Birth Defect or Birth Injury Lawsuits

In general, parents or guardians of a child will learn about their birth defect within the first year of their life. However, in some cases, birth defects are not known about until several years after they are born. Depending on the type of congenital incapacity, it may not be readily identifiable to parents. They need medical assistance to let them know what measures need to be taken.

The CDC lists these as the most common birth defect:

• Neural tube defects: Affects the brain, spinal cord, and spine of the infant. This is often a debilitating or life-threatening condition. Typical examples include spina bifida or anencephaly. Anencephaly happens when a newborn is born without parts of their head or brain, and spina bifida affects many different bones that are surrounding the spinal cord. Neural tube occurs in about 3,000 deaths every year.
• Cleft lip or cleft palate: This defect occurs from a baby’s mouth not forming correctly during pregnancy.  There is also a type of “orofacial cleft” that the CDC approximates occurs in more than 2,500 babies born annually.
• Congenital heart defects: This affects the structure and workings of an infant’s heart. This is the most common birth defect being that it occurs in almost 40,000 babies every year. Congenital heart defects are known at the time of birth, and most babies will need surgery to fix the defect. Some types of CHDs include atrioventricular septal defect, atrial septal defect, pulmonary atresia, hypoplastic left heart syndrome, transposition of the great arteries, and ventricular septal defect.
• Down syndrome: Down syndrome is the result of a baby having an extra chromosome. An extra chromosome affects how a baby’s brain and body will develop. Children with Down syndrome can experience both physical and mental difficulties. The CDC estimates that about 6,000 infants (1 in 700) are affected by Down syndrome every year.