When helping to bring a new life into the world through the delivery process, it is vital that hospitals and their staff exercise the utmost care. Errors or mistakes made by Illinois hospitals or their staff members when providing delivery-related care can lead to a child starting off life with debilitating medical conditions that will impact them for the entirety of their life.
Currently, a hospital in another state is facing multiple allegations of failing to take proper actions during deliveries. The hospital in question is located in Silverton, Oregon.
Three birth injury lawsuits have been brought against the hospital. Each lawsuit is being brought by a family that had a child born at the hospital with cerebral palsy. Each family is alleging that their child’s cerebral palsy was caused by negligence during the delivery process. The combined amount of damages that these three lawsuits are asking for is around $100 million. All three lawsuits are currently on course to go to trial. One wonders what will happen in these three cases.
When a child is born with cerebral palsy, a major challenge can be figuring out what specifically caused the child to develop this impactful neurological condition, as many different things can contribute to the development of cerebral palsy. Despite these challenges, it can be very important to take steps to look into the issue of cause when it comes to a newborn child’s cerebral palsy. If a child’s cerebral palsy was caused by negligence by health care providers, the negligent parties should be held accountable. Medical malpractice attorneys can investigate the circumstances surrounding a newborn’s development of cerebral palsy to look for indications of cause.
Source: KGW, “Families suing Silverton Hospital over cerebral palsy births,” Nina Mehlhaf, April 10, 2014