Brachial Plexus Injury Lawyer

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A brachial plexus injury lawyer helps parents and families seek justice after medical malpractice causes injury and disability. A brachial plexus injury can potentially be severe and long-lasting, even permanent. If your child has Erb’s palsy or another condition related to brachial plexus damage, let an experienced lawyer guide your next steps.

Brachial Plexus Injuries

Injuries to the brachial plexus are most often a result of difficult labor. Risk factors include:[1]

• A breech position at birth
• A substantial birth weight
• Prolonged labor with obstructions or other complications

When the baby’s head, neck, or shoulders are pulled too hard during delivery or part of the baby gets stuck in the birth canal resulting in excessive pressure, the nerves of the brachial plexus can be overstretched and torn.

The brachial plexus is a bundle of five nerves that control sensation and movement in the arms. They run from the spinal cord, through the bones of the neck, and into the arm. Here they attach to the smaller nerves that further branch out into the arm and down to the fingers.

Damage to these nerves may be mild overstretching or may result in tears. An avulsion is the worst kind of injury and occurs when a nerve is completely torn away from its connection to the spinal cord.

A birth-related brachial plexus injury may affect one or more, sometimes all five, of the nerves.

Lasting Complications

The majority of cases of childbirth brachial plexus injuries have good outcomes. Minor fractures to the nerves can heal with time. On the other hand, more severe injuries can cause lasting complications:

• When the nerves affected control the upper arm, the result is Erb’s palsy.
• Klumpke’s disease describes damage to the nerves of the lower arm, and when all five nerves are damaged, it is called global palsy. Often any palsy caused by brachial plexus injury is called Erb’s palsy.
• When the nerve damage is severe, a child may need surgery to repair them, but this rarely completely corrects the damage. Most children with severe brachial plexus injury will be permanently disabled to some degree.

The complications associated with this condition include weakness in specific muscles of the arm or shoulder, partial or complete paralysis, tight and overly contracted muscles, and loss of sensation. [2]

When to Seek a Brachial Plexus Injury Lawyer

If your child is facing lifelong complications from a brachial plexus injury, they also face many challenges.

While these children can go on to live normal, healthy, and long lives, they also may require adaptive devices, physical and occupational therapy, medications for pain, and accommodations at school and in the workplace.

A young child may also experience bullying and teasing and need treatment due to emotional trauma.

In cases where the brachial plexus injury could have been avoided, consulting with a lawyer is a good idea.

Poor judgment or negligence on the part of a medical caregiver during childbirth can cause these injuries. A brachial plexus injury lawyer can help you decide if your case is valid and if they can prove negligence caused your child’s injury. 

Generally, for a case like this, you need to prove a few things about the care you received during labor and delivery. You must demonstrate that the medical professional, such as a doctor, took inappropriate actions or neglected to take appropriate measures while caring for your child.

You’ll also need to prove that a patient/doctor relationship existed. Further, you’ll need to prove the mistakes that led to your child’s injury and disability.

How a Lawyer Can Help

If you believe that your doctor, midwife, or other caregiver made mistakes that caused your child’s brachial plexus injury, filing a lawsuit could help you.

You may not know where to start, though, or how to proceed and develop the proof you need to make your case. This is where a brachial plexus injury lawyer can help.

Brachial plexus injury lawyers have experience litigating and settling birth injury lawsuits. A lawyer experienced in this type of legal action can look over the evidence and decide if a case is to be made.

The lawyer can help you in several other ways:

• They will put together a case, file the correct paperwork, and get started on a lawsuit.
• Your lawyer will represent you in court, in arbitration, in hearings, and wherever you need to make your arguments in the legal arena.
• If a hospital or doctor is willing to settle, your lawyer can negotiate for you and get you the most compensation possible.

There are many documented cases of parents winning compensation for their disabled children because of medical mistakes made during delivery.

More than half of all brachial plexus injury cases end in monetary settlements. So it is worth your time and effort to talk to an experienced lawyer who can win a settlement for you.

How to Find a Good Lawyer

You must look for a lawyer with experience in birth injury lawsuits. These lawyers know the law for medical malpractice inside and out.

You should also select your lawyer based on positive recommendations from past clients and success rates. You want a lawyer not just with experience in this type of law but who has also won cases and has gotten monetary damages for clients.

Shop around before you settle on one particular brachial plexus injury lawyer. You don’t have to go with the first lawyer you find. Interview potential legal representation and find out what they have done for past clients.

Any good lawyer will be more than willing to meet with you to answer questions and help you feel more comfortable proceeding. You won’t regret seeking justice and compensation for your child, but you do need to find the right lawyer to do so.