When your baby is born into the world, you expect and hope that everything will go smoothly and that both you and your baby are healthy. However, due to the negligence of healthcare providers such as obstetricians, midwives, and hospitals, that’s not everyone’s reality.
Many parents and caregivers decide to seek legal help after their baby experienced complications at birth associated with how they were cared for during the process. As court cases proceed, healthcare professionals often use these legal defenses:
No Breach of the Standard Of Care
Whether you’re seeking justice for your baby with meconium aspiration syndrome, cerebral palsy, Erb’s palsy, or another preventable condition, you may find that the healthcare providers in charge of your and your baby’s care say that they didn’t breach the standard of care.
This means they’ll attempt to provide proof that they acted in accordance with the accepted medical practices and did everything a competent provider would have done in similar circumstances.
The Injury Wasn’t Caused by Negligence
Many conditions, injuries, and illnesses diagnosed in newborns can occur without negligence. Therefore, healthcare professionals often say that the injuries a baby sustained weren’t due to negligence. Instead, they may say the injury resulted from unavoidable complications, a pre-existing issue, or a genetic condition.
They Had Informed Consent
In some situations, healthcare providers argue that they properly informed the patient of the risks associated with a particular course of treatment or procedure, and that the patient consented. Therefore, if those known risks occurred, it may not constitute medical malpractice.
Comparative or Contributory Negligence
Not all childbirth cases are straightforward, with a healthcare provider making all of the decisions and the patient agreeing to everything. An obstetrician or another professional may claim comparative or contributory negligence.
This means that the person giving birth contributed to their harm or the harm of their baby. They may have done this by not attending prenatal appointments, not following medical advice, or withholding important medical history.
If comparative negligence is proved with the help of a criminal defense attorney, damages may be reduced based on the patient’s degree of fault. If contributory negligence is the outcome, recovery could be barred entirely.
There Was An Unavoidable Medical Emergency
In some births, time is of the essence. If healthcare professionals don’t act quickly, the life of a baby or the mother could be in danger. That can be a common defense used by healthcare professionals. In such a situation, a provider can claim they had to make quick decisions under pressure, limiting their ability to follow standard procedures exactly.
Lack of Sufficient Evidence
With so much happening around the time of a baby’s birth, perfectly orderly records aren’t guaranteed. This can sometimes mean that a healthcare provider can use a lack of sufficient evidence as part of their defense. This is when they argue that a plaintiff can’t prove their case, stating that medical records don’t support their claims, or even challenging expert testimony.
Childbirth injuries can be traumatic for families, and even more so when they may result from the actions of healthcare providers. However, medical professionals can rely on a range of legal defenses to reduce their liability or, in some cases, avoid responsibility altogether.