Understanding Birth Injury: Hip Dysplasia

Hip dysplasia birth injuries refer to abnormalities in how the hip grows. There are many forms of hip dysplasia, some of which can be treated or corrected  and others which cannot. The difference in many cases lies with a timely diagnosis.  A chlid with hip dysplasia could face years of suffering and medical treatment for which the family may be entitled compensation due to medical malpractice.  If you child suffers from hip dysplasia due to a preventable birth injury, contact an attorney for assistance.

Who Is Responsible For A Child’s Hip Dysplasia?

According to hip dysplasia attorneys, the child’s pediatrician is generally responsible. Pediatricians have tests should be done on children, including abduction and other testing on the hip joints to see if they are forming properly, to detect and correct hip dysplasia. If the issue is not caught and corrected in adequate time, the pediatrician may be at fault for the child’s lasting injury and pain.

The key is for a pediatrician to make the diagnosis, or more importantly, if he or she suspects that there may be a problem, order an x-ray, an ultrasound and then refer the child on to a pediatric surgeon. The pediatrician is just the gatekeeper whose job it is to identify where there may be a problem and then get that child on to a specialist.

In the case of a hip problem, the specialist is a pediatric orthopedic surgeon. If the surgeon fails to properly correct a problem diagnosed by the pediatrician, then he or she is responsible for pain and injury suffered by the child.  You will need to hire an attorney and medical experts to evaluate your child’s injury to determine who is at fault.

Hip Dysplasia Birth Injury Lawsuits: Compensation Can Be Substantial

One of the key compensation issues in a child medical malpractice lawsuit is that a child has many years to live and those hip dysplasia injuries will effect every aspect of their life, and future medical expenses will likely be substantial. A child who is not timely diagnosed with hip dysplasia could have hundreds of thousands of dollars of future medical expenses with all the procedures that will be needed, including hip replacements.

There will also likely be an intense amount of pain that this child will undergo with all these future surgeries. These surgeries are some of the most difficult to perform and some of the most painful for a person to recover from. A child like this is looking at years of pain and suffering. This is a child that had everything to look forward to and the emotional pain of not being able to do the things that normal, healthy children do such as playing outside, playing hopscotch, sports and things of that nature. That’s just not possible for this type of child.

Hip dysplasia birth injuries can also have a direct affect upon the child’s ability to earn a living in the future as they have difficulty with mobility. Oftentimes, these children have discrepancies in their leg length which makes it impossible to be able to run at any speed.

As they proceed forward in life, all the recreational activities are going to be limited and even when they have a hip replacement even if it works perfectly it’s got a finite amount of time which means eventually it will wear out and they’ll end up going through the same process they did 20 years earlier. So, the birth injury damages that a child will suffer here are some of the largest you’ll see because their entire lives will be affected going forward.

Contact an Attorney

If your child is among those who is affected by hip dysplasia due to a birth injury, it’s important to know that you do have a remedy in the form of a hip dysplasia lawsuit.  Contacting an experienced child medical malpractice attorney who has dealt with these cases before can be a huge help. He or she can make suggestions in terms of where this child should seek additional medical treatment as they’ll know the top surgeons around the country  of which there aren’t many. It’s important to make sure that this child is seen by and treated by very experienced pediatric/orthopedic surgeons and receives the best possible care.

This specific type of situation is complex . Anyone seeking an attorney to look into this particular situation should ask whether they’ve handled hip dysplasia birth injury lawsuits. There’s a large learning curve for the lawyer who hasn’t versus the one that has and really understands what the issues associated with them, where the proper experts are and where the best treatment can be found.