Brain Injuries From Medical Malpractice
What is your first thought when you think of a brain injury? Most likely it is thinking someone has a traumatic blow to the head in an accident such as a car crash. While that is a leading cause of head injuries, medical malpractice can also lead to brain injury. It sounds strange to think about that being the case, but it can happen. When it does happen these types of injuries can truly affect the lives of victims and their families.
How Can Medical Malpractice Cause Brain Damage?
When medical malpractice occurs it is because someone in the medical field such as a doctor, nurse, anesthesiologist, midwife, or pharmacist makes a mistake out of negligence. This means that the medical professional fails to act in accordance with the recognized standard of care or fails to foresee the consequence of their actions which a person with the necessary skill and education should have reasonably foreseen.
Here are a few examples of how medical malpractice can lead to someone suffering a brain injury:
- Failing to timely diagnose a stroke or heart attack
- Excessive bleeding during a procedure that results in decreased oxygenation
- Failing to properly intubate a patient
- Neglecting to monitor the patient under anesthesia
- Failing to timely diagnose and treat an aneurysm or brain bleed
- Giving the patient the wrong medication or the incorrect dose
- Failing to properly diagnose or treat a pulmonary embolism
- Improperly using a vacuum extractor or forceps during childbirth
No matter the reason, when a medical professional provides care that is below the standard of care it can lead to injury. All of these injuries lead to oxygen not reaching the brain which leads to brain cell death. Brain cells do not regenerate as other cells do. Once a brain cell dies, that is it.
Common Brain Injury Types Caused by Medical Malpractice
Medical professionals can cause many different types of brain injures due to their malpractice. However, there are two main types that are caused. Here are the two most common types:
- Traumatic brain injury: These are brain injuries that are caused by an external factor, such as a blow to the head, penetration of a foreign object, or sudden violent jolts or shaking. The most common reason for this to happen is the doctor misuses the forceps during delivery and penetrates the skull of the baby. Many forms of a TBI involve hemorrhaging or brain bleeding.
- Non-traumatic brain injury: This form of injury happens when internal factors such as a tumor, lack of oxygen, or infection hurt the brain. A doctor who fails to diagnose such things could lead to a brain injury of various severity. The extent of the harm hinges on how long the brain was deprived of oxygen.
Brain bleeds and brain injuries are serious and that is why talking to a brain bleed lawyer like Davis & Brusca, LLC, is important. If you or a loved one have faced a brain bleed injury due to medical malpractice don’t wait to contact someone today.