The attorneys at Davis Law Group have helped a large number of pregnant women who have been injured in a car accident. In addition to their own personal injuries, these women also have concerns about possible injury or damage that may have been done to their babies.
In most cases, a serious car accident will have some degree of effect on an unborn child. The extent and severity of the effect will often not be clear until the baby has been born and medical doctors have had a chance to evaluate the child and compare his or her progress with what could be expected of a child who had not been in an accident.
It is extremely difficult to pursue and resolve a personal injury claim without having a clear picture of how the child was affected by the accident. As time goes on, any effect that a particular auto accident may have had on a child should become more apparent, allowing a parent and/or a child injury attorney to more effectively negotiate with an insurance company on the family’s behalf.
How Car Accidents Can Harm Unborn Children
There are a number of ways that an unborn child could be affected by an auto accident, even if the collision was minor. Some of the more serious effects we have seen in the auto accident cases we handle include:
- Premature Labor Or Birth: The physical trauma and emotional anxiety that a mother might feel during and following a car accident could cause the mother to go into an early labor. A child is considered premature if the child is born before 37 weeks of fetal development. Premature birth, while common, can result in a number of other medical complications or conditions, including underdeveloped respiratory and digestive systems, infection, jaundice, heart complications, anemia, and more.
- Placental Abruption: When the mother of an unborn child is involved in a crash, the impact can cause the placenta to become detached from the uterus. This can cause serious bleeding and pain, and even cause the mother to enter labor early. These situations typically require serious and prompt medical treatment and can lead to a number of other complications down the road.
- Miscarriage: It is not necessarily common for a mother to experience a miscarriage after a car accident while pregnant, but it does happen. These situations are tragic for a mother, and miscarriages are more traumatic and difficult to recover from when the mother is further along in the pregnancy. More severe impact can sometimes increase the chances of a miscarriage after a collision.
How Often Do Pregnancy Complications Occur?
An estimated 2.5 percent of pregnant women are involved in auto accidents each year in the United States. And while more specific data is incomplete, it is estimated that thousands of pregnant women visit the emergency room after an auto accident each year.
A large percentage of ER visits by pregnant women who have been in a collision are precautionary. However, even a minor medical issue that results from being injured in a crash can have a lifelong effect on an unborn child.
Legal Action After An Accident
If you or a loved one has been injured in an accident while carrying a child, the most important thing to do is visit a medical professional to identify any injuries and determine the severity of those injuries. It also may be in an injured mother’s best interests to consult with an experienced personal injury attorney with experience in representing mothers of injured children.
The car accident attorneys at Davis Law Group have helped injured mothers and families recover financial compensation after an auto accident for more than 20 years. We will review your case free of charge and schedule you for a free legal consultation if we believe we can help you with your case.
Call our office in Seattle at (206) 727-4000 or use the confidential contact form on this page to have your case personally reviewed by our award-winning legal team.
