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Medical malpractice cases are often high profile, and many states have reacted by instituting some type of tort reform that puts a cap on damages awarded in malpractice cases. Theoretically, a cap on damages is meant to lower the cost of health care by limiting awards that insurance companies must pay out in malpractice cases. It is hoped that lower awards will result in lower premiums charged to doctors, a savings that should be passed on to consumers. With healthcare costs skyrocketing, medical malpractice caps are seen as a way to rein in costs. Maryland is one of the many states that have enacted limits on non-economic damages in medical malpractice cases. Non-economic damages include intangible injuries such as pain and suffering. The federal government has recently taken up the debate of instituting a national medical malpractice cap. Some facts about the Maryland damages cap include the following: The limited non-economic damages include pain and suffering, inconvenience, physical impairment, disfigurement, loss of consortium, and other non-pecuniary damages. Punitive damages are not subject to the cap. Punitive damages may be awarded in medical malpractice cases where there is clear and convincing evidence of evil motive, intent to injure, or fraud. The damage cap applies to each direct victim as well as to parties that claim injury by or through the victim. The cap also applies to wrongful death actions. In a wrongful death suit, the total recovery of all beneficiaries cannot exceed 150 percent of the cap. If you have questions about how the medical malpractice cap may apply to your situation, do not hesitate to reach out to a medical malpractice attorney in Maryland. Our lawyers will be happy to examine the facts of your case and explain the details of the medical malpractice cap to you. Contact to speak to one of our experienced malpractice lawyers in Maryland today If you are a malpractice victim and need experienced legal representation in Maryland, contact us online, or call (833) 695-2963 for a free initial consultation. We also serve clients in the District of Columbia and Virginia.

What is shoulder dystocia? Watch the video below to get insight into what shoulder dystocia is and learn more about what you can do about birth injury. Learn More What is Birth Injury? – Birth Injury Overview Vacuum Extraction Birth Injury – Suction Device Injuries What Is The Most Common Reason for Medical Malpractice? Video Transcript Timestamps 0:00 Intro 0:51 What Is Shoulder Dystocia? 2:00 Delayed Delivery Due To Shoulder Dystocia 2:16 Brachial Plexus Palsy 2:55 Obstetrical Malpractice People frequently ask me, what is shoulder dystocia? It’s a strange word that most people don’t know. Shoulder Dystocia is something that really needs explaining. When you’re dealing with this, you need people who fully understand the condition, the problems that it can cause, and what should be done if the obstetrician faces shoulder dystocia. As a newborn intensive care specialist, I saw many cases like this. I could tell you from my experience that even if the baby doesn’t get brain damage from shoulder dystocia, it can be terribly disheartening to know that one arm or the other is not going to work properly as the baby grows. 0:51 What Is Shoulder Dystocia? So let’s go back and talk about exactly what it is. When a baby is coming out of the birth canal, it usually comes head first. When the baby comes head first, it usually just slides out and does perfectly fine. But sometimes, and this is occasionally in babies who are particularly large, the shoulder gets stuck. The baby can be most of the way out, and everything is going fine, but you can’t do the rest of the delivery. There are specific ways in which shoulder dystocia is supposed to be dealt with. Most good obstetricians know how to do that. Sometimes, however, even good obstetricians may panic when they realize that the baby is not coming correctly, and they may deliver it incorrectly. All the complications should be noted in the chart. There is usually an observer at each delivery, and that person observes what’s going on and is watching the clock. So in most instances, they tell you exactly how long the shoulder dystocia prevented the baby from being delivered. 2:00 Delayed Delivery Due To Shoulder Dystocia At the same time, if it’s too long, that baby can develop brain damage because the brain is just not getting enough blood when the baby is sitting there and not being delivered properly. 2:16 Brachial Plexus Palsy What I was talking about before relates to the fact that that shoulder gets pulled on by the obstetrician or the obstetric nurse who is delivering the baby, and that shoulder could be damaged by that. The baby could get what’s known as a brachial plexus palsy, and that palsy can resolve after a few days, but it also might not resolve. When it doesn’t resolve, as I said before, these babies can have great difficulty moving their arm correctly or even moving their arm at all. 2:55 Obstetrical Malpractice So how does this obstetrical malpractice case come up? Well, there are a couple of ways that this can happen. Number one as I said before, the obstetrician either panics or just doesn’t know how to deal with shoulder dystocia. Number two, somebody who’s there delivering the baby is not adequately trained, and the obstetrician hasn’t made it in for the delivery yet. In some hospitals that happens. The obstetricians aren’t there in time. When the baby is delivered, there is a problem. So shoulder dystocia occurs, somebody can’t handle it, and the baby either loses the function of one arm or the baby has brain damage that occurs that is picked up later in the evaluation of the baby. So that’s a brief understanding of what shoulder dystocia is. If you have any further questions about this, please click below. We will respond as quickly as possible. We can answer any of your questions with regard to shoulder dystocia. At LawMD, we have many physician attorneys who can tell you what the issue is with your case, and we can prosecute your case as necessary. So click below, give us a call. Thank you.

