Brain trauma birth injuries affect a baby's ability to develop

One of the most serious birth injuries a baby can suffer is brain trauma as it affects their entire ability to develop and grow normally.

Is a birth injury birth trauma a TBI?
Contrary to popular opinion, the term 'traumatic brain injury' (TBI) - which changes how somebody acts, moves, thinks and learns - is not actually used to describe babies born with a brain injury or for brain birth injuries that occur during delivery.

The Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) states that "the term does not apply to brain injuries that are congenital or degenerative or to brain injuries induced by brain trauma." Brain trauma can take place because of a birth injury.

If brain damage has been caused by medical negligence and a birth injury, parents who believe the hospital is at fault generally want to know whether the accident could have been prevented. If it was caused by an injury during the perinatal period (around the time of birth) and could have been avoided, a valid compensation claim could arise.

What causes birth injury brain trauma?
Birth injury brain trauma damage can be caused by hypoxia and ischemia - decreased oxygen and blood flow to a baby's brain. There have been many disputes about these conditions and challenges to compensation claims, with lawyers referring to unknown factors during pregnancy that could also produce similar results.

A British Medical Journal (BMJ) article, however, said that "more than 90 % of term infants with neonatal encephalopathy, seizures or both, but without specific syndromes or major congenital defects, had evidence of perinatally acquired insults, and there was a very low rate of established brain injury acquired before birth."

In plain English, this means that if a baby has brain damage, it was probably caused by something that occurred near the time of birth. This could be due to a birth injury or medical negligence.

Brain injury birth trauma compensation
Anything affecting a newborn baby is extremely upsetting for the family involved, but if the baby's brain is affected, most parents want to take immediate action. A healthy child whose entire life is hampered through medical negligence is unacceptable to many people.

For parents whose child has suffered a brain trauma birth injury, there are things we can do to help you. Giving you free legal advice is one of them, from an expert panel of solicitors who specialise in personal injury cases.

If we think you are entitled to make a claim we'll take you through the claims process and will explain how it all works to you clearly in language you can understand without legal jargon.

Our success rate is excellent for claims we take on. In addition, your claim won't cost you a penny and you can keep the entire amount of any compensation awarded.

So call us now on 0800 10 757 95 to find out how we can help you make a birth injury claim today.