While we assume that all Hauppauge parents are thrilled on the day their child is born, it seems that there are quite a few parents who end up stunned, confused and angry when they discover their child has a birth injury. Sadly, six in every 1,000 children have some form of birth injury in the United States. Some of these injuries can be extremely severe, leading to multimillion dollar medical malpractice awards.

One family recently was awarded $58 million by a jury after the mother and father alleged their 8-year-old son developed cerebral palsy because of a doctor error. The mother and father say that their obstetrician should have delivered the child two days earlier when he or she learned the amount of embryonic fluid was falling quite rapidly. Instead, the physician waited, but by the time the child was born, he had sustained significant brain damage.

Children can develop cerebral palsy when physicians fail to notice fetal distress and the child's brain is then deprived of oxygen. While some children with cerebral palsy may not have any noticeable difficulties, others will require expensive medical treatments and care for the rest of their lives. The 8-year-old boy who was born too late has extensive brain damage and will need assistance for the rest of his life to perform most tasks.

Another common birth injury is Erb's palsy. This medical condition is most likely to happen when the physician gets the child's shoulder stuck in the birth canal. The nerves in the shoulder then become damaged, making it difficult or impossible for the child to properly use his or her arm or hand.

Source: News 4 Jax, "How medical malpractice leads to birth injuries," Ed Greenberger, Jan. 11, 2012