Birth Injury Lawyers Knoxville, TN
Medical error can cause birth injuries with lifelong consequences for your child, including disabilities and learning difficulties. If a doctor or hospital failed to prevent or treat your child’s birth injuries, contact NST Law’s medical malpractice lawyers in Knoxville, TN, so we can put our more than three decades of experience to work for you.
Health care professionals are responsible for preventing, diagnosing, and treating infants’ birth injuries. Unfortunately, they sometimes fail to perform their duties, resulting in infections, bone fractures, lifelong disabilities, and even death.
If your baby has suffered a birth injury, contact NST Law’s birth injury lawyers in Knoxville, TN. We have over three decades of experience helping birth injury victims and their families in Tennessee.
When you work with NST Law, our team can help you with every aspect of filing a birth injury lawsuit in Knoxville, including by doing the following:Â Â
- Conducting an in-depth investigation
- Determining the parties responsible
- Evaluating your losses and damages
- Identifying your family’s needs and goals
- Answering all of your questions
- Meeting all filing deadlines and procedural requirementsÂ
- Fighting for your best interestsÂ
- Negotiating a settlement that provides all the compensation you deserve
- Trying your case before a jury or judge if necessary
Table Of Contents
How NST Law's Birth Injury Attorneys in Knoxville, TN Can Help
Health care providers are responsible for giving top-notch care to mothers and children. If they cause your child to develop birth injuries, you have the option to seek justice and financial compensation by filing a birth injury lawsuit against them.
If you live in Tennessee, contact NST Law‘s birth injury lawyers in Knoxville, TN. Compassionate and tenacious, our lawyers are committed to helping you in any way we can. We also have offices in Memphis, Nashville, and Jackson.
Fill in our contact form or dial 866-724-1066 to book a free consultation. Our personal injury lawyers and wrongful death attorneys are available 24/7.
What Are Birth Injuries?
Birth injuries are physical injuries experienced during childbirth that can affect the baby or the mother. Newborns can experience several types of permanent and temporary birth injuries. Some birth injuries are life-changing and affect infant development.
Although some birth injuries are unavoidable, many happen due to errors or medical malpractice. Birth injuries can happen when nurses, doctors, and other medical staff fail to:
- Notice and address fetal distress during delivery, such as abnormal heart rates and oxygen deprivation
- Anticipate birth complications, such as a twisted umbilical cord
- Provide medical care on time and when medically necessary
- Perform a timely Cesarean section when necessary
- Treat maternal health conditions such as gestational diabetes during pregnancy
- Respond appropriately to fetal or maternal bleeding
- Use birthing equipment such as forceps and vacuum extractors safely and effectively
Types of Birth Injuries
When medical staff make these mistakes, babies may develop various injuries and conditions. Common birth injuries caused by medical negligence include the following:
- Erb’s palsy or Erb-Duchenne paralysis is a paralysis of the arm. It is caused by injury to the main nerves supplying the arm.
- Cerebral palsy is a group of disorders that affect the baby’s ability to maintain posture and move.
- Caput succedaneum is swelling affecting a newborn’s scalp. It is usually caused by pressure from the vaginal wall or uterus.
- Hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy is brain dysfunction due to a lack of oxygen or blood flow. It can cause epilepsy, cerebral palsy, and developmental delays.
- Bone fractures: Babies who are too large or in the breech position are more likely to have bone fractures. Fractures are also common in multiple births. The collar bone or clavicle is the most common fracture in infants.
- Cephalohematoma: Deliveries involving vacuum extractors or forceps place excessive pressure on the baby’s skull, causing blood to pool under the scalp. Cephalohematoma is usually harmless and goes away in a couple of weeks or months. However, if left untreated, it can lead to anemia, jaundice, and infections.
List of Hospitals Near Knoxville, TN
Knoxville, Tennesee, has many hospitals providing obstetrical and pediatric care.Â
Here are some of the best hospitals in the Knoxville, Tennessee, area for treating birth injuries for mothers and babies:
- University of Tennessee Medical Center
- North Knoxville Medical Center
- Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center
- Parkwest Medical Center
- East Tennessee Children’s Hospital
- Roane Medical Center
- Jefferson Memorial Hospital
- LeConte Medical Center
Birth Injury Liability under Tennessee Law
No child deserves to have a birth injury. However, parents do not always have the right to sue doctors and hospitals for failing to prevent or treat their child’s birth injury. Under Tennessee law, parents can only recover compensation for a birth injury if medical malpractice has occurred. In other words, parents must prove each of the following elements to prevail in a birth injury lawsuit:
- A medical professional, such as a doctor, nurse, or anesthesiologist, owed a duty of competent medical care to the infant.
