24,000 babies are born stillborn every year according to the CDC. Don’t suffer alone.
There are numerous reasons as to why a child is delivered stillborn. Although all stillbirth causes are devastating and some may be unavoidable, medical malpractice is one that is entirely preventable.
At such a traumatic time, parents can become confused by medical professionals’ answers. There are two main causes of a wrongful death.
The synopsis of New Jersey's Wrongful Death Act N.J.S.2A:31-5, "Expands wrongful death act to allow recovery for mental anguish, emotional pain and suffering, loss of society and loss of companionship." The majority of infant wrongful deaths are a result of negligence. The wrongful death of a baby involves the wrongful act or failure to act by a doctor, nurse, hospital or other healthcare provider that deviates from the applicable standard of care and fatally injures the newborn. Even a midwife could be held liable.
Various birth injuries or childbirth conditions can result in the wrongful death of a baby, including; anoxia or hypoxia, placenta abruption or placenta previa, eclampsia, rupture of the uterus, jaundice and kernicterus, use of forceps or a vacuum extractor, or brain and spinal cord damage.
Our medical malpractice attorneys should be consulted if negligence or birth injuries are believed to be the cause of your child’s death. The loss of a child is traumatic and while nothing can replace the child’s precious life, there are steps you can take to hold those accountable for your pain and suffering.
In order to bring a case of medical malpractice and wrongful death in the case of an infant, our lawyers will need to prove a deviation on standard care in the terms of your baby during prenatal care and/or childbirth. There are multiple steps and professionals involved to review statutes of limitations in a Wrongful Death case as well as what constitutes wrongful death in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. This process is long and often emotionally distressing for the caregivers and parents to relive, but may provide the start to the healing journey for your loss.
Every state has its own statutory period of time for when a personal injury or wrongful death lawsuit must be filed. That time period is known as the ‘statute of limitations’. In both Pennsylvania and New Jersey, the statute of limitations is two years from the date of death. It is important that you seek a legal consultation as soon as possible so a birth injury attorney can investigate your claim well in advance of the deadline to file a claim.
When our medical malpractice attorneys investigate and evaluate your infant’s wrongful death case, every medical record is thoroughly reviewed, including records of prenatal care, birth records and the records of how the child was delivered. Medical experts will review the standards of care surrounding birth to understand if there were any deviations of it by your healthcare providers.