Do you want to learn whether or not you can sue a doctor for failing to diagnose cancer? First, let’s discuss what failure to diagnose is and explore your options for suing for malpractice and medical damages. Learn More Is Failure to Diagnose a Form of Medical Negligence? Failure to Diagnose Lawsuit Settlements Suing for Malpractice: Can You Sue a Doctor for Failure to Diagnose? Video Transcript Timestamps 0:00 Intro 0:20 Failure to Diagnose Cancer 1:30 Monetary and Medical Damages Yeah, and in terms of cancers that are not timely diagnosed, can you sue? Well, the answer is you might expect, would probably be the case in many questions, is maybe. 0:20 Failure to Diagnose Cancer Again, it boils down to whether you were damaged and whether you have damages, and whether the failure to diagnose can reasonably be linked through the chain of causation to those damages. If the failure to diagnose caused the damages and the damages are from a monetary standpoint significant, then that case is worth pursuing. I have to point out that some cases, even though negligence may have occurred economically, are simply not worth the cost of pursuing. If you have an ingrown toenail and maybe it’s not timely treated, and you end up with what’s called a perinecium or an abscess around your toenail, that can be treated very simply for very little money. And although there may have been a delay, the money actually spent to treat that abnormality is so low, that the economics simply don’t add up to any reason to file a lawsuit. 1:30 Monetary and Medical Damages On the other hand, in the case of the orthopedic surgeon I mentioned, when you start talking about surgical treatment and hospitalization in an intensive care unit, and months of inability to work, those damages add up and make for an economic situation where a lawsuit is much more feasible than the case of where damages are minimal.

“What is medical malpractice?” “Is there a medical malpractice attorney out there that can help with my case?” these questions might have crossed your mind. Learn More: How To Find A Good Medical Malpractice Attorney (And How To Choose The Right One) What are “Damages” in Medical Malpractice? Failure to Diagnose Lawsuit Settlements Video Transcript Timestamps 0:00 Intro 0:27 Medical Malpractice 101 1:04 Other Factors 2:17 Failure to Recognize Abnormalities My name is Kenneth Chessick, MD, JD. I’m both a medical doctor, a board-certified general surgeon, and an experienced trial lawyer who has limited my practice to medical malpractice litigation since 1984. 0:27 Medical Malpractice 101 Now what is medical malpractice is a question that every potential client has. In order to prove a case of medical malpractice, you’ve got to show that the doctor or the nurse, or the healthcare practitioner breached what’s called the standard of care. And that means that he or she did not act like a recently careful doctor, a nurse practitioner would do in the same or similar circumstances. 1:04 Other Factors But in addition to showing what he did wrong or she did wrong or didn’t do things they should have done. You’ve also got to show that the individual was harmed and suffered damages. And the third thing needs to show is that there was a what’s called proximate cause that the breach and the negligence, breach in the standard of care, caused and contributed to the damages suffered by the innocent patients. It’s a broad overview of what medical negligence litigation involves. A classic case is one involving a pregnant woman who goes into labor, and the doctors and the nurses in the hospital are monitoring the lady and watching her what are called fetal monitor strips to see if the baby’s contractions on the heartbeat is normal. And when it shows a substantial abnormality, that has to be investigated and if necessary, labor-induced, or cesarean section done to prevent the occurrence of lack of blood flow and oxygen to the brain of that baby inside the mom. The baby’s got to come out. 2:17 Failure to Recognize Abnormalities A failure to recognize those abnormalities on the fetal monitor strips and recognize what’s called fetal distress is a breaching standard of care. And if the lack of blood flow to the baby’s brain is prolonged and severe enough, it can cause brain damage, and