Here in New Mexico, and throughout the U.S., we like to think of hospitals as a safe place for sick people. While people often do go into the hospital sick and come out better, sometimes hospital errors make people sicker or cause catastrophic results. Due to understaffing, inadequately trained staff, paperwork errors and a variety of other shortcomings, hospital negligence does occur in New Mexico hospitals.
CDC report: 1 in every 1,000 births result in birth injuries
A little over 4 million babies are born in New Mexico and throughout the United States each year. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, one in every 1,000 of those newborn babies suffers some form of a birth injury during labor or delivery. In many instances these injuries are avoidable if the attending physician acts according to proper hospital procedure and responds appropriately to a medical emergency. If a doctor or hospital staff member does not respond quickly or appropriately in an emergency situation and a birth injury results, the doctor, staff member and hospital can be held liable.