Hypotonia is a condition where the muscles lack tone. Muscles typically contract slightly, even when relaxed. This contraction makes them resistant to passive movement. Signals from the brain control muscle tone, telling the muscle to contract. Hypotonia is common in infants who have suffered a birth injury.
If your baby’s limbs hang limp and they seem to have little to no control over their head movement, hypotonia may be the cause. If your baby fails to meet movement benchmarks, their pediatrician may diagnose them with hypotonia, also known as floppy infant syndrome. Learn how a Maryland birth injury lawyer from our firm can help you recover compensation.
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Hypotonia Vs. Muscle Weakness
Hypotonia is not to be confused with muscle weakness, although the two conditions can often be found together. While most commonly found in infants, hypotonia can occur at any age. An athlete who suffers a traumatic brain injury could develop hypotonia. Although their muscles would still be strong, they would lack tone and control.
For infants born with hypotonia, building muscle strength can be challenging since they won’t have control over their muscles in the way that a baby without the condition would.
Birth injuries can also result in high muscle tone, known as hypertonia, which is the opposite of hypotonia.
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Hypotonia Resulting From a Birth Injury
If your child suffered a birth injury that resulted in hypotonia, the road ahead can be challenging, and treatment for their symptoms and the underlying condition can be expensive. While in some cases, hypotonia may improve over time, it is often a lifelong condition that requires continued medical care and treatment.
If the negligence of a healthcare worker resulted in your child’s birth injury, you may be entitled to compensation. Recovering damages can be critical when faced with a potentially lifelong condition. An experienced birth injury lawyer can help you pursue the compensation you need and deserve after an accident.
Your child’s health is the most important thing, and recovering the money necessary to pay for your child to receive the medical treatment they need is critical.
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Make Sure to File Your Birth Injury Lawsuit on Time
When attempting to recover compensation for your child’s birth injury that resulted in hypotonia, it is critical that you pay attention to the filing deadline. The personal injury statute of limitations for the state in which the injury occurred will dictate how long you have to file a lawsuit. If you fail to submit the necessary paperwork on time, you will likely be unable to collect damages.
However, you should still contact an experienced birth injury lawyer, even if you believe your window for recovering damages has already closed. Exceptions apply in some cases that can alter the filing deadline and allow you to submit your lawsuit long after the usual cutoff date has passed.
At the same time, the details of your case could impose further restrictions on the length of time you have to submit your lawsuit. The best way to ensure you don’t miss your opportunity to file is by contacting an experienced attorney as soon as possible after discovering the birth injury. Your lawyer can identify the exact deadline for your case and file all paperwork on time.
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Damages You Can Recover From the Liable Party
If your child suffered hypotonia as a result of a birth injury caused by a negligent party, there is likely going to be a wide range of damages that you can pursue. Every hypotonia birth injury case is different, so it is critical that you enlist the help of a birth injury lawyer when attempting to identify the exact damages that apply to your case.
All recoverable damages can be split into three categories.
Economic Damages
Economic damages cover all the losses resulting from your child’s hypotonia that affect your financial standing. The economic damages most often recovered in birth injury cases include:
- Lost wages for any time you were forced to miss from work to care for your child
- Lost earning potential if your child’s hypotonia will likely affect their ability to earn income in their lifetime
- Medical expenses
- Projected future medical costs
Non-Economic Damages
Non-economic damages cover every other type of loss you and your child suffer as a result of their hypotonia. Non-economic damages can cover a wide range of losses. Because these losses affect you personally rather than financially, determining their value can be challenging.
However, in most cases, non-economic damages will account for the majority of the money recovered. The non-economic damages most often recovered in birth injury cases include:
- Permanent disability
- Pain and suffering
- Mental anguish
- Emotional distress
- Scarring and disfigurement
- Loss of quality of life
Punitive Damages
Punitive damages are only awarded in a small percentage of cases. The damages differ from the compensatory damages mentioned in the first two categories, in that they focus on punishment of the at-fault party, as opposed to compensating the injury victims.
The court will only consider punitive damages in cases where the liable party acted with the express intention of causing harm or where they were criminally negligent.
Reach Out to an Experienced Birth Injury Attorney Today
At Birth Injury Lawyers Group, we have a long history of helping parents of children with floppy infant syndrome collect compensation to cover their child’s care. Our team of birth injury attorneys will work tirelessly on behalf of you and your family and give you the best chance of recovering the money you need and deserve.
Contact us today by phone or through our website to schedule a free case review with a member of our team. We are available to take your call 24/7, so don’t hesitate to get started.
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