that baby will be born with brain damage that will last his or her entire lives. So that’s an example of the breaching of standard care is the failure to monitor, the failure to understand the abnormalities and the monitor strips when they occur, and then to act on those prompt and way to get the baby out before the baby’s deprived of oxygen and suffers catastrophic damages. So that’s breaching the standard of care has damages and proximate cause the negligent acts and omissions resulted in the baby’s brain damage. That’s an example of elements of medical negligence. In all of these cases, by the way, you assume that the doctor or nurse has a duty to the patient, and when the patient submits to care by that doctor or nurse, that duty arises to act in a reasonably careful fashion. That’s a general outline of one example of medical negligence that occurs in other circumstances as well. If you have any questions regarding these issues, in particularly if they affect how you and yours, feel free to contact our team of medical malpractice attorney. We’ll be more than happy to talk to you and discuss the care that was delivered to you.

Have you thought about, “what happens to doctors guilty of malpractice and negligence?” We’ll explore what happens to doctors guilty of medical malpractice and negligence. Learn More: What Constitutes A Medical Malpractice Lawsuit? Is A Wrong Diagnosis Malpractice? Is Medical Malpractice Difficult To Prove? Video Transcript Timestamps 0:00 Intro 0:23 Can A Doctor Guilty of Malpractice Still Practice Medicine? 1:05 Medical Malpractice Insurance 1:52 What Happens To A Doctor Guilty of Malpractice Medical Licenses? The question is, what happens to a doctor that is found liable for medical malpractice? Well, there’s a couple of things that happen and some things do not happen. 0:23 Can A Doctor Guilty of Malpractice Still Practice Medicine? First and foremost, he or she continues to practice medicine. Just because he’s found civilly liable in a medical malpractice case, it has no effect on his license or ability in that state to continue practicing medicine. If that’s the result you’re looking for, it’s not going to happen from a medical malpractice litigation. What happens to the doctor is that almost every doctor has malpractice insurance and if there’s a verdict against him or her or a settlement, that insurance that he has purchased pays for the damages that are then paid to the injured party. 1:05 Medical Malpractice Insurance If he does settle a case or a verdict is entered against him, the law requires that he be reported to a federal national data bank, which can be accessed only by specific entities, and not by the lay public. Hospitals that want to hire him/her in another state, can access that. That’s rarely a reason not to grant them privileges.  There may be some local publicity if it’s a big enough case. But frankly, that’s unusual too. 1:52 What Happens To A Doctor Guilty of Malpractice Medical Licenses? The reality is if there have been enough cases against him that resulted in settlements and/or verdicts, then he will be reported to the state licensing bodies. But unfortunately, in every state, there’s not enough of those investigators to go around. Usually, it takes many, many cases piled against him with adverse results and for victory settlements for them to even begin to investigate the competence of that doctor. There’s very little oversight through this portion of the system. Nothing really of significance will impair his or her ability to practice medicine unless he’s one of or she’s one of those very, very frequent flyers who cause untold damages to people. Do you have a question regarding those consequences? Feel free to contact us. At LawMD, our physician-attorneys are committed to supporting those that have been injured as a result of medical malpractice. As doctors, we understand the medicine in your case. As lawyers, we know how to use our medical knowledge to get justice for our clients. Over 12 of our lawyers are also physicians.  LawMD is the right medicine for justice. If you or your loved one has been permanently or seriously injured due to negligence, contact the medical-legal team at  LawMD.com.  LawMD is the right medicine for justice. It’s just that simple.

