Birth Injury Lawyer Kamloops

Servicing Kamloops and all of British Columbia

It’s always important to schedule regular check-ups with your medical provider. But when you’re pregnant, establishing a routine for ongoing, effective obstetrical care is essential to ensuring both you and your baby are healthy. Identifying and treating problematic conditions in a timely manner during a pregnancy can help prevent or mitigate birth injuries.

As a part of their monitoring, obstetricians will look for conditions such as fetal tachycardia (an abnormally high heart rate). A racing fetal heartbeat could be an indication of oxygen deprivation (perintal asphyxia, anoxia, or hypoxia), placental insufficiency (damage to the placenta affecting oxygen and nutrient uptake and waste processing), maternal or in utero infection, or poor management of maternal medications of maternal medical conditions, among others.

Yet, if standards of practice are breached due to negligence, it can result in misdiagnosis, delayed diagnosis, or improper treatment and care that causes serious harm to to the fetus or mother. This is called obstetrical malpractice, and its effects can be devastating.

Common Birth Injuries

Untreated fetal tachycardia that is a sign of fetal distress may cause significant and irreversible brain damage in babies. Infant brain injuries (which can also occur from traumatic births or improper care following delivery) can result in developmental delays, physical disabilities, medical conditions such as Cerebral Palsy, and changes in behaviour and abnormal temperament. In the most serious cases, this damage can be fatal or require assisted living programs, substantial therapy and ongoing care.

Other common birth injuries include:

Spinal cord injuries – Nerve damage from blunt force trauma during forced extractions, maternal or in utero illness, or undiagnosed spina bifida (nerves are not enclosed by the spine) may result in abnormal reflexes and spasms, pain, paralysis or loss of sensation.
Broken bone/scarring – Improper technique or improper use of medical equipment during forced extractions (vacuums and forceps) can cause bone fractures and permanent scarring of soft tissue.
Meconium aspiration – Fetal distress, lengthy or traumatic deliveries, or overdue births can result in the first fecal matter being expelled, mixed with amniotic fluid and ingested in the lungs. If not properly treated, a baby may suffer oxygen deprivation or infection.
Kernicterus – Jaundice, a common condition among infants with immature livers, can develop into a serious condition if improperly monitored and treated where toxins damage the brain.
Brachial plexus injuries – Often cause by shoulder dystocia (the baby’s head is delivered, but its shoulders are lodged behind the mother’s pelvic bone), these injuries affect the nerve network between the neck and shoulders and may lead to brain or nerve damage.

These and other birth injuries may require expensive treatment and medical care and result in permanent disability that make achieving a good quality of life more difficult.

When You’ve Been Hurt, We Can Help

The day your baby is born should be filled with joy. But when you learn a preventable birth injury occurred due to another person’s negligence, that joy can turn to feelings of sorrow, anger, confusion, guilt and grief. You are not alone during this terrible time. A support network, including legal advocates, can help to see you through to better days.

Howie, Sacks and Henry’s trusted and experienced birth injury lawyers are ready to work for you in Kamloops. While we can’t turn back time to fully right this wrong, we can seek compensation and damages for your loved one’s pain, suffering and losses and help you to gain access to the financial resources you’ll need for their care.

Recognized by our peers and clients as one of Canada’s top personal injury firms, HSH has developed a strong reputation for our expertise in obstetrical malpractice, our ability to handle even the most medically complex cases, and our compassionate attentive service to our clients.

An HSH birth injury lawyer will be pleased to arrange a meeting with you in your own home in the Kamloops area or at a nearby consultation office. We believe distance and the ability to travel should never be a barrier to high quality legal representation.

When we meet, we’ll listen to your story with great empathy, offer our assessment and advice, and ensure all your questions and concerns are answered. We know the legal process can feel overwhelming. An HSH birth injury lawyer will work with you in Kamloops to make the process as easy and understandable as possible.

We take our role and responsibility as your advocate seriously. With an HSH birth injury lawyer on your side and by your side in Kamloops, you can be confident that you will be treated with respect, dignity and kindness as we work to get you the financial resources you need and deserve.