Gestational Diabetes

Schedule your free consultation

100% Secure & ConfidentialOR CALL US AT (800) 529 6162

Gestational diabetes is diabetes that is diagnosed when a woman is pregnant. It affects how the cells use sugar, or glucose, and can lead to high blood sugar in the mother. It can have a negative impact on both the mother’s and the baby’s health. Every year, it’s estimated that gestational diabetes affects 2% to 10% of pregnancies in the United States.

This condition occurs when a mother’s body cannot produce insulin during her pregnancy. The pancreas makes insulin, a hormone that lets blood sugar into the cells in a body so that they can be used for energy. When a woman becomes pregnant and her body changes, she will gain weight. The changes she experience can lead to her body using insulin less effectively, which is called insulin resistance.

If a woman starts her pregnancy already experiencing insulin resistance, then it’s much more likely she will be diagnosed with gestational diabetes. In order to avoid gestational diabetes, an overweight woman may try to lose weight through a healthy diet and exercise. Along with being overweight, other risk factors include previous prediabetes or gestational diabetes, diabetes in a family member, polycystic ovary syndrome, and previously delivering a baby that weighed more than 9 pounds.

Gestational diabetes typically happens in the later stages of pregnancy, after the 28th week. It can lead to a number of different birth injuries if not properly diagnosed and treated.

Symptoms of Gestational Diabetes

There are usually no symptoms or signs of gestational diabetes in pregnant women. A woman may experience increased thirst or more frequent urination, but that’s it.

A baby could develop a birth injury due to gestational diabetes. For example, gestational diabetes could result in preeclampsia, and that could cause a baby to experience brain damage. A baby may not meet milestones like other babies their age or have trouble with their behavior or learning skills as they grow older. A baby could also develop cerebral palsy and experience difficulty walking and swallowing, have stiff muscles, and have a speech disorder. Another possibility is that a baby will be born with hypoglycemia, which could cause seizures.

Treatment for Gestational Diabetes

A woman who is at risk of gestational diabetes may want to take preventative steps like eating healthy and exercising prior to getting pregnant and while she is actually pregnant. She should also check her blood sugars to ensure they are in a healthy range and make sure her doctor is properly monitoring her baby’s development. A woman may also have to get insulin injections and take certain medication. A doctor could determine that a mother needs to give birth to her baby early in order to protect the baby’s health. It could be born as early as 36 weeks.

How Do I Know if Medical Malpractice Caused Gestational Diabetes?

Typically, gestational diabetes occurs in a mother because she is already at risk for diabetes, or she is overweight. However, medical malpractice could happen if a mother is misdiagnosed, or diagnosed at all. Also, if the baby should have been delivered early and it wasn’t, and that led to an injury, the doctor might be responsible. If a doctor did not properly monitor a mother and/or the baby and run the right tests, then they could possibly be considered negligent.

There’s no way to know that gestational diabetes medical malpractice occurred until you contact a birth injury lawyer. They will evaluate the proof you provide them and determine whether or not the doctor was negligent or simply made a mistake. Then, you can figure out whether or not you have a valid lawsuit on your hands.

How Much Will I Receive From a Gestational Diabetes Settlement?

You won’t know exactly how much you’ll received from a settlement until the deal is done and all the paperwork is signed. However, you could receive economic and non-economic damages for things like:

Medical bills
Loss of companionship and enjoyment of life
Pain and suffering
Future medical care
Loss of earning capacity

The higher the costs you incurred, the higher your potential settlement could be. For example, if your baby only had a temporary injury due to gestational diabetes and recovered pretty quickly, your bills and your settlement will be lower. But if your baby now has a lifelong injury that will require future medical care, then your potential settlement could be much higher in order to cover all those expenses.

Settlement Offers in a Gestational Diabetes Case

Once you contact a birth injury lawyer, they will get in touch with your doctor, the defendant, and present them with the evidence of medical malpractice you provide. This could include witness statements, photographs of your baby’s injuries, and medical records. Then, your lawyer will attempt to negotiate a fair settlement for you.
Keep in mind that the defendant may not want to settle, and you’ll have to take them to court. But if you have solid evidence and can show definite wrongdoing, then the defendant will be more likely to settle with you to avoid court, which is time-consuming, costly, and could damage their reputation in the medical field.

Proving medical malpractice is very difficult. The legal system makes it this way so that everyone doesn’t have the ability to sue their doctor. If they did, no one would want to become a doctor. A birth injury lawyer will only take on your case if they believe it’s strong.

Why Contact a Birth Injury Lawyer?

Giving birth to your child was supposed to be one of the happiest days of your life. Now, your child is suffering and your family is in pain from everything that transpired, and you have lots of medical bills and other expenses on top of it. You don’t want to get involved in a lawsuit, but you don’t have any other choice. A birth injury lawyer will take care of everything for you so you can focus on your baby and your family right now. This will give you a little bit of peace of mind during this tough time.