“What constitutes a medical malpractice lawsuit?” is a common question our medical malpractice lawyers hear all the time. Learn More: What Happens To Doctors Guilty Of Malpractice? Is Malpractice Difficult To Prove? Is A Wrong Diagnosis Malpractice? Video Transcript Timestamps 0:00 Intro 0:17 What Makes A Good Medical Malpractice Lawsuit Case? 0:47 A Case The Jury Can Understand The question is, what makes a good case? These cases are all difficult because they’re all technical, they all require expert witnesses. 0:17 What Makes A Good Medical Malpractice Lawsuit Case? What makes a good medical malpractice case is an attorney/expert witness that can explain medical facts to a jury in a way that they will understand and appreciate the carelessness that was involved. If the ideas are too technical such as the indicators on an EKG,  the abnormalities on an EEG, or some finding on an MRI x-ray, that’s not intuitive to anybody other than somebody who’s trained in those particular specialties. 0:47 A Case The Jury Can Understand A good negligence case is one that you can explain to the jurors in a way that they can understand and appreciate the difference between the truth and testimony that’s proven false. That’s what, in my mind, makes a good medical malpractice case. Of course, it also has to have the other elements of causation and damages. If you think you have a case, I’d be happy to review it, tell you what I think, and give you my honest opinion. At LawMD, our physician-attorneys are committed to supporting families who have been devastated by malpractice. As doctors, we understand the medicine in your case. As lawyers, we know how to use our medical knowledge to get justice for our clients. Over 12 of our lawyers are also physicians.  LawMD is the right medicine for justice. If you or your loved one has been permanently or seriously injured due to negligence, contact the team of medical malpractice lawyers at  LawMD.com.  LawMD is the right medicine for justice.  It’s just that simple.

Have you ever wondered, “how do you prove delayed diagnosis?” You’re in the right place to learn how to prove a delayed diagnosis. Learn More: Is a Delay in Diagnosis Considered Failure to Diagnose? Is a False Diagnosis Considered Failure to Diagnose? How Do You Know If You Have A Case For Medical Malpractice? Video Transcript Delays in a diagnosis can directly impact a patient’s chance of recovery and survival. The earlier an illness is diagnosed and treated, the better chance the patient has at recovery and survival. The failure to diagnose health issues early can lead to more serious complications of the illness or even death. Incorrect or delayed diagnosis of an illness can cause a doctor or other hospital personnel to fail to order necessary tests, to order the wrong tests, to misinterpret test results, to fail to act on abnormal results or to choose an incorrect form of treatment or no treatment at all. If a doctor fails to identify a treatable health condition and the condition becomes worse, the patient may have a medical malpractice claim for delayed diagnosis where the Standard of Care has not been met. 0:27 Standard Of Care The standard of care is not something that is necessarily written in a book or is available on a website, or perhaps something that you could establish by way of going to some group and getting a guideline. 0:45 Delayed Diagnosis The Standard of Care is established through opinion testimony from an expert who is doing the same type of work in a similar scenario and basically gives an opinion that most everyone in this scenario would have gone ahead and made a similar diagnosis. They might have done this lab test, they might have gotten this x-ray, they may have done this examination. Had these things been done, then the diagnosis would have been timely made. I have to mention, had the diagnosis been timely made, the individual would have not been damaged and there would be no case. 1:21 Delay In Timely Diagnosis You have to link by way of causation, that the delay in the timely diagnosis was not only the proximate cause, but also the cause and fact of the patient’s damages. So that’s the analysis, and again I hate to hammer it home, but I’m going to do it one more time. 1:35 What Your Case Needs Knowledge, experience, and attentiveness to the case are very important. I know you’ll find that at LawMD.com. Most of our lawyers are also physicians.  As doctors, we understand the medicine in your case. As lawyers, we know how to use our medical knowledge to get justice for our clients. So again, I hope you will consider LawMD if you think you have been injured through a Delayed Diagnosis.  If you’re going to consider litigation of any kind, I would really encourage all of you to be sure you get someone who is going to devote the time, effort, and knowledge base to the case that it deserves.  LawMD is “The Right Medicine for Justice” and we are Nationwide Medical Malpractice attorneys that serve clients all over the country.

