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What Types Of Birth Injuries Lead To Permanent Trauma?
Raising children in today's society can definitely be hard at times. However, if your child suffers from trauma caused by a birth injury, caring for him can become even more difficult. Birth traumas can affect your child's brain, motor functions, and cognitive reasoning skills. They can even lead to death. However, if your infant was injured as a result of medical care negligence during your delivery, he may be entitled to malpractice compensation.
Not all cognitive and behavioral issues are a result of obstetric negligence, but if your physician failed to recognize or act upon signs of fetal distress, that distress could cause long-term consequences for your child. Likewise, if your doctor attempted to get your child out of distress by using too much force or by rushing the delivery, this could also have lead to injuries to the child.
The most common forms of birth injuries result from hypoxia (lack of oxygen) and increased pressure during delivery. Hypoxia can develop into several neurological, physical, and behavioral problems as a result of brain damage. Too much pressure can cause nerve and muscular damage. These injuries can include:
What Are Some Factors That Affect How Much A Car Crash Case Is Worth?
One of the most common questions personal injury lawyers get from potential clients is, "How much is my case worth?"
While it is very common for people who have been injured in a collision to want to know the amount of money their injuries are worth and what type of compensation they can expect to receive, the value of a case is actually more complicated than just adding up one's medical expenses. In fact, there are many factors that go into determining the dollar amount a car accident injury claim is worth.
Ten Key Items That Will Influence Your Claim's Value
Some of the common factors that will affect the value of your case are:
- Liability. Often the police report will identify who was at fault for the accident. If the other party was fully at fault and there was no shared fault on your part, you can expect the amount of compensation to be higher.
- Statements. Following an accident, some drivers often say the words, "I'm sorry." It's important to remember that anything you say to the other driver, police officer, or other people at the crash scene can be used against you to establish fault. So if the other driver has said these simple words or anything else that may be an admission of fault, it is essential to the outcome of your claim that you tell the police officer and your attorney.
How Long Can It Take For Trauma Caused By A Car Accident To Be Noticed?
Car accidents can cause many types of physically visible and treatable injuries such as cuts, bruises, and broken bones. However, some internal traumas, like whiplash and brain injuries, are harder to see and therefore harder to diagnose and treat. Generally, these types of injuries take time for symptoms to develop, even though the injury has already occurred.
Hidden Trauma Can Often Go Unnoticed
To make sure you haven't suffered from one of these hidden traumas, you must remain alert to any physical, emotional or mental changes you may experience in the days, weeks, or months following the accident.
Signs of Internal Head Trauma
Whiplash, concussions, and severely sprained muscles can start to show painful symptoms within a few days after the initial injury. Your doctor will be able to judge the severity of the injury by your description of the pain and noticeable changes. The symptoms you should watch out for are:
- Severe headaches
- Range of motion difficulties
Learn The Do’s And Don’ts Following A Car Accident
If you have just been in a car accident, chances are you are filled with adrenaline and might not react in a rational way. Many accident victims do things in the immediate aftermath of a crash that jeopardize a future personal injury claim. This is why we want to provide you with a list of do's and don'ts so that you will know how to react if you are in a car accident.
3 Things to DO After a Collision
How Do I Know If My Injury Was Caused By Medical Malpractice In D.C.?
When you're sick, the only thing you want is to feel better. But when your physician isn't helping-or if his treatments make you feel worse-you become frustrated and a little scared. Why isn't it working? Does my doctor even know what he's doing?
In some cases these questions are justified. According to the World Health Organization, one in ten Washington D.C. patients are harmed or injured as a result of medical malpractice.
This statistic, although desperately high, does not mean that every tenth time you go to a doctor you'll be a victim. However, doctors are extremely busy and rely heavily on taking risks and fellow colleagues' opinions. This allows the possibility for more human error and mistakes.
These risks don't necessarily always mean they are being negligent. As long as their choice for treatment is based on educated reasoning and can be backed my medical science, malpractice cannot be inferred if the treatment doesn't work.
Is Physical Therapy Worth The Cost To Help Me Reverse The Effects Of A Spinal Cord Injury In Fairfax?
When you suffer a traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI), not only are your muscles affected but your nerves are as well. Therefore, physical therapy (PT) alone will not cure paralysis, as it cannot regenerate nerves. However there are good reasons why Fairfax doctors prescribe PT and why-although it may be expensive-physical therapy is definitely worth the cost to help reverse the effects for SCI victims.
When your body is unable to move, your muscles and bones have an increased chance of injury and harm. Physical therapy helps fight against these risks by exercising the limbs and strengthening the muscles. This way, if and when your nerve function improves, you'll have the physical strength to move your body.
Without physical therapy, you run the risk of:
- Osteoporosis
- Bedsores and Pressure Sores
- Bone Fractures
- Muscle Degeneration and Loss (Atrophy)
In order to prevent these issues, physical therapy is recommended for spinal cord injury victims at least three times a week for best results. Within these sessions, therapists will encourage your muscles to react to stimuli (electrical or hot and cold), weight, and external movement. This allows the muscles to retain elasticity and prevent atrophy. It also allows your bones to remain strong and able to bear weight, thus reducing the dangers of osteoporosis and fractures.
