Bergen County Law Blog

When a mother chooses to use prescription drugs at the direction of a doctor during her pregnancy, she places an enormous amount of trust in a number of parties. Not only must she trust the doctor who prescribed the medication, but she also must trust the pharmaceutical company that produces the drug and the pharmacist who fills the prescription.

At each point in this process, many things may go wrong or get overlooked. Both the mother and the child may suffer serious unintended effects, sometimes causing long-term harm. Prescription drug errors are one of the leading causes of birth defects and injuries, making it important for any pregnant mother to carefully consider the potential complications any time she takes prescription drugs throughout her pregnancy.

Suffering an injury to you spine, even a relatively small injury, can mean that you face a long road of recovery ahead of you. The complex systems that interact in the spine control nearly every part of your body, meaning an injury to your spine may affect every aspect of your life, drastically impacting what you can do for work and possibly causing immense pain and discomfort.

Of course, if you have a severe spinal injury, then you probably already know. If a spinal injury occurs that is sufficiently severe, the victim may not retain any control over much of his or her body, because spinal injuries often lead to partial or complete paralysis. However, a victim who receive a moderate injury may simply push through the pain until the injury worsens and causes some very real and potentially permanent pain and loss of function.

When your child suffers injuries as a part of the birth process, you may have grounds to file an injury or medical malpractice claim. Of course, this depends on the circumstances that lead to the injuries. While parents aren't always able to avoid all birth defects or injuries, it is very possible that your baby's injury was avoidable and only occurred because of the negligence of some other party.

However, it is not always simple to determine who bears responsibility when the unthinkable happens and your infant suffers harm. To determine who is liable, it is first necessary to determine how the injury occurred. In some cases, an infant may be unavoidably injured while passing through the birth canal. It is not always feasible to mount medical malpractice claims after birth injuries occur.

After suffering injuries from medical malpractice, it is not always easy to determine who is liable for the harm and on the hook for compensating you fairly. In many cases, this may include the hospital where the injury occurred -- but not always. Before you assume you can include the hospital in your claim, it is wise to carefully examine the relationship of the hospital to the doctor or other medical care provider that caused your injury. You'll also want to look into other ways that the hospital may hold liability due to negligence or other egregious actions.

Building a strong claim takes time, but you only have a limited amount of time to file your claim before the window to do so closes. If you have any grounds for a medical malpractice suit, you should examine the hospital's roll in the injury very carefully. Without taking special care to build your claim effectively, you may not receive the full compensation that you deserve, or may overlook vital protections to your rights throughout the process.