“Is a wrong diagnosis malpractice?” “How should we handle causation and damages?  are common questions our team of medical malpractice lawyers get all the time. Learn More: Is Failure to Diagnose a Form of Medical Negligence? Is a False Diagnosis Considered Failure to Diagnose? Failure to Diagnose Cancer – Can You Sue? Video Transcript Timestamps 0:00 Intro 0:49 Wrong Diagnosis: Serious Accident Example 1:57 Causation and Damages: Timely Evaluation Is Important 2:25 Seek Medical Help When In An Accident Is an incorrect or wrong diagnosis malpractice? The answer is maybe. Causation and damages is what you have to have to really bring a successful medical malpractice case. In the context of a serious accident, maybe an automobile accident, maybe a fall from a significant height. 0:49 Wrong Diagnosis: Serious Accident Example For instance, many years ago, I had a case that involved a motor vehicle accident where I actually represented the defendant who was an elderly gentleman over 95 years of age, who was still driving and unfortunately carried minimal limits on his automobile insurance. He was involved in an accident where he hit a middle-aged man who was working, had children, was earning a living, etc. On the surface when the accident occurred, it appeared that no one was hurt, but as it turned out, this gentleman who was hit by the elderly fellow did not go to an emergency room and was not seen by any medical professional. Within a matter of hours after the accident had occurred, he actually presented an extremis or cardiac arrest and went to an emergency room. As it turned out he had a ruptured aorta, which is extremely serious and unless very timely addressed, is quite frequently fatal. We ended up settling that case with mediation, and I actually represented this older gentleman individually and his insurance company had its attorney, and we did settle the case with what we felt was reasonable. 1:57 Causation and Damages: Timely Evaluation Is Important In other words, had that younger male who was actually involved in the accident, not his fault, been evaluated timely, and even had a simple study of his abdomen done, maybe a CT scan which would’ve likely been what would’ve been ordered had he had even the most vague abdominal symptoms. That could have revealed this ruptured aorta at a very early time when it was likely treatable versus his later coming into the hospital in extremis when it was very little to be done. 2:25 Seek Medical Help When In An Accident Again it’s important if you’re in an accident even though you may have minimal symptoms upfront to be checked out. Let someone with a medical background take a look at you. Give the medical professionals an accurate history. Let the doctors do a complete physical examination. The medical staff may request x-rays and lab work. I think if you’re in an accident of even the most minimal consequence, if you have any symptoms, see a medical professional, and do it timely. It can be the difference in life or death. Our physician-attorneys have helped people just like you or your loved ones get the justice, vindication, and compensation they deserve. If you have been injured in an accident, you need a powerful advocate on your side. We will listen to you, and we will help you fight for the best result possible in your case.  If you or your loved one has been permanently or seriously injured due to negligence, contact our medical malpractice lawyers at LawMD. More than 12 of our medical malpractice lawyers are also physicians. For serious injuries, LawMD is the right medicine for justice.

“Is medical malpractice cases difficult to prove? You will find out the answer to this question in this blog post from medical malpractice attorneys. Learn More: What is Medical Malpractice? What Is The Most Common Reason for Medical Malpractice? How To Find A Good Medical Malpractice Attorney (And How To Choose The Right One) Video Transcript Timestamps 0:00 Intro 0:17 Is Medical Malpractice Cases Difficult to Prove? 1:00 Expert Witnesses 1:13 Proving Your Case Is a medical malpractice case difficult to prove? The answer is absolutely, they are very hard. 0:17 Is Medical Malpractice Cases Difficult to Prove? There is no such thing as an easy medical malpractice case. There are a lot of good reasons for that. First of all, you have to get experts and establish that there was a breach in the standard of care. That the doctor, nurse, or other practitioner did not meet the standard of care. 1:00 Expert Witnesses The defense almost always gets an expert to say that the standard of care was met. The plaintiff, which is the one representing the injured party, has to have an expert witness to testify in court or on deposition that the treatment received did not meet the standard of care,  that it was negligent, and show proof. 1:13 Proving Your Case It doesn’t end there. You have to show substantial damages and you have to show that there is a substantial link between the breach in the standard of care and the injuries sustained. Those damages are not always easy things to prove. Proving damages requires multiple experts. It’s unfortunately very expensive to prosecute these cases. What makes them particularly difficult is that juries hate these cases. Juries do not want to find doctors negligent. They look for excuses to let them off. If you think you’ve had a medical malpractice case, I encourage you to contact the experienced physician attorneys at LawMD.  As doctors, we understand the medicine in your case. As lawyers, we know how to use our medical knowledge to get justice for our clients. Over 10 of our lawyers are also physicians.  LawMD is the right medicine for justice. If you or your loved one has been permanently or seriously injured due to negligence, contact the medical-legal team at  LawMD.com.

