Philadelphia NICU Malpractice Lawyer
All newborns are particularly delicate beings during their first few weeks of life. Premature babies and others with health complications that require Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) care are exceptionally fragile. As such, NICU practitioners monitor their patients continuously, and provide painstakingly gentle and careful treatment of these babies. A slight error can cause bone fractures, infection, cerebral palsy, hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy, and other dangerous conditions. If your baby’s health suddenly deteriorated after being admitted to the NICU, or their condition failed to improve, malpractice may be at play. In order to know the full truth, it will be necessary to work with a Philadelphia NICU malpractice attorney, who will dig through the medical records to understand what went wrong, and whether or not there are any liable parties that engaged in NICU malpractice. Here at The Villari Firm, PLLC, our attorneys work closely with parents in order to meet their goals and help them gain a semblance of justice for the pain and harm that was caused to their newborn.
Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) Errors
The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit is not simply a resting place for babies before being sent home with their parents. The NICU is an intensive care unit like any other—it is reserved for patients who need around-the-clock care. The NICU is reserved for babies who cannot afford a lapse of treatment or the slightest mistake by a medical provider. Examples of NICU negligence include the following:
- Failure to monitor the baby’s heart rate or other vitals
- Medication or dosage errors
- Untreated or undiagnosed infection, including: B streptococcus, e-coli, chorioamnionitis, villitis, sepsis, meningitis, and herpes simplex virus encephalitis.
- Mismanaged intracranial hemorrhaging (bleeding of the brain)
- Intubation errors
- Ventilator breaths too quickly for the baby, causing hypocarbia
- Ventilator-induced pneumothorax
- Failure to place a chest tube in a timely manner, resulting in hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE), seizures, or cerebral palsy
- Undiagnosed HIE or untreated HIE
- Failure to treat hypothermia
- Failure to treat hypoxia injuries
- Failure to treat nerve injuries
- Failure to treat jaundice
- Failure to treat seizures
- Failure to diagnose or treat Neonatal Hypoglycemia (NH)
- Delay in resuscitation
Mistakes made in the NICU can lead to permanent brain damage, intellectual disabilities, long term learning disabilities, physical injuries that require surgery or other forms of rehabilitation, various types of palsy, and even death.
Contact a Philadelphia NICU Malpractice Lawyer Today
Doctors, PAs, nurses, hospitals, and other medical providers have a great responsibility in caring for NICU babies. If your newborn was injured, or lost his or her life, because of a hospital or doctor’s mistake, we are here to help you hold them legally accountable for their actions. It does not matter that your baby was premature, injured, or sick when they went into the NICU for treatment. If a medical provider deviated from the standard of care, and your child suffered damages as a result, the medical provider is at fault. Our Philadelphia NICU malpractice lawyers can help you prove this. Do not hesitate to call The Villari Firm at 215-372-8889 today to schedule a free consultation.
