Thank you for contacting Just Answer. I am sorry to hear of your situation.
You may be able to bring a medical malpractice claim against the doctors. I will tell you that such cases are difficult to prove, so you will want to talk to some personal injury lawyers about the matter to see if you have a viable claim. Such cases are taken on a contingency basis, meaning you pay no fees up front, and the law firm only recovers money if you do. For that reason, law firms are very selective about the types of cases they take. A good resource finding lawyers is www.martindale.com and www.lawyers.com. You can also contact your state bar association and ask about getting a lawyer referral in your area.
In order to establish a claim for medical malpractice (negligence) you will have to prove 4 elements: duty, breach, causation and damages. If you fail to successfully prove even one element, or the defendant raises a successful defense, the claim cannot succeed.
Duty means the duty of care. A doctor is expected to possess the medical knowledge of a reasonably competent medical professional and use the skill and care of a reasonably competent medical professional under the same circumstances. It's the "reasonabe person standard." In other words, if the reasonable doctor under the same circumstances wouldn't have used the vaccum suction, then that may be a breach.
Breach of duty means you would have to show that the doctors did not act in the manner of a reasonable doctor would have under the same circumstances. Typically, expert witnesses are required to testify as to the appropriate standard required.
Injury (Damages) means things like past and future medical expenses, pain and suffering, loss of ability to work or earn wages, etc. There is no doubt your daughter was injured and will suffer; but you must show a correlation between her injuries and the actions of the doctors.
Proximate cause (Causation) is a finding that negligence of a defendant was a substantial factor in the causing of harm. Again, it is accepted in medical negligence cases that proximate cause cannot be established without expert testimony.
One final note -medical negligence cases, like all cases, have a statute of limitations period, a time period in which you may bring your claim or be forever barred. In most states, it ranges from 2-4 years from the date you knew, or should have known of the injury for these types of cases. As your daughter is 18 months old now, I encourage you to not waste time in meeting with attorneys to discuss this case.
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