A common question we’re asked all the time is, “How do I know I have a case for medical malpractice?” Our resident medical malpractice attorney will help you navigate this concern. Learn More: What is Medical Malpractice? What Is The Most Common Reason for Medical Malpractice? How To Find A Good Medical Malpractice Attorney (And How To Choose The Right One) Video Transcript Timestamps 0:00 Intro 0:21 Medical Malpractice 2:13 Consult with a Qualified Attorney 0:21 Medical Malpractice How does a potential client know they have a case for medical malpractice? It is very difficult for the average layman to know whether they have a case. They suspect they have a case, they know they’ve got the injury, they know that there’s been a delay, they know that there’s a result that has been unsatisfactory, but is there a breach in the standard of care that caused the damages? Most potential clients who feel they were injured by doctors and nurses, really cannot on their own make that determination. It requires a great deal of expertise to understand what’s called the breach in the standard of care. A bad result does not by itself mean that there was negligence. In fact, most bad results are not due to negligence. Unfortunately, a substantial number of them are. I think the only real way is to consult with a qualified attorney who has knowledge and experience in the medical malpractice area and let them review the case. They may need to consult with a doctor in the particular specialties involved to know whether there’s been a  breach in the standard of care. As a physician attorney I don’t think that in most cases, most potential clients can make that determination on their own. What a client might think was a negligent act might not be the one that caused the damages. It really behooves the client, if the client thinks that they may have a case to find a qualified attorney to investigate the incident. 2:13 Consult with a Qualified Attorney I don’t know of any attorneys in my area who charge a client to review a case and at LawMD there is an initial free consultation. I think that every client who thinks they’ve been injured because of shoddy medical care and inadequate medical care should seek out a qualified attorney who has a great deal of experience in the area of medical negligence.  At LawMD we have more than 12 Lawyers who are also physicians. Once again, you have an obligation to yourself, to your spouse, to your children to investigate it because they are going to suffer along with the client if there’s been a severe adverse outcome. If you have a question in this area, if you want to just run a case by us, just give us a call at (833) MY-LawMD. We’ll be happy to listen and give you our honest opinions regarding your medical malpractice case.

“What is HIE?” “What is birth asphyxia?” Great questions, we’ll spend some time answering that for you today. Learn More: What is Birth Injury? – Birth Injury Overview Vacuum Extraction Birth Injury – Suction Device Injuries How To Find A Good Medical Malpractice Attorney (And How To Choose The Right One) Video Transcript Timestamps 0:00 Intro 0:24 What is HIE? 1:17 Birth Asphyxia 2:34 Effects of HIE Hey everyone, it’s Dr. Francois Blaudeau, OB/GYN doctor in Birmingham, AL, and a lawyer who tries cases involving birth injury. 0:24 What is HIE? I’m a physician attorney with LawMD to talk to you about what’s called HIE, or hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy. That’s a really fancy term for a kind of birth asphyxia. What all that means is that during the course of labor or at the time of delivery, the baby suffered a decreased amount of oxygen flowing to the baby’s brain. A newborn’s brain is susceptible to decreased oxygen. There are parts of the brain that suffer or become what we call ischemic, meaning they’re not getting enough oxygen. They are starting the process of dying cellular death, and that’s a process that occurs over time. There are certain parts of the baby’s brain that are more susceptible to these decreased levels of oxygen. Oftentimes, MRI scanning over time will show the actual damage to those areas of the brain. 1:17 Birth Asphyxia These types of injuries can progress to cause cerebral palsy and can cause significant and permanent lifelong injury to a baby. Sometimes, these can include issues with brain injury to the point that the baby can’t swallow or can’t perform a certain function, and can cause weakness,  loss of use, and paralysis. These types of birth injuries can be very significant. Typically during the course of labor, physicians and nurses have methods which can track the baby, monitor the baby, and make assessments of how well the baby is doing in regards to the oxygenation of the baby. There are certain patterns on monitors that suggest that the baby may not be doing well. If the staff doesn’t respond to the indicators or leaves the baby in distress for too long of a period of time, then the baby could suffer a birth injury. 