- The medical professional breached this duty of care by providing medical care below the generally accepted standard of care.
- The infant suffered an illness or injury due to this breach of the duty of care.
Examples of breaches of the generally accepted standard of care include:
- Failing to use birthing instruments properly
- Dropping the infant
- Failing to perform a medically necessary Cesarean section on time or at all
- Operating or performing carelessly
- Practicing medicine while drunk or high
- Failing to use properly sterilized instruments, leading to infection and illness
- Failing to consider an infant’s size or position
Types of Birth Injury Lawsuits
There are two types of birth injury lawsuits in Tennessee: personal injury lawsuits and wrongful death lawsuits.
If your child suffered a birth injury due to medical malpractice, you can file a personal injury lawsuit on their behalf. If successful, you will receive financial compensation for your child’s pain and suffering and current and future medical costs. If your child has become disabled due to the injury, you may receive compensation for the loss of quality of life and future earnings.
If your child died due to a birth injury caused by medical malpractice, you can file a wrongful death lawsuit against the responsible parties. Per Tennessee Code § 20-5-106, you can also file a wrongful death lawsuit if your baby was:
- Born alive but died shortly afterward from the effects of a birth injury
- Stillborn due to prenatal injuries that happened at any stage of gestation in utero
Talk to NST Law’s Knoxville, TN, personal injury attorneys to learn more about the lawsuits you can file.
Available Compensation
You may recover compensatory and punitive damages if your birth injury lawsuit is successful.Â
Compensatory Damages
Compensatory damages are awarded to compensate for injuries, and other losses resulting from your child’s birth injury. There are two main types of compensatory damages: non-economic damages and economic damages.Â
Economic damages compensate you for objective, monetary losses caused by your child’s birth injuries. Examples include medical fees, therapy costs, rehabilitation expenses, special education costs, prescription medication expenses, and fees for necessary medical devices and home health care services.
Non-economic damages compensate you for non-monetary, subjective effects of your child’s birth injuries. Examples include pain and suffering, emotional distress, and loss of quality of life.Â
Punitive Damages
Punitive damages punish a doctor or health care provider for willful or egregious misconduct and negligence. Courts only award them when your child’s doctor or hospital acted maliciously, recklessly, intentionally, or fraudulently. Under Tennessee law, punitive damages cannot exceed two times the total compensatory damages awarded or $500,000, whichever is greater.
Compensation varies depending on your case, evidence, and who you are suing. Talk to NST Law’s birth injury lawyers in Knoxville, TN, to learn more about potential verdicts and settlements.
Knoxville Birth Injury Statute of Limitations
In Tennessee, the statute of limitations or deadline for birth injury claims is one year after discovering the malpractice that caused the injury. If you don’t file your birth injury lawsuit before this deadline, you will lose the opportunity to seek compensation for your child’s birth injuries.Â
One year can pass by quickly, especially when dealing with birth injuries. A trusted NST Law medical malpractice lawyer in Knoxville, TN, can help you file the necessary paperwork on time to preserve your rights to compensationÂ
Knoxville Birth Injury Attorney FAQs
The statute of limitations or deadline for filing a birth injury lawsuit in Tennessee is one year after discovering the malpractice that caused the injury. If you miss the deadline, you will lose the chance to seek compensation for your baby’s birth injuries.
If an obstetrician-gynecologist fails to provide adequate prenatal, birth, and newborn care, both the mother and the child may suffer an injury. Depending on the degree of negligence, the mother and child’s health, and other factors, childbirth negligence may lead to illnesses and lifelong disabilities, such as cerebral palsy.Â
You may be eligible for a birth injury lawsuit if your healthcare team failed to meet the acceptable standard of care in Tennessee and you or your infant suffered an injury or illness due to this failure to provide proper care. Talk to NST Law to learn more about your legal options.
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TYPES OF ACCIDENTS
- Distracted Driving Accidents
- Driver Fatigue Accidents
- Drunk Driving Accidents
- Failure to Yield Accidents
- Fatal Accidents
- Head-On Collisions
- Hit and Run Accidents
- Rear-End Collisions
- Reckless Driving Accidents
- Speeding Accidents
- Texting and Driving Accidents
Settlements/Verdicts
$1,000,000.00
Our client was walking in a Tennessee gas station parking lot when he was struck by a commercial concrete truck. He broke both of his legs and underwent extensive medical treatment.
$1,400,000.00
$2,200,000.00
