Birth Injury Lawyer Barrie

Servicing Barrie and all of Ontario

Have you ever unexpectedly lost your breath? Perhaps you’ve had a fall and had the wind knocked out of you. As you gasp for air, your blood pressure might rise, you may start to sweat, and perhaps you start to panic if you begin to feel light-headed. Fortunately, once you catch your breath, within a few minutes you probably feel normal again and no lasting damage has been done.

We know how absolutely critical is is for human brains and other bodily tissue to receive sufficient oxygen. Fortunately, our bodies – even as infants – are fairly resilient to oxygen deprivation for short periods of time. But when we experiencing longer periods of time in which insufficient oxygen passes to our bodies, it can result in significant and irreversible injuries. During the birthing process, for example, an infant’s airways may be blocked by mucus, the umbilical cord may become twisted, or perhaps the placenta detaches from the uterus too quickly.

Medical professionals know very well that they have a limited time to identify and attempt to correct these problems before lasting damage is done. As such, they have well-developed procedures and standards of care in place to minimize the potential for an oxygen deprivation-related birth injury. If their negligent actions or inaction breaches this standard of care and causes serious harm (obstetrical malpractice), however, the consequences can change a newborn’s life forever.

Type of Birth Injuries

Perinatal hypoxia, anoxia, and asphyxia, when there is a deficiency, absence or deprivation of oxygen to fetal tissue. Long, difficult deliveries, shoulder dystocia, placental insufficiency, and insufficient maternal oxygen levels can cause or contribute to these conditions, while prompt actions on warning signs of fetal distress (such as fetal tachycardia) may minimize damage. If a state of sub-optimal oxygen level persists for too long, permanent physical cell damage (most commonly brain damage) can occur.

Although the body may be able to repair some types of tissue damage, it cannot reverse damage to to brain caused by prolonged cases of insufficient oxygen. As a result, permanent injuries including cerebral palsy, mobility and learning disabilities, seizures, among others may occur. These injuries can present lifelong challenges to newborns and their loved ones and some of the most severely disabled persons will requires significant and ongoing care.

Other common birth injuries include: meconium aspiration (the presence of fecal matter and amniotic fluids in a infant’s lungs, which may cause infection), brachial plexus injuries (affecting the network of nerves located from the neck to shoulders), broken bones, scarring and tissue damage, and spinal cord injuries. These and other injuries may be caused by improper or forceful use of instruments to assist with a delivery, excessive pulling, or failure to observe signs of fetal or maternal distress that point to a damaging condition.

A Moment in Time, A Lifetime of Pain and Loss

Timing is key to a well-managed birthing procedure, and the medical team at work must be able to perform essential tasks and monitoring in a timely way that is responsive to the mother and infant’s needs. If these standards of care are breached due to negligence, even for a few moments, a life-altering and lifelong injury can occur in an instant.

Learning that loved one (mother or newborn) has sustained serious harm due to the negligent actions of another is devastating and you may struggle to figure out what to do next as you grieve your loss. Howie, Sacks and Henry’s birth injury lawyers are available to help you in Barrie as you go through this difficult time.

Our team of knowledgeable and experienced lawyers have the skils and expertise necessary to deal with cases involving this complex and challenging area of law. HSH is recognized as one of Canada’s top personal injury firms amongst our peers, and we are known to able to tackle even the complicated birth injury actions.

HSH believes that distance and ability to travel should never prevent you from accessing high quality legal representation. We will gladly meet with you in your own home in the Barrie area or at a nearby consultation in order to hear your story and present you with options for how to proceed. Our team will be present to support you by helping to facilitate testing and expert evaluations to bolster your case, and seeking out excellent care options for your loved one.

HSH birth injury lawyers have developed a strong reputation among our clients for the compassion, kindness and respect we bring to every interaction with the people we serve. You deserve to be treated with dignity and understanding as the process unfolds, and we always want to be sure you know that you a never just a file to us.

When you choose to be represented by an HSH birth injury lawyer in Barrie, you can be confident that you will have a trusted advocate, by your side and on your side as week seek compensation for your pain, suffering and loss.