Was your baby harmed because a provider failed to monitor their fetal heart rate in Atlanta, Georgia? Contact Georgia Baby Safety today at (404) 721-1050. We offer a free consultation with an Atlanta failure to monitor fetal heart rate lawyer so you can understand your options and get support during this difficult time.
You weren’t expecting this situation, and you shouldn’t have to face it alone. Our team has the experience and resources to fight for the compensation your family needs. Reach out today to learn how our attorneys can help you seek justice and hold the negligent provider accountable.
Why Choose Georgia Baby Safety for Help if My Baby Was Harmed Due to a Failure To Monitor Their Fetal Heart Rate in Atlanta?
Establishing your right to compensation after a birth injury can be extremely challenging. After a serious mistake, medical providers may hide information, deny responsibility, and do everything they can to avoid accountability. You need Georgia Baby Safety on your side.
Here’s why clients in Atlanta, GA, choose us:
- Our team brings more than five decades of combined experience navigating complex medical and legal issues.
- We have secured hundreds of millions of dollars in settlements and verdicts for injured clients and their families.
- Our firm has earned recognition among the “Top 100” lawyers by Super Lawyers for our commitment and results.
- We have been included in Georgia’s Legal Elite, reflecting our strong reputation and leadership in difficult cases.
- Members of our team have achieved Preeminent-level status through Martindale-Hubbell’s AV-rating service.
- We are prepared to fight for every dollar your family deserves, backed by a history of achieving multiple multi-million-dollar settlements.
Don’t take our word for it. Call us today to schedule a free consultation with an Atlanta birth injury attorney if your family has been harmed by a medical error.
Failure To Monitor Fetal Heart Rate: An Overview
Medical providers have a responsibility to monitor a fetus’s heart rate during pregnancy, labor, and delivery. The average fetal heart rate is between 110 and 160 beats per minute. Significant fluctuations can signal serious problems.
Properly monitoring the fetus’s heart rate is key to detecting signs of fetal distress. An abnormal fetal heart rate often means the fetus is not getting sufficient oxygen. Oxygen deprivation during labor and delivery can result in serious and often-irreversible harm.
If your baby suffered a birth injury, you may not fully understand the root cause. Our lawyers have the experience and resources to help you find out what happened.
Why Do Fetal Heart Rate Monitoring Errors Occur?
Medical providers may improperly monitor a fetus’s heart rate and vitals for a number of different reasons, including:
- Inadequate training and supervision
- Understaffed medical facilities
- Lack of experience
- Misreading the data
- Using the monitoring equipment improperly
- Ignoring an abnormal heart rate
- Failing to order a C-section or use labor-assist devices to quickly deliver the baby
- Failure to switch to internal monitoring during labor and delivery when called for
Often, errors in fetal heart rate monitoring occur due to medical negligence. If your baby was harmed, you may have grounds for filing a medical malpractice claim.
How Can a Failure To Monitor Fetal Heart Rate Harm a Baby?
Errors in fetal heart rate monitoring can have devastating consequences for a family. Some potential consequences include:
- Brain damage
- Cerebral Palsy
- Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy (HIE)
- Developmental delays
- Erb’s Palsy, or nerve damage that can cause weakness or paralysis in the baby’s arms
- Seizure disorders
- Paralysis
- Neonatal stroke
- Stillbirth and wrongful death in the most severe cases
If you’re like most families, you may not know exactly why your newborn baby was harmed. It’s important to obtain all medical records related to your pregnancy, labor, delivery, and post-delivery care. Your medical records will contain information that is often critical to any legal claim you eventually pursue.
To protect yourself, be sure to contact an attorney with expertise in these types of complicated birth injury cases.
What Are Some Signs That My Baby Has Been a Victim of a Fetal Monitoring Error?
Medical providers don’t always admit mistakes. Unless your baby required emergency care, it can take some time to understand what happened. Brain injuries resulting from monitoring errors are not always immediately obvious–especially in a newborn baby.
It’s understandable that while you may suspect that something went wrong, you may not be completely sure.
