Parents strive to keep their children healthy and often seek professional help when their child shows signs of an illness. However, in some cases, a visit to the doctor may result in more harm than good if the medical provider makes preventable errors that cause serious injuries.
Understanding Pediatric Malpractice
Pediatric malpractice is a form of medical malpractice where a healthcare provider fails to meet the standard of care, leading to harm to the child. The standard of care refers to the expected level of care that a provider should give to each patient. When this standard is not met, the consequences can be severe and lead to serious injuries or even death.
Age Ranges of Pediatric Patients
Pediatric patients range from newborns to young adults, up to 21 years old. Since the developmental difference between these ages is vast, pediatric care is divided into six age groups:
- Neonatal: birth to 28 days old
- Infants: 29 days old to 12 months
- Toddlers: 1 to 2 years old
- Preschoolers: 3 to 5 years old
- School-aged: 6 to 12 years old
- Adolescents: 13 to 21 years old
5 Common Types of Pediatric Malpractice Claims
Pediatric malpractice can take many forms, but some types of claims are more common than others. Common types of claims include:
- Failure to diagnose or misdiagnosis
- Medication errors
- Delayed treatment
- Birth injuries
- Surgical errors
Continue reading to learn about the common types of pediatric malpractice claims and their legal implications.
Failure to Diagnose or Misdiagnosis
Diagnosing children is usually more challenging than diagnosing adults, which makes failure to diagnose and misdiagnosis a leading cause of pediatric malpractice claims. Children may not be able to fully communicate symptoms accurately, and symptoms can present differently in children than in adults.
But this does not excuse providers for blatant negligence. Doctors are still responsible for fully evaluating the child and ruling out other conditions before making a diagnosis.
Some of the most serious consequences come from misdiagnosed brain injuries, which can cause permanent damage.
The most commonly misdiagnosed or missed condition in children is meningitis. This is a potentially life-threatening condition that causes inflammation of the membranes surrounding the spinal cord and brain. Illnesses like the flu or strep throat can mimic meningitis symptoms, making it more difficult to diagnose.
Medication Errors
Medication errors are another common cause of pediatric malpractice claims. These errors may occur during prescribing, administering, monitoring, or dispensing medication. The most common medication errors include:
- Dosing errors. Administering too much medication due to incorrect age or weight-based calculations.
- Allergic reactions. Giving or prescribing a child medication that they are known to be allergic to.
- Incorrect medication. Confusing similar-sounding drug names or similar-looking bottles, in turn, giving a child the incorrect medication.
In these cases, the liability may be on the pharmacists who dispensed the medication or on the hospital if it failed to have safety protocols to prevent these errors.
Delayed Treatment
When a child has a medical emergency, like an asthma attack, sepsis, or traumatic injuries, time is of the essence. Unfortunately, delays in treatment can still occur, often due to ineffective triage or understaffing. These delays can cause the child’s condition to worsen before receiving proper care.
In legal cases, delayed treatment can be proven by the timeline of events, including:
- When the child’s symptoms started.
- When the child arrived at the ER.
- How long it took to receive proper care.
This timeline helps to show that earlier intervention could have prevented the condition from becoming more severe.
Birth Injuries
Birth injuries refer to harm that occurs just before, during, or right after birth. Common birth injury claims involve conditions like cerebral palsy, birth asphyxia, and brain damage. Depending on the severity, these injuries can cause a perfectly healthy baby to become permanently disabled.
Perinatal and ICU units follow strict protocols to protect mothers and their babies. This includes close monitoring, quick emergency responses, advanced equipment, and skilled staff. However, if these standards are not followed, the risk of severe injuries greatly increases.
Surgical Errors
Surgical errors during pediatric procedures are often entirely preventable but can cause serious harm.
Common pediatric surgical errors include:
- Wrong-site surgery. When a surgical procedure is performed on the wrong limb or the wrong side of the body.
- Retained instruments. Leaving surgical instruments like sponges, needles, clamps, and scissors inside a child.
- Post-op infections. Failing to provide proper care post-surgery that causes preventable infections.
- Anesthesia complications. Incorrect anestheisa dosing based on the child’s age or weight can cause serious complications with their breathing and heart rate.
Children require special care during surgery, including the use of age-appropriate equipment and techniques. If this level of care is not provided, the medical providers can be held accountable for severe injuries.
Legal Process In Pediatric Malpractice Claims
One of the most important things to know when starting the legal process is the statute of limitations for pediatric cases. This is how long you have to bring a lawsuit.
In normal medical malpractice cases, victims only have 1 year from the date of the injury to file a lawsuit. However, when minors are involved, the statute is different.
In Ohio, the victim of pediatric malpractice has 1 year after their 18th birthday to file a claim. For instance, if the injury occurred when the child was 10, they would have 9 years (until their 19th birthday) to file a claim.
If you suspect your child suffered severe injuries due to a medical provider’s negligence, you must be able to prove these four elements:
- Duty of care. The medical provider had a professional duty to care for your child.
- Breach of duty. The medical provider was negligent and breached the standard of care, which caused injuries.
- Causation. The breach of care directly caused your child’s injuries.
- Damages: Your child and family suffered emotional, physical, and financial losses due to the injuries.
In any malpractice case, the burden of proof lies with the plaintiff, or the person bringing the lawsuit. This means it is up to you and your family to present evidence to support your case. That’s why hiring an experienced pediatric malpractice attorney is crucial.
While you can file a lawsuit without an attorney, malpractice cases require extensive medical knowledge and extreme attention to detail.
An experienced attorney will also bring in expert witnesses to explain complex medical details to a jury and show how the injuries could have been avoided with proper care.
Contact Our Pediatric Malpractice Attorneys Today
Watching your child suffer injuries due to a trusted doctor’s negligence is heartbreaking. We recognize the deep impact this can have on your family. That’s why our firm is dedicated to getting children and their families the justice they deserve after malpractice causes serious injuries.
If you suspect your child’s injuries were caused by a medical provider’s negligence, contact our Cleveland-based attorneys today at (440) 333-3800 or fill out our contact form.