I want to know if I have a case to go after the hospital my son was born at.
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I want to know if I have a case to go after the hospital my son was born at.
I’m not sure if I have selected the proper topic or not, however, it is about
suing the hospital my son was born at for negligence during labor. My
girlfriend’s family has a history of the women not being able to give natural
birth and this is something the staff was aware of, however, they gave her the
option and we tried natural birth. The problem is that, my son ended up getting
stuck in her birth canal and there were many times that we were left alone for
30-45 minutes with no medical staff in the room, while she was in labor. They
kept having her continue, even though there was no progress of him moving for a
couple hours. Finally they decided to do a emergency C-section. When my son came
out, he was having trouble breathing, had 3 skull fractures and bleeding on the
brain. In result, he suffered from seizures and now has delayed vision on the
left side.
Asked on July 9, 2018 under Malpractice Law, Utah
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 6 years ago | Contributor
Yes, based on what you write, you may have a viable medical malpractice case. Medical malpractice is essentially medical negligence, or the provision of medical care that is unreasonably careless in some way. If the staff were aware of challenges your girlfriend's family has with natural child birth, did not respond in a timely (fast enough) fashion when there was obviously a difficulty, and frequently left you alone, that may well be negligent or careless medical case. You could potentially recover the cost of medical care your son has or will need, and "pain and suffering" for him for the seizures and vision problems.
There is a time limit if you are going to bring a legal action, called the "statute of limitations." In your state (UT), the malpractice action must be brought within two (2) years of when the injury was (or reasonably should have been) discovered, up to a maximum of no more than four (4) years after the allegedly negligent medical care. If you want to explore pursuing a malpractice claim, consult with a malpractice attorney right away (assuming you are not already out of time)--don't let more time go by before looking into a suit.
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