New York City

Published on: December 30, 2011

True Costs of a Traumatic Birth

by Stephen Bilkis

Studies see a wide range of cases that involve the most precious members of society who are harmed by the negligence of strangers – strangers who should know better and should be providing nothing but the absolute best of care.

A British mom is launching a legal fight against a hospital trust over worries that a traumatic birth left her son brain damaged. The 38-year-old mother believes that delays in her medical care during delivery at Warrington Hospital led to her son being born with cerebral palsy.

Now seven years old, he cannot walk, wash or dress himself, and has limited powers of speech. The child has to be fed by a tube and requires 24 hour care and supervision.

Published on: December 13, 2011

Hospital Pays Eight-Year-Old £8.75M After Blunders Leave Her Permanently brain Damaged

by Stephen Bilkis

After an eight-year-old girl was left severely brain damaged at birth because of maternity staff blunders, she was awarded £8.75m by London’s High Court. The child was born at St Mary’s Hospital, Portsmouth, on March 16, 2003. Having been starved of oxygen in the womb because the clinical staff missed vital signs of fetal distress on monitoring equipment, she was born with irreversible brain damage.

The ‘affectionate’ little girl suffers from tetraplegic cerebral palsy and will be dependent upon others for the rest of her life.

Her mother sued Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust on behalf of her child. The Trust admitted liability in her tragic injuries and have released funds to the family in a series of interim payments. The final settlement was recently approved and consists of a £4.2m lump sum, plus annual, index-linked and tax-free payments, bringing the total value of the settlement to around £8.75m.

Published on: December 4, 2011

Complications can arise when it comes time to deliver the baby

by Stephen Bilkis

Even in perfectly normal pregnancies, complications can arise when it comes time to deliver the baby. The timing of labor is actually very important. If the baby comes too early, it can suffer severe complications and medical issues, but if the pregnancy goes too long, the placenta can stop working properly, leading to birth injuryas well.

A pregnancy is considered full-term at 37 weeks. Any birth that takes place before 37 weeks gestation is considered preterm. Usually a baby born after 35 weeks suffers no medical problems, so labor is not stopped from 35 weeks on.

Sometimes labor begins on its own, either due to a medical problem the mother or baby may have, or for no reason whatsoever. Only about 10% of women deliver on their due date, although 90% of women deliver within 2 weeks of their due date. Early in the pregnancy, an ultrasound is done to try and determine the length of the pregnancy to date. Ultrasounds done in mid-pregnancy, or late pregnancy are less effective at determining the length of the pregnancy.

Published on: October 24, 2011

Is Storing Cord Blood a Good Idea?

by Stephen Bilkis

Having a baby can be one of a family’s most joyous occasions, and with more than 4 million babies born each year there are many happy people with healthy new additions to their families. However, the New York Birth Injury Attorney claims, there are also other babies that are born with a variety of health problems, including those deemed as being debilitating like Erbs Palsy. While any child that is born with medical problems is both sad and tragic, many parents have been utilizing a method known as cord blood storage as a means of providing for their children should a condition or illness manifest itself as they grow and develop.

An questioner was told that cord blood contains stem cells and other genetic information about the baby. The method of delivery of the baby is irrelevant as the cord blood can be harvested whether the baby is born vaginally or by C-section. The cord blood is collected before the umbilical cord is cut and is then sent to either a private or public storage facility to which the parents will pay a monthly fee to store their child’s cord blood for future use, if needed. The one distinction between the public and private storage is that the parents’ monthly fee assures that their child’s blood will be available to them if needed, and a public storage is more like a cord blood bank where the cord blood is made available to anyone who needs it. Either storage method would only be good until the child reaches about 18-years of age since it is at that point that there would be insufficient stem cells within the cord blood to treat the person.

While storing cord blood may be considered by many to be a controversial approach to a potential medical problem that may never materialize, there are many who store the cord blood in case their child develops a blood type disease such as leukemia. To a parent who has a child who has been diagnosed with such a disease, cord blood storage could be considered a godsend.

