Doctors and other healthcare providers have extensive training in their fields, and patients place a high degree of trust in these professionals. Unfortunately, some providers act negligently, leaving patients with injuries and losses. This neglect can even occur during labor and delivery, and children can suffer injuries like Erb’s palsy. Erb’s palsy is a nerve condition in the shoulder and arm that results in weakness or loss of muscle function. Palsy is another name for partial or complete loss of muscle function — muscle weakness or paralysis.
Such injuries can cause lifelong physical pain and emotional distress in children and impose significant emotional and financial strain on parents.
The Connecticut Erb’s palsy attorneys at Trantolo & Trantolo, LLC are here to help families hold these providers accountable for this harm. If you suspect negligence, we encourage you to call us as soon as possible. Our birth injury lawyers can help protect your family’s rights to compensation, all you have to do is call. We offer a free initial consultation, so do not hesitate to reach out today.
Our Team Is Here to Protect Your Child’s Rights to Compensation
Trantolo & Trantolo, LLC has been protecting injured victims in Connecticut since 1938. We are dedicated to helping our community by holding negligent parties responsible for their harm, no matter how challenging the claim may seem. If you work with our firm, we will:
Pursue Full Compensation On Your Behalf
Erb’s palsy can affect children in various ways—some babies will recover in months with treatment, while others could have lifelong nerve damage. Our team will assess your family’s claim and pursue a settlement or verdict that fully accounts for your needs, including:
- Current medical expenses
- Future medical needs, such as future surgeries or physical therapy
- Pain and suffering
- Other costs associated with your child’s injuries, such as travel costs for medical treatment
- Emotional anguish
- Loss of your child’s quality of life
Your child’s future can feel uncertain, but our team is dedicated to fighting for their needs.
Represent Your Family Every Step of the Way
Your family has a lot to deal with right now, and our lawyers are here to guide you throughout the process for damages. Our medical malpractice team, led by Attorney Paul Edwards, is well-equipped with the experience and resources to deal with respected providers, medical facilities, and their insurance teams.
Your family should not have to accept a low offer or feel powerless to take action—our goal is to get you results, and we do this by:
- Handling all communications with the other party
- Gathering and analyzing evidence for proof of negligence
- Identifying liable parties
- Working with medical professionals to support your claim
- Negotiating a settlement or litigating your case in court
Our team has won millions for medical malpractice clients, including a $1 million settlement for a child who developed Erb’s palsy due to negligent care. Our experience with birth injury claims and dedication to getting the best results means we are ready to get to work for you. Call us now for a free consultation with our Connecticut team.
Recognizing Erb’s Palsy in Newborns Is Critical
Erb’s palsy, sometimes called Erb-Duchenne paralysis, is a type of nerve injury that affects the upper brachial plexus nerve. This nerve group begins at the neck and controls the nerves all the way down the arm. A StatPearls publication from 2023 notes that this is a relatively common type of birth injury, affecting anywhere from “0.9 to 2.6 per 1000 live births.”
Sometimes, a baby’s shoulder can get stuck on the way out of the birth canal, causing shoulder dystocia. This is when an obstetric emergency in which normal traction on the fetal head does not lead to delivery of the shoulders. This shoulder dystocia can cause a number of problems for the baby, including Erb’s palsy and other brachial plexus injuries. Providers may pull and twist the child’s arm or neck, contributing to the injury.
While any newborn could suffer from Erb’s palsy, there are some risk factors that increase the chance of this injury. These include:
- Birth Weight: When a fetus has a high birth weight, their size can make it difficult for them to exit the birth canal. There are many factors that can result in this macrosomia, including maternal health issues like diabetes and maternal weight.
- History of Shoulder Dystocia: If you had a previous pregnancy and your child had shoulder dystocia, your future children could also be at risk of shoulder dystocia during labor.
- Multiple Pregnancy: Twins and other multiple pregnancies carry an increased risk of these injuries.
- Position of the Fetus: If the fetus is in the breech position (feet or bottom first, rather than headfirst), their arms can get caught during birth.
While a doctor or other provider cannot control many of the associated risk factors, they can and should take steps to help manage these risks.
Symptoms of Erb’s Palsy
Typically, a baby’s arm appears motionless at its side, with an immobile and extended elbow. Symptoms include loss of muscle control and feeling in arm and hand, gaze towards unaffected side of body, limited ability to move muscles, full paralysis of hand and fingers, facial paralysis, inability to sit upright without assistance, and no ability to crawl without assistance from a therapeutic device.
Brachial plexus injuries fall into several primary categories:
- Avulsion — Nerves are torn from the spine.
- Rupture — A nerve gets torn, but not from where it attaches to the spine.
- Neuroma — A torn nerve tries to heal but forms scar tissue around the damaged area. The scar tissue ends up putting pressure on the nerve. This type of injury can improve over time.
- Neuropraxia — The mildest brachial plexus injury is localized to where the nerve damage occurs. Recovery takes four to six weeks.
While some cases of Erb’s palsy result from unavoidable complications, others occur because of preventable mistakes during labor and delivery.
Negligence and Erb’s Palsy Birth Injuries
There can be many causes of birth injuries, as a negligent provider may:
- Delay ordering a C-section delivery
- Fail to recognize and manage risks associated with this injury, such as high fetal birth weight and shoulder dystocia
- Improper use of forceps or vacuums
- Failure to recognize and address signs of Erb’s palsy after birth
- Excessive use of force when handling the fetus during delivery
These and other negligent actions are inexcusable, and our team is here to help you fight for justice.
Is Erb’s Palsy Always a Sign of Negligence?
While it is difficult to see your child in pain, an injury at birth is not always a sign of provider negligence. A doctor or nurse could take all the right actions, and your child could still have this injury. When providers do make negligent errors, it can be hard for victims to prove it without understanding malpractice standards.
When identifying medical malpractice, our lawyers must focus on the elements of negligence, which include:
- Establishing the standard of care for the profession. For instance, if you suspect that an OB-GYN’s actions were to blame, we must determine what other OB-GYNs with similar training and education would have done for their own patients in similar circumstances.
- Proving a breach in the standard of care. Let’s say that we suspect that your doctor delayed ordering a C-section despite your child’s large birth weight and breech presentation. If we establish that other labor and delivery professionals would have ordered a C-section when faced with these risks, it could show negligence from your doctor.
- Linking provider actions to your child’s Erb’s palsy. Showing causation is another challenging element in such cases. Continuing with our example, our team would have to prove that your child’s injuries could have been prevented had your doctor taken quicker action.
- Showing that your family has suffered damages. Some providers may claim that despite their actions, your family did not suffer any actual harm. Our team will use evidence like medical reports and testimonies to show that your family has suffered various losses.
Birth injuries can be very complicated, but our attorneys are ready to help you fight to hold providers and hospitals accountable for harm.
Get Started With Our Connecticut Team on an Erb’s Palsy Claim
Your family is dealing with a lot right now, and you should not have to face negligent providers alone. Trantolo & Trantolo, LLC is here to represent you in the fight for compensation, so please reach out to our Connecticut lawyers today. We are available to take your call 24/7.