I Developed Severe Depression After My Arm Was Amputated After An Injury In Washington, DC. Is This Normal? What Can I Do About It?
Depression among Washington D.C. amputee victims is extraordinarily common.
When you are involved in an accident, are mangled by malfunctioning machinery, or are victimized in a violent attack, you can undergo serious emotional trauma. However, when you lose a limb as a result of one of these experiences, the trauma is amplified significantly. Not only do you require extra time to heal, but the evidence of that experience is always visible. This may be a reason why many amputee victims develop depression within the first year of amputation.
This depression can be a result of several factors associated with the amputation and may require additional assistance to overcome. Typical psychological reactions include:
- Loss of Functional Ability. Your new challenges in completing routine activities with a missing limb makes you feel as though you won't be able to fend for yourself.
- Altered Body Image. You become worried about how you look or how others may treat you.
Monoplegia: A Form Of Paralysis That Can Be Caused By Medical Malpractice
When a person is left paralyzed, people often picture someone in a wheelchair who cannot move their limbs. While this scenario is the most severe type of paralysis a person can suffer, there are other less debilitating types of paralysis that also affect a person's quality of life. For instance, paralysis that affects just one limb can seriously limit one's capabilities.
Monoplegia is a type of paralysis that only affects one arm, leg, or part of the body. People who have monoplegia generally have no feeling or movement in one limb – which is usually the arm. And in some cases, the paralysis may be limited to a single muscle.
Monoplegia Caused by Medical Negligence
Monoplegia is often caused by cerebral palsy. Sadly, innocent children sometimes suffer cerebral palsy and paralysis as a result of medical negligence during childbirth. For instance, when a lack of oxygen to the brain occurs or birthing tools are used incorrectly, a child may suffer an injury to the brain that may lead to monoplegia. When a child suffers monoplegia of the hands, it is likely that one hand and its fingers will curl in towards the body, making it difficult for a child to reach milestones that require the use of both hands such as crawling. Medical negligence that causes paralysis can also occur during brain surgery or another type of surgery when a patient suffers a lack of oxygen, an anesthesia error, or another critical surgical error.
Is My Fairfax Teenager Likely To Suffer A Brain Injury In High School?
All parents worry about their children getting hurt. Accidents are a normal part of life in Fairfax, and occur everyday at schools as a result of bullying, sports, or simple adolescent behavior. This added potential for accidents within schools increases the likelihood that your teenager may suffer a head or brain injury.
Although yearly, over half a million emergency room visits related to brain injuries are reported for children less than 14 years old, adolescents between the ages of 15 to 19 are more likely to actually sustain traumatic brain injuries. Most accidents resulting in a head injury are relatively harmless and do not cause internal damage. However, depending on the circumstances-such as a hard tackle by a quarterback or a fall from a human pyramid-a head trauma can be extremely dangerous and needs to be taken very seriously.
The most common brain injury for teenagers to suffer is a concussion. Concussions are caused when the head or spine is violently shaken or hit. Concussions can vary from being very mild to the very serious, with effects ranging from slight headaches to permanent brain damage. Therefore, it is extremely important to recognize the signs of a concussion in order to seek immediate medical attention. These symptoms include:
How Long Do I Have To File A Lawsuit If I Believe My Child’s Disorder Was Caused By Medical Incompetence During My Delivery In Virginia?
No one knows worry and the stress of waiting as much as a pregnant woman. As soon as you find out you're pregnant, you're constantly anticipating the next doctor's visit to make sure everything is okay-as well as counting down the days until you hit that 40 weeks.
However, if something goes wrong with your delivery, causing unexpected harm or injury to you or to your baby, you shouldn't have to wait and wonder whether it was caused by medical malpractice or incompetence during your delivery. That is why, if you live in Fairfax or any nearby communities, the Northern Virginia birth injury lawyers of Shevlin Smith are ready to investigate your case and provide immediate legal aid.
Not all complications or problems during delivery result from improper care by your physician. However, there are occasions when misdiagnoses, second-guessing, or impatience result in a rushed and chaotic delivery. Haste and errors in turn increase the risk of fetal distress and oxygen deprivation, a condition called #hypoxia. Hypoxia alone can lead to mental disorders, motor skill deficits, cerebral palsy, and even breathing problems for your child as he grows.
703-591-0067
10513 Judicial Drive, Suite 200, Fairfax, VA 22030
703-591-0067
From our office in Fairfax, Shevlin Smith, P.C. serves clients throughout Northern Virginia and Washington, D.C., including Alexandria, Annandale, Arlington, Ashburn, Burke, Centreville, Dale City, Fair Oaks, Leesburg, Manassas, McLean, Oakton, Reston, Springfield, and Woodbridge, as well as Fairfax County, Arlington County, Fauquier County, Loudoun County, and Prince William County.
Results listed are not a guarantee or indication of future case results.
