Parents of children with birth injuries face many expenses, including the cost of medical treatments, therapies, and assistive equipment. They may also need to change their lifestyle or home to accommodate the child’s needs.
Compensation can help families pay for these costs and improve their child’s quality of life. However, pursuing financial compensation can be complex and time-consuming. Contact Birth Injury Attorneys now!
A medical malpractice claim against a healthcare professional is based on four critical elements: duty, breach of duty, causation, and damages. A birth injury attorney will carefully examine the evidence to prove these elements in court. This often involves reviewing detailed medical records and obtaining expert testimony from other health care providers.
A doctor owes patients a duty of care to act in a reasonable manner and follow accepted medical standards when treating them. The medical standard for a given situation can vary widely, depending on the circumstances and specific injuries. A medical professional may be negligent if their actions deviate from the standard of care and cause an injury to the mother or baby.
Medical records are the cornerstone of any malpractice case, and birth injury lawyers will carefully analyze these documents to identify potential problems. They can also work closely with other medical experts to connect the intricate details of the healthcare staff’s decisions and actions with their legal implications for the case. This technical backbone enables an attorney to make a solid argument in court that the medical professionals violated their duty of care and caused harm to the victim.
Once liability is established, the attorney must prove that the breach of this duty directly caused the injuries in question. They can do this by showing that the healthcare provider acted in a way that harmed the mother and child, and that this was a direct result of their negligence. This requires detailed medical records and expert testimony laying out the timeline of events leading up to the birth injury.
It’s important to ask how many cases a lawyer typically manages at once, as this can have an impact on their availability to clients and their ability to build a strong case for compensation. You should also find out if they have a team of nurses with years of labor and delivery expertise who can help understand what could have happened during your child’s birth.
A skilled legal team can deal with insurers and other parties on your behalf so that you can focus on your family. They can also take over communications with doctors and other professionals involved in the case to avoid making any mistakes that might jeopardize your family’s financial future.
Collecting Evidence
The birth of your child should be one of the most joyful moments of your life, but medical negligence during delivery can have devastating consequences. Even a minor mistake during labor and delivery can have long-lasting effects on your child’s physical, mental, and emotional well-being. If a doctor, nurse, or other medical professional made an error that caused harm to your child during labor and delivery, a birth injury lawyer can help you pursue the compensation you deserve.
Your legal team will gather all the evidence needed to build a strong case against the responsible party, including medical records and documents that demonstrate the standard of care and how the defendant failed to adhere to this standard of care. They may also consult expert witnesses to review the medical records and provide opinions on how the defendant’s actions fell below the relevant standards of care. Hospital policies, admissions records, and video evidence can also be helpful in proving your case.
During the case-building process, your lawyer will also work with you to determine what types of damages are appropriate in your case. These can include both economic and non-economic damages, such as future medical expenses, lost wages from time you were unable to work, pain and suffering, and other loss of enjoyment of life.
It is important to consider how experienced a birth injury attorney is before hiring them to handle your case. Ask potential lawyers about their success rate and how many cases they typically manage at a given time. You also want to ensure that you will be able to reach your lawyer when you need them and that they have the resources to handle the complexity of your claim.
After completing the necessary legal tasks to prove your case, your attorney will negotiate with the defendant’s malpractice insurers in an attempt to settle the claim outside of court. If no resolution can be reached, the case will go to trial, where a judge or jury will decide who is responsible for your child’s injuries and award you compensation. While financial compensation cannot undo the damage done by a healthcare provider’s negligence, it can ease your family’s burden and give your child the best chance at a happy, healthy life.
Negotiating with Insurers
Your attorney will work with the defendant’s insurance company to negotiate a settlement. They will use evidence collected by their legal team to prove the medical professionals’ negligence and help you receive compensation for your losses. In some cases, a trial may be necessary. Ask your prospective attorneys about their litigation experience and their success rate against corporate insurance lawyers.
You should also ask how many birth injury claims they manage at a time. Too many cases could make it difficult for them to provide quality legal services. A good lawyer should be able to manage a large caseload without sacrificing the level of legal representation you deserve.
Birth injuries are often caused by medical negligence and malpractice, such as a doctor’s mistake during childbirth or a hospital failing to treat a medical emergency that occurred in the delivery room. The negligence can cause harm to both the mother and the baby. A Rochester birth injury lawyer can help you file a lawsuit against the medical professionals who harmed your family.
A successful birth injury claim could provide you with compensation for your medical expenses, future costs of care, lost earning capacity, pain and suffering, and other damages related to your loss. The amount of compensation you can get for your loss depends on the severity of your child’s injury.
Many birth injuries are preventable. Doctors, midwives, and nurses have a duty to uphold the standard of care during childbirth. They must monitor and treat any signs of distress in the mother, such as hemorrhaging, so they can prevent serious complications for both the mother and the infant. Injuries that result from medical negligence during childbirth can have lifelong consequences for the affected families.
Cerebral palsy, spinal cord injuries, and brain trauma are some of the most common types of preventable birth injuries. The medical errors and negligence that cause these types of injuries can have a lasting impact on the victim’s physical, emotional, and financial health. Compensation from a settlement or jury verdict can be substantial, especially for victims with permanent disabilities.
Filing a Lawsuit
If a medical professional’s mistake leads to a birth injury, it can change the future you had planned for your child. Winning a lawsuit cannot undo that harm, but it can help you get the money you need to pay for your child’s care costs and give them the best life possible.
To win a lawsuit, you must prove that your child’s injuries were caused by a medical practitioner’s negligence during delivery. This can be complicated and requires a thorough investigation. Your attorney may need to work with a team of medical experts to determine what happened during the delivery process and how it could have been prevented.
The first step in the legal process is filing a Notice of Claim with the hospital, doctor or other medical provider. This informs the defendant that you are suing them for malpractice and sets the stage for discovery. During discovery, the parties exchange information and evidence in court-like settings. This can include depositions and interrogatories.
Throughout this phase, your lawyer will identify all potential liable parties. This could include obstetricians, nurses, anesthesiologists and even hospitals systems. It is also important to understand that your doctor might not be at fault for your child’s injuries. This is because your child’s delivery was a medical event that could have happened to anyone.
After a thorough investigation, your lawyer will prepare a complaint and file it with the appropriate court. This is a formal document that lists all claims of medical malpractice and/or wrongful death. If your case involves a government entity, your attorney will file a notice with the relevant agency as well. Once the complaint is filed, the court will set a trial date. In some cases, the doctor or hospital will agree to a settlement before trial. This can save you time and money if your case does not go to trial.