Medical Malpractice Lawsuit
Obstetrical forceps malpractice lawsuit and settlement claims can include the failure of a doctor, OB-GYN or obstetrician to exercise reasonable care in using forceps during delivery. Although forceps can reduce delivery time and make childbirth quicker and easier, they can lead to serious birth injuries when used improperly or under the wrong circumstances.
Obstetrical forceps are meant to be used to assist in contractions (to gently pull during contractions when a mother pushes). Obstetrical forceps injuries can occur when a doctor pulls too hard on the forceps, applies too much pressure or squeezing to a baby’s head with the forceps, applies too much of a twisting force with the forceps or grips the baby’s head in the wrong way.
Obstetrical forceps malpractice cases can involve the use of forceps when it may not be appropriate to do so in the circumstances of a particular childbirth, where, for example:
- Baby’s head had not entered mother’s pelvis (non-engaged fetus)
- Mother’s membranes were not sufficiently ruptured
- Cervix was not fully dilated (10 or more cm) and not retracted
- Fetus is in a bad position (transverse with feet first)
- There was cephalopelvis disproportion
- Baby has a medical condition (e.g., weak bones) that increases risks
- Maternal pelvis inadequate for vaginal delivery
- Maternal bladder not empty
- A vacuum assisted birth could have been timely and safely performed
- A C-section could have been timely and safely performed
- OB/GYN has insufficient experience or training with forceps
- Other medical malpractice claims
Obstetrical forceps delivery may be indicated in cases of prolonged labor where a mother has pushed for a long time but the baby’s head has not continued to move down the birth canal, maternal fatigue where a mother has become very tired from a long labor, fetal distress, or where a mother has certain medical conditions that limit her ability to safely push.
Time Is Limited To File An Obstetrical Forceps 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 an obstetrical forceps injury lawsuit case to try to recover compensation for obstetrical forceps related injuries or complications.
This means that if an obstetrical forceps 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 obstetrical forceps birth injury claim. That is why it is important to connect with an obstetrical forceps birth injury lawyer or attorney as soon as possible.
If your baby was injured by obstetrical forceps during an assisted vaginal birth delivery, you may be entitled to recover compensation from an obstetrical forceps injury lawsuit or settlement. Contact an obstetrical forceps 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.
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