Erb’s Palsy

Philadelphia, Lancaster, Pennsylvania

Erb’s palsy is caused by excessive stretching of your child’s brachial plexus during delivery. This stretching leads to nerve damage that will impact your child’s ability to control the muscles in their arms, shoulders, and hands. In severe cases, your child may suffer from complete paralysis. This avoidable injury impacts nearly two out of every one thousand infants born, and is one of the most common forms of birth injury.

As an avoidable injury, the doctors and medical staff responsible during your delivery must be held accountable for the damages. The malpractice attorneys at Atlee, Hall & Brookhart, LLP take an aggressive stance against this type of negligence, particularly as it affects children and entire families. For over 30 years our law firm has been helping families like yours in recovering from the long-term medical costs and emotional turmoil caused by this entirely unnecessary condition.

Causes of Erb’s Palsy

During birth your baby’s shoulder may become stuck on your pelvic bone resulting in what is known as shoulder dystocia. There are some indications that you are at a higher risk for this complication prior to your labor, such as:

• Gestation of over 40 weeks
• Maternal weight gain in excess of 35 pounds
• Pre-birth weight of the baby exceeding 8l bs. 14 oz.
• Maternal diabetes

In other instances, shoulder dystocia is a birthing emergency. Whether your doctor has preexisting knowledge of potential complications or is faced with an emergency situation, there are accepted protocol to avoid damage to your child’s brachial plexus and eliminate the potential for Erb’s palsy. When these standards are not met, your doctor has acted unprofessionally and unethically, and needs to be held accountable for his negligence.

Working with a staff of medical professionals, the malpractice attorneys at Atlee, Hall & Brookhart, LLP are able to expose this type of negligence, and help provide your family with the compensation you will require to deal with your child’s potentially lifelong injuries.

If your child is suffering from Erb’s Palsy anywhere in the state of Pennsylvania, please contact the Lancaster or Philadelphia law offices of the experienced malpractice attorneys at Atlee, Hall & Brookhart, LLP  for an initial malpractice case consultation.