Some signs that your baby has suffered brain damage include:
- Tense or floppy muscles, signs of hypotonia
- Weak arms or legs
- A bluish or grayish tone to the baby’s skin
- Extreme irritability
- Weak reflexes
- A weak cry
- Trouble breathing
- Difficulty feeding
- Seizure
Oxygen shortage can have different results. Regular medical checkups are critical after your baby is born. Your doctor can identify any harm your baby has suffered and determine the best course of action when it comes to treatment.
Our lawyers can help you identify the best options for pursuing compensation to pay for treatment, provide for your child’s future needs, and hold any negligent medical providers accountable.
How Much Is My Atlanta Failure To Monitor Fetal Heart Rate Case Worth?
The harm your baby has suffered can impact your family’s entire future. It’s critical that your compensation award accounts for every reasonable possibility.
While all cases are different, some key issues that our attorneys will consider as we’re assessing your case value include:
- The type of injuries involved
- The severity of your baby’s condition and their recovery prospects
- The cost of medical treatment
- Expected costs to cover future medical care, rehabilitation, and therapies
- How the injury is expected to impact your child’s future educational opportunities
- Whether your child will be able to earn a living and live independently
- Your family’s costs and lost wages
- How your child’s quality of life may suffer
- How your family’s life has changed
- The nature of the at-fault party’s actions or omissions
Most families don’t fully understand how much they deserve. An initial insurance settlement offer can be incredibly tempting. Unfortunately, taking a fast insurance offer is often a mistake. It can leave you struggling with unanticipated costs–and you can’t go back and ask for money after taking a settlement.
You don’t have to blindly accept the offer. Contact our Atlanta failure to monitor fetal heart rate attorneys to learn how much you really deserve.
What Types of Damages Are Available to Victims of Failure To Monitor Fetal Heart Rate in Atlanta?
Victims of medical negligence can pursue compensation for economic damages and non-economic damages.
Economic damages compensate for financial expenses, often including:
- Current medical expenses
- Future medical costs
- Rehabilitation
- Specialized therapies
- Medical devices and medications
- Home and vehicle modifications
- Special education needs
- Increased childcare costs
- Your child’s expected lost future earning capacity
- Long-term care
- Mental health counseling
Non-economic damages are awarded to help you cope with the less concrete consequences of a birth injury, including:
- Pain and suffering
- Emotional distress
- Depression
- Loss of enjoyment and reduced quality of life
- Loss of a normal childhood
Your child could proceed to live a relatively normal life. It’s also possible that they could require lifelong assistance and care. Our lawyers will work closely with your baby’s doctors and experts in various specialties as we identify and assess your damages.
What Does It Cost To Hire a Medical Malpractice Lawyer in Georgia?
Georgia Baby Safety works on a contingency fee basis. Like most Georgia birth injury law firms, our fees depend on the amount of money we recover in your case. We don’t charge upfront fees. If, for some reason, we’re unable to recover compensation, you won’t owe us a dime.
How Do I Prove My Baby Was a Victim of Medical Negligence in Georgia?
Errors in fetal heart rate monitoring are often matters of medical malpractice. To establish your right to compensation, you must prove:
- The defendant had a legal duty of care
- The medical standard of care that applied in your case
- The medical provider provided sub-standard care, so breached their duty
- That breach of duty caused your baby to suffer harm, or damages
All medical providers must adhere to certain standards. These standards are established within the medical community.
Expert testimony will be critical to proving your family deserves compensation. Our attorneys specialize in these types of birth injury cases. We have relationships with leading experts who can testify on your behalf.
How Much Time Do I Have To File a Medical Malpractice Lawsuit Based on a Failure To Monitor My Baby’s Fetal Heart Rate in Georgia?
In medical malpractice cases, victims have two years from the date of an injury to file a lawsuit. Evaluating the statute of limitations in a birth injury case can be complex. A discovery rule also applies.
If you didn’t discover the harm quickly, you have two years from the date you discovered, or reasonably should have discovered, the mistake.
Call an Experienced Atlanta Failure To Monitor Fetal Heart Rate Lawyer for a Free Consultation Today
Your family’s life may have changed forever because of a doctor’s mistake in Atlanta, Georgia. An experienced Atlanta failure to monitor fetal heart rate attorney can help you prove it. Call Georgia Baby Safety today for a free consultation with our trusted legal team.