If your child suffered injuries at birth due to medical negligence, you may be entitled to financial compensation. Skilled Birth Injury Attorneys can help you build a strong case. They can do this by reviewing your child’s symptoms and investigating evidence like medical records, expert witness testimony, and sworn statements from eyewitnesses.
A successful claim can ease the financial burdens associated with long-term treatment for a preventable birth injury. A settlement could pay for lifetime expenses, such as medication, surgery and therapy.
Medical Malpractice
Medical malpractice claims involve a claim that doctors have violated their legal duty of care to patients. This obligation extends to everyone involved in the labor and delivery process, including obstetricians, maternal-fetal medicine specialists, anesthesiologists, labor and delivery nurses, neonatologists, pediatricians, radiographers, and hospital staff. A birth injury attorney will know how to coordinate the claims of all these parties and present them in a compelling way to a jury.
The evidence in a birth injury case is largely in the form of medical records, which must be obtained and carefully reviewed by the lawyer. These records will be scrutinized for indications of malpractice, such as an improper procedure or failing to follow a standard of care. The lawyer may also consult medical experts to review the record and provide a perspective on whether or not there was negligence.
It is not enough to simply prove that a doctor made a mistake during your child’s birth; you must also demonstrate that the error caused your child’s injuries. This involves presenting expert witness testimony to establish that the provider failed to adhere to the accepted standards of practice in the field and that the failure led directly to your child’s injuries.
In addition to proving that your child suffered damages, you must also establish how much those injuries are worth. This includes a range of economic damages, such as future lost earnings and the cost of any long-term medical treatments, like physical therapy or psychological or emotional trauma. While many states have enacted maximum caps for non-economic damages, such as pain and suffering, the scope of economic damages in a birth injury malpractice case is generally quite high.
Negligence
A lawyer can help families prove their case through medical records that establish a direct link between a health care provider’s mistake and the injuries suffered by their child. This type of evidence includes a doctor’s or hospital’s policies, records of admissions and procedures, eyewitness statements and expert witness testimony.
A birth injury claim requires proof that a medical professional owed the patient a duty of care and breached that duty by committing an error that directly caused the child’s injuries. A claim also must be shown that these injuries resulted in damages. A lawyer can review the medical records to see if there is sufficient evidence to support a medical malpractice claim and will hire experts to assist with this process.
Many medical malpractice cases, including those involving birth injuries, settle out of court. Doctors, hospitals and their insurance companies do not want to face public accusations that they are at fault for a child’s injuries, so they often have an incentive to settle. In addition, trials are risky for plaintiffs. A jury may award a high verdict against the defendants, and plaintiffs can lose their case altogether.
Families that cannot afford to take a case all the way through trial may apply for a settlement program in their state. This enables them to receive lifetime payments for their child’s ongoing medical needs without going through the lengthy and complex legal process. A skilled lawyer will prepare and negotiate a settlement with the insurance company on your behalf. This requires a thorough understanding of the case’s evidence and how it will be presented to a judge or jury. It also requires a strong negotiating ability, since insurance companies employ attorneys to protect their clients’ interests and seek to minimize payments.
Damages
When a doctor fails to meet generally accepted standards of medical care, victims can recover damages for the associated harm. These damages can include current and future medical expenses, physical pain and emotional distress, loss of enjoyment of life, mental anguish and more. An experienced birth injury attorney can help determine the merits of a claim and understand how much compensation you might deserve for your child’s injuries.
It is difficult to put a dollar amount on the devastating effects of birth injury, but your lawyer will seek to recover compensation that covers your child’s current and future needs. Your child may need long-term care and specialized treatment, assistive devices, ongoing therapy and education interventions. Your lawyer can determine all of these costs based on your child’s medical records and doctor’s recommendations, as well as other relevant data such as past and future medical bills.
Some states have caps on non-economic damages, such as pain and suffering, in a medical malpractice case. Your lawyer can review these laws and determine whether they apply to your child’s case. If they do not, your attorney can negotiate with the hospital’s insurance company to obtain a fair settlement on your behalf.
However, hospitals and doctors typically have teams of lawyers working full time to deny or reduce payment for claims. The sooner you hire a birth injury lawyer, the better chance you have of receiving full and fair compensation for your child’s injuries. Most lawyers charge no upfront fees, and work on a contingency fee basis. Then, if your lawyer is successful in recovering compensation for your child’s injuries, they will get a portion of the award.
Settlements
When a family’s child suffers a birth injury, it can be overwhelming for everyone involved. They may experience emotional distress and have to worry about long-term medical costs that they cannot afford. The financial compensation that they receive through a legal claim can help relieve some of these burdens. This type of compensation can also give parents and families peace of mind knowing that the responsible doctors will have to pay for their mistakes.
In a typical medical malpractice case, the plaintiff must prove that they had a professional relationship with their doctor and that this doctor owed them a duty of care. This can be proved through hospital records and other evidence. The next step is to show that the doctor breached their duty of care and that this breach caused the injuries. This is usually proven through expert witnesses and other types of evidence.
If the breach was severe, the jury or judge may award punitive damages. These damages are designed to punish the defendants for their extreme recklessness or disregard for safety. In most cases, however, the jury or judge will only award compensatory damages to the injured party and their family.
It is important to hire a top-rated birth injury law firm to represent your family in a medical malpractice lawsuit. This is because doctors, hospitals, and medical insurance companies typically have teams of lawyers working full-time to protect their interests and fight your claims. A top-rated firm will be prepared to build a strong case that explains how your health care provider breached the standard of care and how this breach caused your child’s injuries. This will allow them to seek maximum possible financial compensation for you and your child.
Trials
During a trial, your attorney will present evidence and make a case for medical malpractice. If a jury agrees with your lawyer and finds in your favor, they will award you compensation for the damages that you have suffered. This can include your child’s ongoing medical needs, any lost income that you or your child could have earned had the injury not occurred, and the pain and suffering that you and your family experienced.
Most birth injury cases do not reach the trial stage. In fact, the majority of medical malpractice lawsuits end in settlement agreements with the defendant. This is because the medical professionals and hospitals will want to avoid negative publicity, but it is not always possible to reach a satisfactory agreement with defendants regarding the fault that led to your child’s injuries.
A lawyer can build a strong case for negligence by reviewing medical records and hiring expert witnesses. These experts can help explain the medical standard of care and how your doctor’s actions deviated from that standard. They can also bolster your case by presenting a clear snapshot of what happened before, during and after your child’s injury.
If you have a claim against a medical professional for their breach of duty that resulted in your child’s birth injury, the experienced birth injury lawyers can help you recover financial compensation. They will start the process with a free consultation, assess your case to see if it has potential as a valid medical malpractice claim and represent you in settlement negotiations or at trial if necessary. They have helped many families obtain substantial settlements in medical malpractice claims, including those related to birth injuries.