Can a Hospital Be Held Liable for a Birth Injury in Nova Scotia?

Who May Be Liable for a Newborn’s Birth Injury?

When a newborn suffers an injury during labour and delivery because a medical provider was negligent, the child, and the child’s family, is entitled by law to pursue compensation. But to recover that compensation, parents in these cases should be represented by a Halifax birth injury lawyer.

Birth injuries are not as common now as they once were due to better prenatal monitoring, restrictions on the use of forceps, and doctors who now order cesarean deliveries when they anticipate problems with the birthing process. Still, there are far too many birth injuries.

What Recourse Do Parents Have?

When medical negligence is responsible for a birth injury, the parents may bring a medical malpractice claim to recover compensation for their child’s ongoing treatment and care and the child’s pain and suffering and loss of future earning capacity. A Nova Scotia birth injury lawyer will identify the parties that may be liable for a child’s birth injury.

The doctors who perform deliveries are not the only defendants in many birth injury lawsuits. If the nurses or hospital or any other party was partially responsible for a child’s birth injury, that party may share liability and be named as a defendant in a birth injury lawsuit.

What Injuries Are Considered Birth Injuries?

A birth injury is any injury that a child suffers before or during labour and delivery. Medical negligence is a leading cause of birth injuries such as hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE), kernicterus, cerebral palsy, and Erb’s palsy. Medical negligence during a delivery may cause:

1. Lack of oxygen to the baby
2. Unnecessary pressure on the child’s head
3. Infections or
4. Shoulder dystocia resulting in Erb’s palsy.

The mistakes and complications that cause injuries in the delivery process may also include overdosing drugs like pitocin used to expedite labour, failing to properly monitor the baby’s fetal heart rate, the improper use of medical equipment, the failure to provide necessary treatment immediately, the failure to conduct an emergency cesarean section and ordering the wrong medicines or improper dosages.

When Are Hospitals Liable for Birth Injuries?

In Nova Scotia, a hospital can be “directly” liable for medical negligence in some birth injury cases. In other cases, a hospital may be “vicariously” liable for the negligence of one or more employees.

When hospitals make hiring decisions, they must run background checks on an applicant’s education, training, and licensing. If an employee’s background check was not thorough and comprehensive, and the employee injures a patient through negligence, the hospital may be held directly liable for negligent hiring. If a hospital is aware that one of it’s nurses isn’t properly trained or isn’t meeting acceptable standards, the hospital may be directly liable for allowing the nurse to continue to care for patients. 

Even if nothing negative appears on an employee’s background check, a hospital may be deemed “vicariously” liable if an employee’s negligence causes a child’s birth injury in the “course and scope” of that employee’s job-related duties.

How Are Doctors Held Accountable for Birth Injuries?

Most obstetricians are not considered hospital employees and have independent contractor agreements with hospitals. Nevertheless, a doctor’s credentials must be confirmed before a hospital grants a doctor operating privileges.

In most cases, if your child sustains a birth injury in the delivery process due to an obstetrician’s negligence, you will have to sue the obstetrician directly. Hospitals do not have vicarious liability for independent contractors, but a hospital may have direct liability if it allows an incompetent doctor to deliver newborns.

Every birth injury is tragic. If your child sustains a preventable birth injury in a Nova Scotia hospital, your family will need financial compensation and justice. You’ll need to consult a Halifax birth injury lawyer immediately.

What Else Should Parents Know About Birth Injury Lawsuits?

Your lawyer’s investigation of how your child was injured should begin as quickly as possible. Your lawyer will review the medical records, interview eyewitnesses, and seek the assistance of medical experts. If you prevail with a birth injury lawsuit, you may recover compensation for:

1. The projected cost of lifelong care and medical treatment for your child
2. Making your home wheelchair accessible if necessary
3. Any wages you lose to take time off to care for your child, and
4. The child’s pain, suffering, and projected lost future wages

If a hospital, obstetrician, nurse, or another medical professional committed medical malpractice that caused your child’s birth injury, pursuing a medical malpractice lawsuit is a parent’s right.

How Does a Lawyer Prove Malpractice in a Birth Injury Case?

A lawyer substantiates medical malpractice in a birth injury case by:

1. Retaining medical experts who can define the accepted medical “standard of care.” That is, the level of care and skill that a medical provider with comparable training or a standard medical facility would reasonably have provided in similar circumstances

2. Proving that the medical provider or facility did not meet the accepted medical standard of care; and

3. Proving that by failing to meet the accepted standard of care, the medical provider’s or facility’s negligence caused the child to suffer the birth injury

When Should a Parent Consult a Birth Injury Lawyer?

The parent of a newborn injured during the delivery process should consult a Nova Scotia birth injury lawyer at McKiggan Hebert Lawyers immediately upon suspecting the child has sustained a birth injury due to medical malpractice.

Even when proper medical care is provided, a complication may happen in the delivery process that causes a birth injury, but most of these injuries are preventable. If your doctor is capable, competent, and aware of any risk factors, there is almost no reason for your newborn to suffer a birth injury.

Bring Your Birth Injury Claim to McKiggan Hebert Lawyers

For more than three decades, McKiggan Hebert Lawyers has assisted parents dealing with malpractice-related birth injuries in Nova Scotia and throughout Atlantic Canada. We know what it takes to prove medical malpractice and recover the compensation your family needs.

If a medical provider has injured your newborn child through negligence, McKiggan Hebert will use every appropriate legal tool to prove it. Contact McKiggan Hebert Lawyers immediately in any of these circumstances:

1. Your child suffered a birth injury because of medical negligence.
2. You’re not sure whether your child’s birth injury was caused by medical negligence.
3. You need compensation for your injured child’s medical care and treatment.

If you move forward with legal action, you will owe no lawyer’s fee to McKiggan Hebert Lawyers unless and until we recover your family’s compensation. You may schedule a free case evaluation or start the legal process now by calling McKiggan Hebert Lawyers at 902-706-2298.