Just like it’s important to have good, regular prenatal care when a mom is pregnant, it’s important to take your baby or child in for regular appointments with a pediatrician. Pediatricians are physicians with special training on how to take care of children.
Many parents think the main purpose of pediatric visits is to keep their infants and children current on shots or vaccinations. While that’s certainly part of what pediatricians do, another critical focus is on developmental milestones.
Developmental milestones are the physical and mental stages that children normally go through over time. Some of them are things that every parent looks for—sitting up, crawling, walking, and talking. While every child develops at his or her own pace, doctors compare a child’s growth and development with these milestones or markers to make sure things are on track.
As a Texas medical malpractice lawyer, I’ve handled many cases where pediatricians were the first providers to identify that a baby experienced a birth-related brain injury.
With some brain injuries, the symptoms might not be obvious at labor and delivery. They become more apparent, though, over time as pediatricians observe the child missing multiple developmental milestones. In these situations, pediatricians will often make recommendations for evaluation by other providers, like a pediatric neurologist, and for speech, physical, and occupational therapy.
If a pediatrician informs you that your baby or child is missing his or her developmental milestones, it is a good time to contact a Texas medical malpractice lawyer to see if the cause may be a medical error or mistake. Bear in mind that a strict statute of limitations applies to medical malpractice cases, even involving minors.
We are here to help
Click here to send us a confidential email via our “Contact Us” form or call us at 281-580-8800, for a free initial consultation.
__________
Robert Painter is an award-winning medical malpractice attorney at Painter Law Firm PLLC, in Houston, Texas. He is a former hospital administrator who represents patients and family members in medical negligence and wrongful death lawsuits all over Texas.
