Can you sue a hospital for traumatic birth?

For most new parents, the birth of their child is a joyful experience. But for some, the day can be filled with panic and confusion if complications arise during labor or delivery. Can you sue a hospital for traumatic birth? In some cases, medical malpractice may be to blame. When it comes to birth injuries, there are a variety of ways that doctors and nurses could have caused harm to your child—or not prevented an accident from happening in the first place.

Table of Contents

Negligence

Negligence

Negligence is the failure to exercise a reasonable degree of care. This can be intentional or unintentional. For example, a doctor may have been negligent by failing to properly examine a patient before providing an epidural block or by not informing the patient of all available options when it comes to pain management during labor and delivery.

Intentional acts and omissions: In some cases, medical providers’ actions (or lack thereof) fall outside the realm of lawful practice and are considered intentional acts or omissions that result in harm; such occurrences may occur when health care professionals make bad choices in order for their own benefit—i.e., they don’t give you proper information about your health or allow you to make informed decisions about your care because doing so would negatively impact their income. If this happens during an emergency situation, it’s known as malpractice; if it occurs during normal prenatal care leading up until birth then it’s referred to as “misconduct.”

Informed consent

Before a procedure, the doctor should explain the risks of the procedure.
The patient should understand these risks and be given a chance to ask questions.
If there are any alternatives, they should be explained as well.
If you feel overwhelmed by this information or want to speak with someone else about it, you’re allowed to request a second opinion before agreeing to go through with it.

Emotional damage by traumatic birth

Emotional damage is a common result of traumatic birth. It can include anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Can you sue a hospital for traumatic birth? Although emotional damage is usually more difficult to prove in court than physical injuries, this does not necessarily mean that you should not pursue legal action if your child was born with serious physical or mental health issues after an unnecessary cesarean section or other birth trauma. In fact, an experienced attorney may be able to help you make the most of your case even if the emotional damage is not clearly visible to everyone else involved.

Emotional damage can be difficult to quantify because it relies on subjective feelings rather than objective facts like whether someone broke their arm during labor or delivery; nevertheless there are ways for lawyers who specialize in birth injury cases to do so successfully based on past experiences with similar cases involving other clients who have suffered similar types of trauma while giving birth (or being born themselves).

Misdiagnosis of birth injuries

As we’ve discussed, injuries that occur during birth can be misdiagnosed. In fact, these injuries are so common that they’re actually the leading cause of childhood disability in the United States. And it’s not just parents who suffer—if your child is born with an injury as a result of medical malpractice during labor and delivery, you may be able to file a wrongful death lawsuit against the hospital.

In some cases, parents who have suffered from traumatic injuries themselves may be able to sue their doctors for pain and suffering—but this will depend on the circumstances surrounding your case. For example, if you are considered partially at fault for your own injury (for example: if you ignored warnings about possible complications due to an existing medical condition), your case could be weakened in court by including any claims for compensation for pain and suffering as part of your suit against the hospital or doctor who treated you during labor.

Birth injuries and wrongful death

Birth injuries are an unfortunate part of the birthing process and they can have devastating consequences for both mother and child. Can you sue a hospital for traumatic birth? When a baby is born with serious medical problems or suffers physical harm as a result of medical malpractice during birth, you may be able to sue the hospital that attended your delivery.

A wrongful death lawsuit involves suing a negligent party for their role in causing the death of another person. You can file this type of lawsuit on behalf of yourself or other family members who were close to the deceased person at the time of their passing.

In order to win a wrongful death case, it must first be proven that negligence caused death (i.e., someone else’s fault). If you’re suing because someone died from childbirth complications after being treated at one particular hospital, then this step will require some investigation into how things went wrong during labor—the most important thing here is determining which actions led directly to their passing (elevated blood pressure levels due to lack of oxygen flow through clamped umbilical cords? Intrauterine infection resulting from inappropriate cleaning practices?).

Types of Compensation

In addition to monetary compensation, the parents may be able to recover an additional sum of money for medical expenses and emotional damage. Also, if one spouse suffers from pain and suffering due to the traumatic birth, that spouse may be entitled to compensation for his or her loss of consortium (that is, loss of companionship). Can you sue a hospital for traumatic birth? If a child dies as a result of negligent medical treatment during labor, it may also be possible for the surviving parent(s) in a wrongful death case.

The statute of limitations on a birth injury

Can you sue a hospital for traumatic birth? There are two main statutes of limitations for medical malpractice in the United States: the statute of limitations for filing a lawsuit, and the statute of repose. The former can range from one to six years depending on your state; however, it does not apply to wrongful death lawsuits or class action lawsuits. The latter applies only to birth injuries brought forth by minors under 18 years old.

The length of time you have to file a lawsuit depends on the type of medical malpractice and how severe your injury was:

Type 1 (minor) — up to three years after your injury
Type 2 (moderate) — up to four years after your injury
Type 3 (severe or catastrophic) — up to six years after your injury

The basis for a lawsuit for traumatic birth

Medical malpractice is when a doctor or other healthcare professional fails to provide the standard of care in his or her profession. This can be intentional or unintentional and may include any of the following:

Failure to diagnose and treat an illness correctly
Causing physical harm to a patient through negligence, such as surgical errors or prescribing the wrong medication
Acting without obtaining proper consent from the patient, such as performing surgery on someone who has not given informed consent for it, or operating on him when he is unconscious and unable to give consent

Conclusion: Can you sue a hospital for traumatic birth?

Medical malpractice may be the basis for a lawsuit, especially if negligence or informed consent issues are involved. Can you sue a hospital for traumatic birth? If you or someone you know has experienced a traumatic birth, it’s important to consult with an attorney who specializes in medical malpractice cases. There are many types of compensation available depending on the circumstances surrounding your case and what happened during delivery that caused injuries or wrongful death.