Chicago Wrongful Birth Attorney
When a baby is born with serious and life-changing medical issues, it may be possible to file a wrongful birth lawsuit against the healthcare provider, such as an ob-gyn, who provided care to the pregnant mother throughout the pregnancy. Nobody wants to think about the risks of giving birth to a baby with severe medical abnormalities that will require extensive surgeries and life-long medical care, yet genetic defects and other health issues can affect the life of a baby from birth until death.
If your doctor failed to diagnose potential health or genetic conditions affecting your baby during pregnancy, or if your healthcare provider made a serious error in providing genetic counseling, an experienced Chicago wrongful birth attorney at our firm can speak with you about filing a claim.
What is a Wrongful Birth in Chicago?
The term “wrongful birth” is typically used to describe situations in which a doctor or other healthcare provider failed to tell a pregnant mother about certain genetic or health risks or complications with the fetus, leading the mother to carry the baby to term. Pregnant women should be able to trust that their healthcare providers will give them the information they need about whether to carry a fetus to term if there is a likelihood that the baby will be born with life-altering health problems or birth defects.
While the language of wrongful birth claims can include many types of scenarios in which a healthcare provider was negligent, the central part of these types of claims is that a healthcare provider’s negligence resulted in a pregnant mother being unable to make an informed and reasoned decision about whether to carry a fetus to full term. As Merriam-Webster dictionary explains, a wrongful birth can be defined as “a malpractice claim brought by the parents of a child born with a birth defect against a physician or healthcare provider whose alleged negligence (as in diagnosis) effectively deprived the parents of the opportunity to make an informed decision whether to avoid or terminate the pregnancy.”
Proving a Chicago Wrongful Birth Claim
In order to win a wrongful birth case, a parent typically must argue that, “but for the defendant’s negligence, they would have terminated their pregnancy,” according to an article in Fordham Law Review. In addition, the parent filing the claim must be able to show that the baby was born with a serious birth injury or defect that could have been identified during pregnancy if the doctor had not been negligent.
Contact Our Chicago Wrongful Birth Lawyers
If your ob-gyn or other healthcare provider failed to accurately diagnose a serious health issue or injury in your unborn baby, or if your healthcare provider failed to alert you to known complications or risks with your pregnancy, you may be able to file a wrongful birth claim. Our experienced Chicago wrongful birth attorneys know how difficult and complex these situations can be, and we are here to help you. Contact Wais, Vogelstein, Forman, Koch & Norman, LLC to learn more about how our firm assists parents and families with birth injury cases and wrongful birth lawsuits in the Chicago area.