2:34 Effects of HIE Typically with birth injuries, if there’s a suspicion that an injury has occurred or that there hasn’t been enough oxygen flow to the brain, hospitals and physicians will put the babies in what they call cooling treatment where they actually try to drop the baby’s temperature. You may have heard stories about a child falling through the ice, and then being resuscitated when you would normally think they wouldn’t be able to be resuscitated. Sometimes cooling the brain, cooling the temperature of the baby can help decrease some of the damage done to the brain’s cells from decreased oxygen. If you have a baby born that had a significant injury from a hypoxic event, our physician attorneys will be glad to look at the records and help you determine whether or not there was an avoidable issue, sometimes it’s not. There are plenty of times where there are signs and symptoms to suggest that the baby might be experiencing a decreased amount of oxygen and that the medical team doesn’t respond quickly enough or doesn’t follow the standard of care and that can lead to a bad outcome, and these are always very sad stories. Hopefully, you won’t have that issue, but if you do and you want to know more about it or you want some help in trying to assess it, please call the physician lawyers at LawMD or click on the link below. We’ll be glad to help you evaluate what happened and try to help you if we can. Thank you.

“What is shoulder dystocia?” “How is it related to brachial plexus injury?” are common questions we receive all the time concerning birth injuries. Learn More: What is Shoulder What is Birth Injury? – Birth Injury Overview Vacuum Extraction Birth Injury – Suction Device Injuries Video Transcript Timestamps 0:00 Intro 0:21 What is Shoulder Dystocia? 1:37 Brachial Plexus 2:25 Brachial Plexus Injury This is Dr. Francois Blaudeau. I’m an OB/GYN doctor and lawyer, and part of the team of Physician Attorneys atLawMD. I’m here today to talk to you all about brachial plexus and shoulder dystocia birth injuries. 0:21 What is Shoulder Dystocia – Birth Injury? Shoulder dystocia is a problem that happens when the doctor is delivering the baby, the head of the baby comes out, but the shoulder gets trapped up under the pubic bone of the mother. When the shoulder gets trapped under that pubic bone, sometimes if you pull too hard on the baby trying to get the baby delivered, you put too much stress on the neck of the baby trying to pull and get that shoulder past the bone, you can stretch, tear or injure the brachial plexus, which is a bunch of nerves that leave the neck and go into the arm. That can cause the baby to have significant issues with the use of their arm. Shoulder dystocia can at times happen without a doctor anticipating it. Shoulder dystocia could be something the doctor should have thought about, especially in cases where the mother might be diabetic and there’s a concern that the baby is really large or the labor went for a long period of time. At times, it can be anticipated, if the baby’s head comes down the birth canal and sucks back up, we call that the turtle sign, like the turtle bringing his head out and back into his body. 1:37 Brachial Plexus Injury Shoulder dystocia is an injury that occurs typically when the physician actually has his hands on the baby and is actually physically doing something to help deliver the baby. There are certain maneuvers a physician can do that are accepted within the standard of care to help try to dislodge that stuck shoulder. Physicians do those maneuvers properly at times, but sometimes they don’t. A physician panics, the baby is not getting good oxygen and the baby’s stuck in the birth canal. The physician wants to deliver the baby quickly and sometimes they make a bad decision or make a bad move, which can cause an injury to occur. 2:25 Brachial Plexus Injury Brachial plexus injuries are evaluated over time. Sometimes the nerve will heal and the injury will not be bad. There are certainly cases where there is long-term loss of function of the arm in a baby. At LawMD, we litigate brachial plexus and shoulder dystocia cases.  Our Physician Attorneys would be glad to assist you in evaluating your case if your child has suffered significant long-term nerve injury related to shoulder dystocia. Please feel free to reach out to us. Thank you.