Preeclampsia and eclampsia are conditions that can cause birth injuries that affect both the mother and child. They can cause life-threatening hemorrhaging during labor and delivery. And even if the mother and infant survive, they may develop long-term complications.
Doctors can often detect these conditions. Though they cannot cure them, they can manage them to protect their patients’ lives and produce a full-term delivery. If doctors provide negligent care, however, a preeclampsia & eclampsia lawyer in Jacksonville, FL, can help you pursue fair compensation.
Contact Baggett Law Personal Injury Lawyers or call us at (904) 396-1100 for a free case evaluation to discuss your legal rights.
How Baggett Law Personal Injury Lawyers Can Help With a Preeclampsia or Eclampsia Claim in Jacksonville, FL
Baggett Law Personal Injury Lawyers was founded in 2012 with the goal of providing legal representation to injured individuals throughout Jacksonville, Florida. Our Jacksonville medical malpractice lawyers have over a century of combined experience standing up to at-fault parties and their insurers.
We will conduct the following tasks in the event that you or your child suffered an injury due to a medical provider’s negligent or otherwise wrongful actions:
- Listen to your story and educate you about your legal options
- Collect evidence, such as records and documents, for your case
- Prepare an insurance claim and fight the insurer to settle it
- File a lawsuit if the insurer refuses to make a fair settlement offer
Your child may face a lifetime of medical care and therapy after suffering a birth injury caused by medical negligence. Contact our Jacksonville birth injury lawyers for a free consultation to learn about your options for pursuing compensation from your doctor or hospital.
Are Preeclampsia and Eclampsia Common Complications?
Preeclampsia occurs when the mother suffers high blood pressure during pregnancy, labor, or both. It is, thankfully, a rare complication, only occurring in one out of every 25 pregnancies.
Eclampsia is a severe progression of preeclampsia, causing maternal convulsions or seizures. It is even rarer than preeclampsia, though, only affecting about 1% of mothers with the latter condition, or about one in 10,000 pregnancies.
The exact causes of both preeclampsia and eclampsia are not known. However, they can be detected by screening the mother at each of her appointments and during labor. Moreover, doctors can look for and identify risk factors, such as obesity, diabetes, and prior pregnancies with preeclampsia.
If the mother’s blood pressure is chronically high, doctors can prescribe medication to bring it down. They will also increase their monitoring and may even deliver the baby early to avoid serious complications.
Some common injuries that can result from preeclampsia and eclampsia include:
- Maternal organ damage
- Maternal seizures, convulsions, or stroke
- Fetal growth restriction
- Preterm birth, potentially leading to brain damage and cerebral palsy
- Placental abruption and hemorrhaging
Another risk of preeclampsia is placental abruption during delivery, which can lead to life-threatening hemorrhaging that can kill both the mother and fetus.
How a Preeclampsia and Eclampsia Lawyer Can Assist With Your Jacksonville Birth Injury Claim
If you or your infant suffered injuries due to preeclampsia or eclampsia, you may both face long-term complications. A lawyer can help you recover compensation so that you can pay for your living expenses while you recover, as well as any future treatment and therapy you or your child may require.
Some steps a Jacksonville birth injury attorney will take in your case include the following:
Investigate What Happened
To prove medical malpractice, you and your lawyer must show that your doctor acted negligently. That means they must have failed to provide reasonable medical care under the circumstances. That standard is measured by comparing what the doctor did to what an objective, reasonable doctor would have done in the same situation.
Some common ways a doctor’s negligence may lead to preeclampsia and eclampsia include the following:
- Failing to diagnose the conditions
- Misdiagnosing and thus treating the wrong condition
- Failing to treat the mother or order additional monitoring after diagnosis
Your lawyer will likely consult medical professionals to analyze what occurred and render an opinion about the reasonableness of the doctor’s actions.
Gather Evidence
Evidence will often come from your medical records, showing test results and observations that the doctor could have used to diagnose you, as well as how they responded.
Negotiate a Settlement
Many medical malpractice cases start with an insurance claim. Your attorney will prepare a claim with evidence showing that the doctor acted negligently. The claim will also include documents proving the losses you and your child suffered.
Litigate Against Negligent Doctors
Since birth injury cases often involve large losses, they, in turn, have the potential to yield huge damage awards. It is, therefore, usually worthwhile for insurers to fight hard to frustrate parents into settling.
A Jacksonville medical malpractice attorney knows all the tricks and strategies used by these companies. They can keep a claim on track and advocate for a fair settlement or damage award to resolve the case and provide for the child’s future.
Schedule a Free Consultation With Our Jacksonville Preeclampsia & Eclampsia Lawyers
Mothers and their babies are at risk when a doctor fails to manage cases of preeclampsia and eclampsia. Contact Baggett Law Personal Injury Lawyers for a free consultation to discuss your case against your doctor and the compensation you can seek for your injuries.
