A birth injury, basically speaking, is an injury that results during the labor or delivery process, and so it’s an injury inflicted on a fetus in utero or on a newborn. When we talk about birth injury in the context of medical malpractice, we talk about a birth injury that is preventable or was a consequence of an act, a substandard act. Common birth injuries include conditions like cerebral palsy, which is the result of brain damage during the birthing process, labor, or delivery. You know, other common birth injuries include things like Erb’s palsy or brachial plexus injury, which is injury or damage to the nerves in the child’s neck.
Many of these injuries aren’t diagnosable until the toddler phase. Cerebral palsy, for example: parents of a newborn whose Apgar scores or health immediately post-delivery raised red flags or increased the risk of a birth injury won’t actually know whether that child has cerebral palsy until a few years later.
