A Caesarian section, or C-section, is a medical approach to delivering a child when a mother is unable to do so naturally, or when there are medical concerns that necessitate timely delivery. Over the years, C-sections have become a common medical procedure, involving an incision in the abdomen and uterus. While many people know of C-sections, few may realize that it can be an incredibly important approach for preventing serious birth injuries or even death to both mother and baby.
Medical professionals, including obstetricians and nurses who help deliver a baby, have an obligation to treat patients in accordance to an acceptable standard of care. This means that they treat patients as most reasonable medical professionals would treat a patient, even when there are signs of distress or concerns that necessitate alternative approaches to delivery. When a medical provider fails to uphold their legal duty in any way, and victims suffer harm as a result, they can be held liable for injuries and damages victims suffer.
In the context of birth injuries, C-sections performed correctly and in a timely manner are essential to ensuring positive outcomes and reducing risks of preventable injuries. There several ways C-sections can be the focus of a medical malpractice birth injury case, including:
- Doctors and / or nurses failed to recognize medical issues that would require a C-section, and did not perform one.
- Doctors and / or nurses delayed in performing a C-section that, if performed in a timely manner, could have prevented injuries.
- A medical professional improperly performed a C-section.
When physicians and medical staff fail to perform a C-section and birth injuries result, it becomes critically important to determine how and why the C-section was not performed. Often, failures to perform C-sections are caused by negligence, which can occur when medical providers fail to properly judge the size of a baby, fail to properly assess risks such as high blood pressure, or fail to recognize indicators of distress or medical symptoms and signs that a timely C-section should be performed.
When reviewing the circumstances surrounding a medical provider’s failure to perform a C-section, our team of birth injury lawyers at Beam Legal Team draw from extensive experience and close working relationships with medical experts to highlight when a medical professional knew, or should have known, a C-section was critical to preventing injuries. By illustrating their failures and negligence, we help victims pursue the compensation they deserve.
Beam Legal Team has handled many cases in which medical professionals failed to perform C-sections entirely or failed to perform a timely C-section. These include cases that were resolved with the landmark and notable verdicts and settlements, including:
- $144.5 million verdict awarded by a Detroit jury in a case where medical staff failed to properly assess the weight of a baby and confused two pregnant mothers for one another. Rather than delivering the baby using a C-section, the medical staff administered a labor-inducing drug that resulted in severe injuries to the child.
- $30 million record-setting verdict in Ohio involving a mother who waited for more than two hours to receive an emergency C-section. As a result of the delay, the baby suffered brain damage that resulted in cerebral palsy and spastic quadriplegia.
- $12 million settlement on behalf of a child who suffered permanent and debilitating injuries when a hospital misjudged the size of the unborn baby and failed to perform a C-section.
If you or someone you love have questions about potential birth injury cases involving a failure to perform a C-section or a failure to perform a timely C-section, Beam Legal Team is available to help. Our award-winning birth injury lawyers are based in Chicago, and proudly serve families throughout the United States. Contact us to speak with a member of our team.