Any insult or injury to the baby or fetus during or after birth can harm a newborn's brain or nerves leading to permanent brain damage.
During pregnancy or labor and delivery, events like decreased oxygen, trauma, infection or bleeding can injure a baby's brain.
These brain injuries can cause permanent, disabling problems for a child. But it often difficult in the beginning to even know if your infant has suffered a brain or development injury.
Any sudden or prolonged loss of oxygen to an infant can lead to a brain or developmental injury. And the effects may not be immediately apparent. You may not know your child is neurologically delayed for some time. These injuries include hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE), asphyxia, deceased Apgar scores, and other signs and symptoms of neurologic damage.
Only later in life when your baby has not reached specific developmental milestones will there be a sign that a brain injury has occurred. These can include delays in talking, rolling over, crawling, walking, and other activities.
If your infant has suffered a brain or development injury, he or she may need physical, occupational and speech therapy, and care and treatment by specialists like a pediatric neurologist, CT and MRI brain scans.
The average cost per year associated with severe brain injuries can be more than $4 million and typically requires as many as 10 years of medical treatment and rehabilitation.
The sooner you obtain a diagnosis of any brain injury or developmental delay, the sooner you can understand what happened to your child, and the treatment your child will need now and in the future.
Birth injuries are tragic cases that require an attorney who understands both law and medicine.
Lloyd Law Group specializes in birth injury litigation. We have helped many devastated families provide for their brain-damaged child.