Published on: September 14, 2011

Delayed C-Section May Cause Birth Injuries

by Stephen Bilkis

Medical mistakes are the cause of many birth injuries, and a NY City Birth Injury Attorney has found that one of those potential medical mistakes is the failure to perform a C-section in a timely manner. Since the medical staff that is involved in the delivery of a baby has, the responsibility to monitor both the mother and child’s vital signs, they should be aware of both patients’ overall condition at all times. On those occasions when the medical staff fails in their assigned responsibilities, and the doctor should not begin a C-section when he should, the infant could suffer permanent damage. The same may hold true if the doctor does not perform a C-section when the conditions warrant the procedure.

A C-section is the common term for a Caesarean section, which is when the infant is removed through the mother’s abdomen instead of through the vaginal opening. This procedure is often performed when there are risks to either mother or the baby by vaginal delivery.

In order for a C-section to be performed properly, it must be performed within a certain time frame. A New York Birth Injury Attorney alleges that to be more specific, once the doctor makes the decision to perform a C-section, it should be done in less than 30 minutes. Late C-sections have resulted in permanent birth injuries to the infant, including cerebral palsy, erb’s palsy, and brain damage. Each of these carries long-term consequences to the child and the family.

Published on: September 4, 2011

Cerebral Palsy: A Serious Birth Injury

by Stephen Bilkis

Cerebral Palsy is a group of disorders that affect a person’s mobility and ability to maintain posture and balance. Cerebral Palsy is caused by a non-progressive brain abnormality, meaning that the injury will not get worse over time, although the symptoms can change. Cerebral Palsy is caused by damage to the part of the brain that controls muscle tone. Muscle tone refers to the amount of resistance to movement a muscle can sustain, or what lets your body keep you in a certain position or posture.

According to a New York Birth Injury Lawyer, in 1996 1 in every 278 children had Cerebral Palsy. In 2000 1 in every 323 suffered from the disorder. Cerebral Palsy is caused by damage to the child’s brain. The part of the brain that is damaged determines what body part is going to be affected. Damage occurs when either an injury takes place (sometimes during birth) or when a genetic condition affects the blood supply to the brain. Bacterial meningitis and other infections, or bleeding in the brain, lack of oxygen, head injury or even severe jaundice can cause Cerebral Palsy. Children who were born prematurely, or with a low birth weight are more likely to have problems that may lead to Cerebral Palsy.

A NY Birth Injury Lawyer has discussed how the Center for Disease Control funds the North Atlantic Neuro-Epidemiology Alliance (NANEA). The NANEA studies factors that cause Cerebral Palsy, including infections, bleeding, and raised temperatures during pregnancy. These studies are being performed in Denmark. All of these factors can lead to children being born with Cerebral Palsy or suffering a birth injury that leads to Cerebral Palsy.

Published on: August 20, 2011

Childbirth can often be one of the first causes of a debilitating health issue.

by Stephen Bilkis

Hospitals in New York City and Long Island must be aware of the following situations.

As a NYC Birth Injury Lawyer mentioned earlier, Vertebral Subluxation Complex, which is a birth trauma-related spinal misalignment and nervous system issue, happens when the nerve signals from the brain to the rest of the body are interrupted. Childbirth can often be one of the first causes of this debilitating health issue. Since, 2004, the infant mortality rate in the United States has been on the rise, reports a New York Birth Injury Lawyer. This may be due in part to complications that arise from high-tech as well as high-risk pregnancies, as these situations also typically merit the use of high-tech (and thus potentially high-trauma) birthing methods. Infants who come out of a birth trauma situation alive have to be checked for Vertebral Subluxation Complex immediately to ensure that proper treatment and rehabilitation can take place. This is vital to the normal growth and development of the child. In addition to traumatic birth methods, there are other things that can cause the onset of Vertebral Subluxation Complex, including a fall or jolt (both in-utero and after birth) as well as minor post-birth physical traumas. Additionally, exposure to chemicals, prescription and non-prescription drug use, and even mental stressors have been known to bring on Vertebral Subluxation Complex and its related issues. As relayed by a New York Birth Injury Attorney, these exposures and subsequent health concerns can be very harmful if not dealt with immediately via preventative and focused care. If a problem like VSC has occurred because of a birth trauma, it is important to discern the root of the problem as quickly as possible. Labor and delivery negligence can result if these concerns are not taken seriously.

