Chicago Erb’s Palsy Lawyers
Did your doctor’s professional negligence cause your infant to suffer from Erb’s Palsy during birth? If so, you may be entitled to compensation for your physician’s failure to exercise a reasonable standard of medical care.
If your child has suffered from Erb’s Palsy as a result of medical malpractice, filing a lawsuit against the offending doctor or hospital may allow you to recover some amount of compensation to cover your existing medical bills, future therapy and hospital visits, as well as attempt to accommodate for future disabilities. Erb’s Palsy is a serious medical condition that occurs during childbirth when the baby is improperly pulled out of the mother’s birth canal or during a caesarian section. If the baby’s shoulder or head is pulled or stretched to one side, it may result in severe damage to the surrounding nerves, known as “Erb’s Point”, that can cause permanent paralysis or damage. Also known as Brachial Plexus Palsy, it commonly occurs when the obstetrician has miscalculated the size of the baby or underestimated the mother’s condition, prior to her giving birth.
Karlin, Fleisher & Falkenberg, LLC serves Chicago and the surrounding area by assisting in birth injury cases, including malpractice accidents just like Erb’s Palsy. We can’t stop the pain and suffering that has happened to your baby, but we can fight for both compensatory and punitive damages to help you pay your medical bills and prevent accidents like these from happening to others in the future. You can speak with one of our attorneys by calling 312-346-8620 or filling out a contact form today.
Why You Should Hire an Attorney
When faced with a civil suit against a hospital or doctor, the burden of proof will end up falling to you. This means that it’ll be your job, and the job of your attorney, to gather and present as much evidence as possible suggesting that the doctor was responsible. It’s important to keep in mind that hospitals are businesses first, and will be fighting to protect their bottom line, so you’ll need to meet their defense with a rock-solid case. This is where an attorney would come in.
When facing Erb’s Palsy, your number one priority should be to take care of yourself and your child, while making plans for the future. With a looming legal battle and no way to pay for mounting medical bills, these two crucial tasks will fall by the wayside. That’s why having an attorney from Karlin, Fleisher & Falkenberg, LLC can help immensely in the process. Since we’ve been around for nearly 50 years, we have the experience fighting doctors and hospitals and know what kind of tactics they will use against you. Our team is focused on compassionate dealings with our clients, while aggressively fighting negligent doctors and their attorneys. When it comes to the health of your newborn child, negligent doctors should be held responsible for your suffering.
Our experienced Chicago Erb’s Palsy legal team has won hundreds of millions of dollars in medical malpractice cases, particularly those involving problems during birth. Your number one concern is the well-being of your baby. You don’t need financial worries to cast a shadow over your household right now or to be wondering if you can afford to take a leave of absence from work to care for your child.
Don’t wait until you experience more financial stress. There is no excuse for doctors and medical teams not being extra diligent during difficult labors and births. When that breach of your expectation and trust during what should be one of the most joyous moments of your life results in harm to your infant, it’s time to seek justice.
Causes of Erb’s Palsy
Erb’s Palsy is a very specific diagnosis that happens far too often, with an estimated one to two children per 1000 facing its effects. Often, Erb’s Palsy occurs when the baby is just too big for the mother’s pelvis for a vaginal birth, and the baby becomes stuck or wedged into too small of a space. To get the baby out, a doctor may try to use forceps or even a vacuuming device to deliver the baby. When doctors fail to recognize that extra precautions are necessary, Erb’s Palsy is often the result. However, this is only one example of how Erb’s Palsy can occur. The doctor may have also performed negligently by:
- Not performing a cesarean section when it was needed or performing one too late
- Failing to realize that the baby is in the breech position
- Using forceps improperly
- Pulling on the arms of the baby
- Breaking or dislocating the shoulders by tugging or pulling at the baby
- Using a vacuum device excessively
- Failing to recognize the potential of shoulder dystocia
- Not meeting medical training standards
- Failing to evaluate the mother or baby pre-delivery
The state of Illinois gives parents eight years after the accident to file against the insurance provider. But, why would you wait? Your baby will need extra care in the immediate aftermath, and possibly years of therapy and future treatments that will cost thousands of dollars. You need that money now to help ease the medical bills and get you the help that you need. We are here to help you make decisions that could result in compensation to hopefully help your child recover.
Signs and Symptoms of Erb’s Palsy
Typical symptoms of Erb’s Palsy include:
- Numbness or lack of feeling in one arm
- Weakness in one arm or a weak grip
- Full or partial paralysis or lack of movement in one arm
- The arm is limp or positioned oddly
Obviously, your infant cannot tell you if their arm feels numb. However, the doctors and medical team should have been paying special attention and looking for these signs and symptoms due to the nature of the delivery. Newborns also undergo routine tests for a “startle” reflex that would indicate a nerve or movement problem.
Once these signs were detected, your medical team should have ordered diagnostics to confirm the condition, such as X-rays, nerve and muscle tests, MRIs, and CAT scans. You should then have been sent home from the hospital with a course of treatment, from physical therapy to possible surgery.
What to Do if Your Infant Is Diagnosed with Erb’s Palsy
It’s critical that you retain all of your medical and hospital records and receipts, as well as recommendations for future and ongoing therapies and treatments. An experienced Chicago Erb’s Palsy attorney can help you determine if your infant was not diagnosed properly or if the recommended treatment and therapy protocol was inadequate or ineffective.
At Karlin, Fleisher & Falkenberg, LLC, we have the resources and experience to know what to look for in the medical records, what questions to ask any witnesses, and how to get the necessary medical experts to help you back up any legal claims against the hospital or medical staff. That is why it’s typically best to assert a claim quickly so that your memory is clear and any witnesses are still employed at the hospital.
The experienced Chicago Erb’s Palsy legal team of Karlin, Fleisher & Falkenberg, LLC will provide you with a free consultation to review the specifics and merits of your Erb’s Palsy case. When we sign up to fight for you, we don’t accept an upfront fee. Instead, we get paid when we get you the compensation you deserve. Give us a call now at 312-346-8620.
Can Erb’s Palsy Be Treated?
The good news about Erb’s Palsy is it is a non-fatal condition with the possibility of recovery, but recovery will cost quite a bit of money. Generally, a child will have to undergo surgery to treat the nerve damage around the shoulder, and then they will have to go through some amount of physical therapy, which may even span years after the treatment to repair the nerves. A full recovery is possible, but it largely depends on how quickly you discover that your child is affected and the extent to which the nerves are damaged.
Lasting, permanent weakness on the affected side can, in very rare and severe cases, be permanent.
Contact Karlin, Fleisher & Falkenberg, LLC
At Karlin, Fleisher & Falkenberg, LLC, we understand how childbirth trauma affects the entire family. We have won cases and have a record of success fighting large insurance companies that do not want to pay. With our help, you may be able to recover compensation to cover your medical bills. Call us at 312-346-8620 today.
To learn more about birth injuries we handle, click here.