Waldorf Erb's Palsy Attorney

If your child suffers from Erb’s palsy, their injury could be the result of negligent medical treatment. A Waldorf Erb’s palsy attorney with Brown & Barron can help you hold the negligent doctor or health care facility financially responsible for your child’s medical treatment and other losses related to their birth injury.

Contact Our Waldorf Erb’s Palsy Lawyer to Get Started on Your Case Today

Call Brown & Barron to learn more about working with our Waldorf Erb’s palsy attorneys. We can take your case at no upfront cost to you.

Our team is available to take your call 24/7 and can get you started with a free consultation.

Get in touch with a birth injury lawyer serving Waldorf, (410) 698-1717 for a free case evaluation.

What Causes Erb’s Palsy?

Erb’s palsy is an injury affecting the brachial plexus, a network of nerves between the neck and shoulders that control movement in the arms, hands, and shoulders. Specifically, Erb’s palsy involves the upper portion of the brachial plexus that controls the shoulder and biceps.

According to Boston Children’s Hospital, brachial plexus injuries occur in around one to three of every 1,000 live births. Erb’s palsy and other brachial plexus injuries usually happen during difficult or prolonged labor or delivery when the nerve system becomes compressed, stretched, or torn.

Symptoms of Erb’s palsy include:

• Pain
• Numbness or weakness
• Lack of movement or feeling
• Full or partial paralysis in the shoulder or arm

Erb’s palsy generally affects only one side of the body, but severe injuries may cause harm to both sides. Some babies who suffer a brachial plexus injury also sustain a clavicle or upper arm fracture during birth.

Other Brachial Plexus Injuries

Our Erb’s palsy attorneys can assist with other types of brachial plexus injuries, including:

• Horner’s syndrome
• Klumpke’s palsy
• Injuries involving the total brachial plexus

Our law firm only represents clients injured by medical malpractice and nursing home abuse and neglect. However, if your child suffered any birth injury at a medical facility in Waldorf, we can help you seek justice.

Treatment for Erb’s Palsy

Your child’s Erb’s palsy treatment and long-term prognosis depend on their injury type.

According to the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, there are four types of nerve injuries:

• Neuropraxia – This is the most common and least severe type of injury. When the nerves suffer a “shock,” but are not torn or stretched. These injuries usually heal on their own within three months of birth.
• Neuroma – This is a stretch injury that can result in permanent scar tissue that presses on the brachial plexus nerves. Children who sustain this type of injury may need physical therapy and experience partial but not total recovery.
• Rupture – This is a more severe stretch injury involving tearing the brachial plexus nerves. Treatment may require surgery to “splice” a donor nerve graft onto the torn brachial plexus.
• Avulsion – This is the most severe type of brachial plexus injury. An avulsion occurs when the nerves become torn from the spinal cord. It is impossible to repair an avulsion, but surgery may restore some function to the injured nerves.

Our Lawyers Can Secure the Financial Resources Required for Your Child’s Care

You should not have to pay for expensive medical treatment and other financial losses due to an injury caused by medical malpractice. Our lawyers can identify and calculate damages related to your child’s injury and pursue the compensation you need to provide them with care.

Compensation may include:

• Medical bills. We can recover the cost of emergency treatment received at birth, doctor and hospital fees, physical therapy, medications, medical devices, follow-up care, and any other expenses related to your child’s Erb’s palsy.
• Lost income. You may have to miss work to take your child to appointments and care for them while recovering from their injury. We can seek compensation for your lost income and future lost earnings. If your child suffered a permanent and disabling Erb’s palsy injury, they may qualify for awards for loss of their future earning capacity.
• Non-economic damages. These awards compensate victims for physical, mental, and emotional suffering. In general, the more severe and permanent your child’s Erb’s palsy injury, the more compensation they may receive. However, Cts. & Jud. Proc. Code § 3-2A-09 caps non-economic damages for medical malpractice. For injuries occurring in 2022, the cap is $860,000. Our attorneys can tell you more about how this statute may affect your case.
• Damages for maternal injuries. If the baby’s mother also suffered injuries during labor and delivery, we can file a medical malpractice case on their behalf. Compensation may include the awards listed above and any other losses connected with their injury, recovery, or pain and suffering.

Contact Brown & Barron online today to schedule a free case review with a with a birth injury lawyer serving Waldorf.

Proving Erb’s Palsy Resulted from Medical Malpractice

Several childbirth complications can lead to or increase the risk of a brachial plexus injury. If your doctor did not correctly diagnose and address labor and delivery problems and their error resulted in your child’s injury, they may be liable for malpractice.

Causes and risk factors for Erb’s palsy include:

• Large birth weight
• Shoulder or breech birth presentation
• Use of vacuums or forceps
• Prolonged or difficult labor
• Twin or multiple births
• Previous delivery involving a brachial plexus injury
• Failure to order a Cesarean section

To prove malpractice occurred, we will need to establish that your health care provider failed to treat your childbirth complications according to the standards of the medical profession and that their actions resulted in your child’s injury and damages.

Our team will:

• Obtain your child’s medical records
• Interview witnesses
• Consult with medical professionals

We Handle Your Erb’s Palsy Claim So You Can Focus on Your Child

Our team will take care of your insurance claim or lawsuit. From filing your paperwork to negotiating for the most advantageous settlement, we will put our 137-plus years of legal experience behind getting the awards you deserve.

Do not wait too long to seek justice for your child. According to Md. Code, Cts. & Jud. Proc. § 5-109, you have five years from the injury or three years from when you discovered the injury to file a medical malpractice lawsuit.

Contact us today for a free consultation.