Your life and the life of your child are precious and if there was medical malpractice, someone needs to be held responsible. Only a dedicated and skilled New York Birth Injury Attorney can ensure you get justice. The Office of Stephen Bilkis and Associates can offer you support and guidance as well as a free consultation when you contact us at 1-800-NY-NY-LAW. We have offices in N York City, including Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, Staten Island and The Bronx and in Nassau County, Suffolk County and Westchester County.

Published on: August 10, 2011

Family awarded $1.35 million after their son suffers severe brain damage due to a delivery full of unnecessary mistakes

by Stephen Bilkis

A small child has been awarded $1.35 million in a settlement due to permanent and severe brain injuries sustained during birth.

Four years ago a family’s dreams of having a normal child were crushed. They went to their local hospital in labor and began what they thought was a routine birth experience. Several hours passed before their nightmare began.

According to New York Birth Injury Lawyers, the doctor on staff failed to notice the child’s heart rate was rapidly dropping until it was too late. Experts agreed a Cesarean section should have been performed hours before the birth.

Published on: August 6, 2011

Expert Warns that 50% of SBS Parents Wrongly Convicted – Part 3

by Stephen Bilkis

Legal cases involving infant death are always tragic; it’s necessary that the legal system properly defend them. But it is appalling if the court system be allowed to use outdated information to wrongly accuse already suffering parents. So argues Dr. Squier who is advocating for a new examination of the symptoms of SBS (Shaken Baby Syndrome).

“In the past four years there have been several discoveries about the dura, the membrane covering the brain. It was thought that it was there to protect the brain from shock, but we now know it also has the very important function of controlling blood flow out of the brain. At birth the dura has huge blood channels that can leak – and not always as a result of trauma. They do, however, disappear during the child’s second year of life. These findings are so significant that I now believe that half or even more of those who have been brought to trial in the past for SBS have been wrongly convicted. ‘I am also convinced we can virtually exclude shaking as a cause of death in babies unless, as well as bleeding in the brain, we have additional evidence of trauma, such as serious damage to the neck. When a baby is shaken, the head will flop back and forth and the neck becomes the weak point. In other words, if you shake a baby so hard that it dies, it is the neck that is going to show the damage, not the brain.” Hospitals in New York City and Queens must be aware of these situations.

The doctor’s view is gathering worldwide momentum but is also garnering toxic feedback. She says that pathologists want to remain in the comfortable and unchallenging zone of an outdated theory. She says judges don’t appreciate new science that could make convictions more complex, and police forces don’t want to change the current makeup for fear of not getting the convictions they want.

Published on: July 15, 2011

Abbott-Laboratories Under Investigation For Off-Label Marketing

by Stephen Bilkis

A New York Birth Injury Lawyer has reported that the Wall Street Journal is investigating a federal probe into Abbott-Laboratories, a pharmaceutical company, for their marketing and sales tactics in the drug Depakote. Doctors and hospitals in New York City and Nassau County have been notified about the problems in the offing concerning this drug.

Depakote Birth Injury Resources (DBIR) is also evaluating Abbott-Laboratories for possible lawsuits related to birth defects and birth injuries that may be related to mothers who took Depakote during pregnancy. Depakote, currently the most popular prescription drug on the market for treating both epilepsy and bipolar disorder, is estimated to have been used by over 2 million people since its release on the market in 1983.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Depakote to treat seizure disorders, acute manic episodes associated with bipolar disorder and to prevent migraine headaches. The current investigation centers on the off-label marketing of the drug. A New York Brain Injury Lawyer has stated that in addition to the off-label marketing, federal investigators are looking into whether or not the company violated Medicare or Medicaid reimbursement policies.