Comparison between Birth Defects and Birth Injuries

Comparison between Birth Defects and Birth Injuries A birth of a new human is a refreshing and a suggestion of new happiness and hope for other family members and usually, they constantly think about how they would take care of the child and what could be best for baby's upbringing. But these are usually disrupted with encounter of birth-related accidents or natural occurrences such as birth injuries and birth defects which will be discussed in our blog. In a retrospect, in U.S., every almost 5 minutes, a baby is born with a birth defect. Though, in general, birth defects affect 1 baby in every 33 babies born each year which equates to about 120,000 babies each year. While birth injuries has different recorded numbers which is significantly higher compared to birth defects and it is concerning as 6 to 8 babies of every 1,000 infants born in the U.S. sustained birth injury that equates to approximately 1 in every 9,714 people are born with a birth injury. But, some people are confused between these two terms and this blog will shed light on its in depth contrast and what legal actions are appropriate and its eligiblity -- could a parent take if their child has sustained one of these birth-related accidents.   What are Birth Defects and Birth Injuries? 

Birth Defects

Birth defects are sudden change in structure upon birth of a child that can affect almost any part of the body and can even affect the brain and heart of a child. They could affect how the baby looks, works, or both and its severity ranges too, considering factors applied. Mild birth defects are life-altering and has normal life span or less but some functions work differently while severe birth defects could render a baby's life span to be shorter, on extreme cases, months or less than a year to live.

Common causes of birth defects are combined environmental factors (pollution, heat, and cold) and genetic tendencies as majority of birth defects (70%) don't have a known cause and the remaining percentage (30%) are said to be caused by Chromosome Abnormalities, Single Gene Defects, Multifactorial Inheritance, And Teratogens.

Eligibility for Claim

Most birth defects doesn't grant parents of the child who have appear to have birth defects an eligibility or grounds to file a claim against the party of medical professional, however, if it is proven through some investigations that the birth defect was caused by a phycisian or person involved in the birth delivery process, then you are entitled to file for one and a legal compensation.

Birth Injuries

Specifically, birth injury is defined as impairment of a baby's body that might affect bodily structure that could resonate in one's function caused by a negligence or adverse event that happened during and after the birth.

Similar to birth defects, birth injuries has also range of severity and cause and these injuries could vary from fracture and dislocation of bones, head, neck, and brain damages, lacerations, open wounds, contusions, and even oxygen deprivations, which all of these have different extent and some of these could result in death.

Eligibility for Claim

Though, not all sources of birth injuries are not preventable since some occur naturally like strangulation to umbilical cord and these preventable birth injuries sustenance could make a doctor accountable for such event even in difficult deliveries, taking in consideration of mother's innate problems or build, the doctor's responsibility is to prevent the harm through identification of possible complications.

Ryan LLP If ever one of your family members or closests friend has been involved in a hospital accident or malpractice who have sustained either minor or significant injuries and even a possible case of amputation because of a medical professional has shown apparent negligence and recklessness and caused an accident and render the victim to have life-threatening injuries and condition, you can always refer help from a professional experienced injury lawyer to smoothen things out as your hired lawyers can help you decide from their factual and legal advices. Ryan LLP is an Ohio based injury lawyer that represents victims of personal injury caused by car accidents, medical malpractice due to medical professional's negligence, and even wrongful death against large companies, agencies and even individuals. We have 40 years of experience doing our service in this field and evidently successful with our civil litigations. Call our office now for free legal consultation.