Fairmont Birth Injury Attorneys With Trial Experience

We handle the full range of birth injury claims Marion County families bring forward, from clear-cut intrapartum injuries to complex causation cases:

• Cerebral palsy from intrapartum hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy
• Hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (oxygen deprivation during delivery)
• Erb’s palsy and brachial plexus injuries from shoulder dystocia mismanagement
• Skull fractures and intracranial hemorrhage from improper instrument use
• Subgaleal hemorrhage from vacuum-assisted delivery complications
• Kernicterus from untreated severe newborn jaundice
• Failure to diagnose maternal pre-eclampsia or gestational diabetes (prenatal cases)

Some claims resolve through MPLA pre-suit negotiation. Others go to litigation. Our first job on any of them is to preserve the records before the chart is reframed for medical malpractice defense purposes.

Birth injury claims tend to follow recognizable patterns. Our Fairmont families come to us after:

• Failure to monitor fetal distress on continuous EFM strips
• Delayed decision to perform a Cesarean despite clear indications
• Mismanaged shoulder dystocia (failure to perform the McRoberts maneuver)
• Improper use of forceps or vacuum extractor
• Failure to diagnose or treat maternal infections
• Medication errors during labor or postnatally
• Inadequate response to maternal hypertension or pre-eclampsia

Severely injured newborns are routinely transferred to the WVU NICU at Ruby Memorial in Morgantown for Level III/IV neonatal intensive care.

A birth injury case may involve more than one provider. The claim may include an obstetrician, nurse, hospital, anesthesiologist, midwife, pediatric provider, or another medical professional involved in the mother’s or baby’s care.

Responsibility depends on what the records show. One provider may have missed signs of fetal distress. Another may have delayed a C-section, used forceps or a vacuum improperly, failed to treat maternal complications, or waited too long to transfer the newborn for higher-level care.

Hospitals may also be responsible when the problem involves staffing, policies, supervision, delayed response, or poor communication between the care team.

WV MPLA governs damages in a Fairmont birth injury case. Categories include:

• Past and future medical expenses (uncapped)
• Future lifetime care, therapy, and adaptive equipment (uncapped)
• Pain and suffering (capped at approximately $750,000 in catastrophic cases under §55-7B-8)
• Loss of earning capacity for the child (uncapped)
• A wrongful death claim damages if the injury was fatal

Birth injury verdicts often involve multiple defendants. If a jury awards your child $4,000,000, with the obstetrician 40% at fault and the hospital 60% at fault, the obstetrician pays $1,600,000, and the hospital pays $2,400,000. Each defendant pays only their proportionate share under WV Code §55-7-13A.