Child Birth Injury Cases

McGowan, Hood & Felder, LLC has represented numerous clients in regard to personal injury and wrongful death lawsuits against physicians and hospitals alleging that the medical practitioners failed to heed warning signs occurring during an impending birth. These situations have led to catastrophic injuries for infants and their families who trusted their medical professional.

Our clients have alleged, among other things, that the medical providers may have ignored or failed to recognize non reassuring fetal heart patterns on an electronic fetal monitor strip including, but not limited to, late decelerations, decreased variability, variable decelerations, higher than normal heart rate (tachycardia) or lower than normal heart rate (bradycardia). These failures by a medical professional can lead to hypoxia (lack of oxygen) in a fetus which can have catastrophic circumstances.

Despite recognized treatises and articles on the potential ramifications of failure to heed warnings from fetal monitor strips; medical practitioners continue to ignore this valuable diagnostic tool during the delivery of a child. A nurse is supposed to be the eyes and ears of the physician and has the ability to decipher the fetal monitor strips. If the nurse fails to do her or his job, the physician is left to tend to an emergency situation. If the nurse fails to heed the warning signs and the doctor supervising the nurse fails to heed warning signs, ominous situations can arise which can lead to catastrophic circumstances for a child.

In addition to fetal monitor strips, the attorneys at McGowan, Hood & Felder have litigated cases involving vacuum extraction and forceps. The failure to use these instruments properly during a delivery can lead to severe injury. Additionally, if a child is born in a jaundiced state (sometimes caused by a condition known as “hyperbilirubinemia”) that is not treated properly, a child can suffer a brain injury which can have catastrophic circumstances. One of the other increasing problems surrounding the birth process is the increasing use of pitiocin to augment or facilitate labor which can lead to a hyper stimulated uterus which can “squeeze” the baby’s head for a prolonged period of time and result in brain injury.

Some of the attorneys at our law firm are versed in how to read fetal monitor strips, decipher medical records and determine the cause of a catastrophic injury to a child. We have a nurse on staff that assists with an initial impression of whether a case has merit or not. McGowan, Hood & Felder has been litigating birth injury cases for many years. We aggressively litigate each case and provide each client with high-level, individual representation. While we have reached favorable settlements with medical practitioners on numerous birth injury cases, medical practitioners across South Carolina continue to deliver children who suffer injury at birth.

The types of injuries which can occur to a child include cognitive injury, physical disability, or death. These injuries can sometimes manifest themselves through a condition known as “cerebral palsy” which can have life care plans in the tens of millions of dollars.

Issues involving interpretation of fetal monitoring strips, causation of injury to the child, the type of injury suffered at birth, the types of experts needed in the case and the presentation of damages which arise in almost every case requires careful analysis by our attorneys and retained experts. The types of experts we have utilized in these types of cases include perinatologists, obstetricians, neonatologists, pediatric neurologists, pediatric neuroradiologists, geneticists, nurses, life care planners, vocational experts and economists. In addition to our retained experts, we have a highly skilled legal nurse on staff that assists our attorneys in the review of clients’ medical records and helps in the prosecution of these complex cases.

The attorneys at our firm work closely with referring attorneys to bring a case to successful resolution. The attorneys in our firm who litigate medical malpractice cases are constantly updating their education and ability to litigate birth injury cases. S. Randall Hood of McGowan, Hood & Felder has helped to litigate many birth injury and medical malpractice cases. S. Randall Hood is currently litigating multiple birth injury cases and is available for consultation by email at rhood@mcgowanhood.com or telephone (Toll free 1-877-327-3800).

Please visit our website at mcgowanhood.com for comprehensive information on birth injuries.

Very truly yours,

McGowan, Hood & Felder, LLC

S. Randall Hood, 1539 Healthcare Drive, Rock Hill, SC 29732