Medical Malpractice During Childbirth

This video features Nancy J. Winkler, a Medical Malpractice attorney based in Pennsylvania.

Nancy Winkler | 888-644-4288 | Free Consult

Few things can spark the fear of a parent more than an injury being sustained by their child—especially an infant. If you suspect that medical malpractice during childbirth caused an injury to your child, it’s a good idea to seek legal aid.

This video features Nancy Winkler, a partner at Eisenberg, Rothweiler, Winkler, Eisenberg & Jeck, P.C. based in Philadelphia.

To learn more, contact the attorney directly by calling 888-644-4288 or by submitting a contact form on this page. The consultation is free and confidential, and you owe no out-of-pocket attorney fees.

First, seek immediate medical care for yourself and your child.

The most important thing in the case of an infant injury is the health of you and your baby. Seek medical care immediately upon suspecting an injury to yourself or your child. The first order of business should always be the welfare of you and your baby.

Second, get your medical records from the birth and subsequent care.

Once you have sought and received medical care for you and your child, request your medical records from the birth. You have a legal right to these records. In order to
obtain these records, you will need to contact the hospital, doctor’s office, or clinic where you gave birth and received subsequent care. Your records may come in the form of a hardcopy or digital file. These records will be vital to building your case if medical malpractice did occur, so it’s important to keep these records somewhere safe where they are unlikely to be lost or deleted. If your doctor refuses to release your medical records to you, contact an attorney.

Third, get the fetal monitoring strips.

Fetal monitoring strips are the records of the monitoring of the baby’s heart rate before and during birth. These are gathered using the sensor held against a pregnant woman’s abdomen with an elastic belt. Oftentimes when injury occurs in childbirth due to negligence, it is due to a lack of attention or dismission of the information contained in a fetal monitoring strip, which can indicate that a baby is undergoing an unusual amount of stress during birth. When used properly, fetal monitoring strips can be a strong indication to doctors that it’s time to perform a C-Section, rather than the risk the health of the mother and baby.

If your child was injured due to a medical team failing to notice an evident risk to your own or your baby’s health, take legal action.

Despite the ever-present health risks involved in childbirth, many injuries to the mother and child are fully avoidable with competent medical care. Medical malpractice occurs when the exercise of medical judgment is done negligently, causing injury or damage to the patient; this includes failing to provide a reasonable degree of skill and care to a patient. If you suspect you or your baby sustained an injury in childbirth as a result of medical malpractice, Winkler suggests you seek legal counsel. Personal injury and medical malpractice lawyers usually work on contingency, which means you will not have to pay any out-of-pocket fees to your attorney. In fact, you only owe fees if your attorney wins your case.

To learn more, contact Nancy Winkler directly by calling 888-644-4288 or by submitting a contact form on this page. The consultation is free and confidential, and you owe no out-of-pocket attorney fees.

Video Transcript:

Rob Rosenthal:
Here’s an AskTheLawyers.com Quick Question. What should you do if you suspect your baby’s injury is the result of medical malpractice? Here's what Philadelphia attorney Nancy Winkler said.

Nancy Winkler:
If you suspect that something like that happened after you get the proper care for your child and for yourself, you should seek counsel. You should get the medical records. It’s most important to get the birthing records and the fetal monitoring strips. The fetal monitoring strips tell us quite a lot about what was going on while the baby was being born and if there was distress, which should have been recognized and that perhaps was the cause of the injury to your child. A lot of times that’s what we see, that there should have been an emergency C-section done because the baby was under stress and it wasn't done. And then horrific injuries can occur.

Disclaimer: This video is for informational purposes only. In some states, this video may be deemed Attorney Advertising. The choice of lawyer is an important decision that should not be based solely on advertisements.

Legal Disclaimer: This website is for informational purposes only. Use of this website does not constitute an attorney-client relationship. Information entered on this website is not confidential. This website has paid attorney advertising. Anyone choosing a lawyer must do their own independent research. By using this website, you agree to our additional Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.