Birth Injury Attorney helps parents seek financial compensation for their child’s medical expenses, therapies, equipment, and home modifications. They identify evidence of medical negligence by reviewing medical records and consulting with expert witnesses.
Contact a birth injury lawyer to start building your case as soon as possible. This will help you meet all important deadlines.
Medical professionals are required to uphold a high standard of care when treating pregnant women and children. When this standard of care is breached, serious and life-altering injuries can occur. A birth injury attorney can help victims recover damages for their injuries. This can pay for future medical treatment, disability accommodations, and other expenses related to a birth injury.
A successful birth injury lawsuit requires proof that the medical professional acted negligently. A lawyer must establish that the medical provider was responsible for a child’s injuries by reviewing the patient’s medical records and consulting with experts. Medical experts provide a crucial analysis of the current standards of practice in the field and identify whether the healthcare provider’s actions deviated from those standards. They also help a lawyer prove causation, which is the link between the at-fault healthcare provider’s actions and a child’s injuries.
For example, a birth injury lawyer may need to show that a healthcare provider acted negligently by failing to appropriately monitor a baby’s vital signs during labor and delivery. This failure caused the infant to suffer oxygen deprivation and brain damage.
A birth injury attorney must also show that the at-fault medical professional’s actions directly caused the child’s injuries. This could include a broken bone from improper handling of the child during birth or nerve damage from excessive force or rough handling during the delivery process. For example, a doctor who incorrectly applies pressure or uses forceps during delivery may cause Erb’s palsy, which causes permanent arm and shoulder dysfunction.
After a medical expert provides a report, a birth injury attorney can submit a demand package to the hospital or doctor’s malpractice insurer. A demand package includes a description of the birth injury, the underlying facts, and a detailed request for compensation. The malpractice insurance carrier will either accept or reject the request.
During this negotiation process, an experienced birth injury attorney will communicate with the insurance company on your behalf and handle all aspects of the claim for you. This can free up your time to focus on your family while also ensuring that your case is properly filed and complies with all deadlines.
Collecting Evidence
A birth injury attorney can help you file a claim and gather necessary evidence to prove negligence during your child’s birthing process. In a medical malpractice case, the first step is to show that you and your child’s doctor had a professional relationship, which can usually be proved by medical records or hospital bills. Then, your birth injury attorney must collect proof that the doctor breached their duty of care by committing an act or failing to perform an action that caused your child’s injury.
This is where medical expert witnesses can be crucial to your case. A birth injury lawyer can hire an expert who will review your medical records and give a formal opinion on whether or not malpractice occurred. Typically, the expert will establish the standard of care that a reasonable doctor in your specialty would have provided under similar circumstances and then explain how the defendant’s deviation from that standard caused your child’s injury.
Other forms of evidence that may be necessary include witness testimony, imaging studies and a variety of other documents that can help to establish what happened during the birthing process. Your attorney will work to get the medical records from any doctors, nurses or other health care providers who were involved in your baby’s birth. They can also depose them to hear their statements under oath about what happened during the delivery and what they saw as the result of the doctor’s behavior.
Once your lawyer has all the relevant documentation, they will begin to put together a case and present it to an insurance company in order to seek a fair settlement. If the insurance company refuses to offer a settlement, your lawyer will then take the matter to trial in order to try to win a judgment in your favor.
Unfortunately, the majority of medical malpractice cases, including those involving birth injuries, settle out of court. This is because most health care providers are willing to settle because they don’t want to go through a lengthy and risky trial where they could be found liable for an expensive verdict.
Negotiating with Insurers
Depending on the type of birth injury, an attorney can work with medical and financial experts to estimate costs associated with future care. This includes current monetary losses like medical bills and lost wages, as well as lifetime expenses for treatment.
It is important to find a birth injury lawyer who has experience handling cases similar to yours. An experienced attorney will be able to quickly identify whether you have a valid claim, and can help you navigate the legal process. Many lawyers offer free consultations, so there is no risk to meeting with a lawyer to discuss your case.
After reviewing the evidence, an experienced birth injury lawyer can negotiate with the hospital or doctor’s malpractice insurance provider to obtain a fair settlement for your child’s injuries. This step may involve mediation, a process led by a third party to help both parties reach a mutually acceptable resolution without going to trial.
If a settlement is not reached, the case will go to court, and a judge or jury will decide who wins the lawsuit. Medical malpractice trials are often long and stressful, and plaintiffs can suffer emotional and physical trauma during the process. As a result, many medical malpractice claims are settled outside of court.
In a case that goes to trial, an attorney will call witnesses, including doctors and nurses, to testify about their experiences treating the injured child. They will also question family members of the child and review medical records. This information will help the jury understand what happened during delivery, and why it was a medical error.
In some states, laws place maximum caps on damages awarded in medical malpractice cases, especially non-economic damages like pain and suffering. A good birth injury lawyer can keep the case moving and push back against any attempts by the insurance company to limit your damages. They will also make sure you are enrolled in any state programs that can help with care costs. For example, New York has a medical indemnity fund that pays for the cost of medically necessary care for victims of birth-related injuries.
Litigating in Court
Some birth injuries don’t become apparent until much later in life, such as when a child misses developmental milestones or when a pediatrician indicates that the child suffers from physical and intellectual deficits. If you notice any of these symptoms, it’s important to seek a medical evaluation as soon as possible. In addition, admission to the NICU or need for a CT scan or MRI after birth may also be indicators of injury.
Birth injury attorneys can evaluate your case and determine if there are any signs of medical negligence. If so, the attorney will send a demand package to the doctor or hospital’s malpractice carrier. This document includes a statement from the parent(s) describing the child’s injury, along with records and documentation supporting the claim. Insurers may respond by offering a settlement amount. If the demand is not accepted, the attorney will file a lawsuit.
Lawsuits are often complex, requiring expert testimony in many areas. A good birth injury attorney is familiar with the types of evidence that are relevant to the case, such as X-rays, medical charts, hospital records and medical notes. The attorney will also be skilled at negotiating with the insurance companies, which are often eager to settle cases before trial.
Medical negligence claims can involve both economic and non-economic damages, which are intended to compensate the victim(s) for their losses. The amount awarded by a jury or judge will vary according to the facts of each case. In some particularly egregious cases, juries or judges may award punitive damages, which are designed to punish the defendant(s) for their reckless disregard for a patient’s rights. In most cases, a successful verdict will result in compensation for medical bills, ongoing care, lost income and other expenses. Parents who receive this compensation find peace of mind in knowing that negligent medical workers will be held accountable for their actions. Contacting a qualified birth injury lawyer as soon as possible can help make this process go smoothly and quickly. Most birth injury lawyers offer a free initial consultation. This meeting is an opportunity for the attorney to evaluate your case and decide if they can represent you.