Birth Injury Lawsuits Explained

The birth of a child is a potentially dangerous and stressful event, but families expect their medical professionals and doctors to uphold a high standard of care. Birth injuries can be devastating for families when they're not properly treated.

If you suspect that your child suffered a birth injury due to medical malpractice, contact a birth injury lawyer for assistance. The most reputable lawyers will evaluate your case at no cost and charge no upfront fees. A successful claim requires proving the four elements of your case.

Duty of Care

The birth of a baby is one of the most joyful and memorable events in the lives of any person. However, the birth process can be traumatic for parents if medical errors result in serious injuries to the baby during labor and birth. These errors could be irreparable and create many challenges for a family.

Medical professionals and doctors are legally bound to treat patients with the same care and skill ordinarily expected of health professionals in their respective fields in similar situations. This is called the duty of care. You must prove that a medical professional violated this duty to be able to win an action. This typically involves proving that the medical professional's conduct or failure to act was different from what a reasonably educated and competent medical professional would have done under the same circumstances.

The second aspect of a negligence claim is the causation. You must prove, using medical records and expert testimony, that the at-fault provider's negligence caused your child's injury. A doctor, for example might not have been able to monitor your child's vitals during labor and birth. This could have led to prolonged oxygen deprivation which in turn caused brain damage.

Damages are the last element in an effective negligence case. You must demonstrate that you and your child suffered actual tangible financial losses that resulted from the healthcare professional at fault's failure to perform their duty of care. This usually includes past and future medical expenses, lost wages, and non-economic losses like pain and suffering.

Causation

Medical professionals owe a duty to patients to provide care that is consistent with the standard of care in their area of expertise. If a medical professional or nurse does not meet the standards of care, it may cause an injury to the patient, and lead to an action for damages. To prevail in a birth injury lawsuit, an attorney must prove that the breach of duty directly led to the injuries suffered by your child. This must be proved with evidence, like medical records or expert testimony.

It is also important to establish that your child would not have suffered the injury If the medical professional had performed the required standard of treatment. Medical experts are asked to review the case to determine whether the doctor or hospital acted in a way that was not in accordance with accepted medical practices.

Birth injuries can have a profound impact on your life and require medical treatment for a lifetime. It is essential to hold the at-fault doctors and hospitals accountable for their negligence and obtain compensation to help the future of your child's needs.

A lawyer with experience in handling medical malpractice cases can handle the entire legal procedure for you, including responding to insurance requests and filing an action against the accountable parties. They can also build an evidence-based case and secure expert testimony, retrieve medical records and other documents and negotiate an equitable settlement to cover your family's losses and lifetime cost of care.

Damages

A birth injury lawsuit (click here for more info) requires the expertise of medical experts who examine medical records, evidence from you and your family, and other evidence. They will assist you in proving that the medical professional or hospital involved in your case violated their duty of care and harmed your child. They will also estimate the damages you've sustained as a result of these injuries. These include your current and future medical expenses and the loss of income, the loss of quality of life, emotional distress and other losses.

It can be a devastating experience for your family members when doctors, nurses and other medical personnel make inexcusable mistakes prior birth injury lawsuit to, during or after the birth your child. It isn't easy to bring legal action against hospitals and doctors who may have committed negligence or malpractice. They usually have their own teams of lawyers who are on call 24/7 to protect their clients and deny claims, or reduce settlement amounts.

If you hire an New York birth injury lawyer, you can hold at-fault medical professionals accountable. The lawyer will negotiate with the insurers, file a claim in court, and create a strong evidence-based case to establish the liability. They will also fight to secure you a fair settlement or verdict from a jury for your losses as well as lifetime healthcare costs. They may also make a claim in time for any applicable statute of limitation, as the clock begins to tick from the date the medical malpractice or negligence occurred.

Statute of limitations

A successful claim for compensation in a birth injury lawsuit requires four components. Your attorney can explain each element and formulate a convincing legal argument in support of your claim.

Medical negligence claims require being able to prove that the defendant owed you an obligation of care and that the defendant violated this duty, and that the breach directly resulted in your child's injuries. In order for a claim to be successful, it is also essential that you prove causation, which means that the injuries suffered by your child wouldn't have occurred but for the actions of the defendant (or failure to act).

Defendants may challenge any of these elements. They can claim that there isn't a doctor-patient relationship or that the standard care is not what you claim it to be. They can also challenge your evidence as well as your expert witnesses' opinions.

You'll have to provide medical records, other documents, as well as a statement describing what happened during the birth of your child. Also, you'll need provide a demand package that contains a list of the parties you believe should be named defendants. An experienced lawyer can help identify the right defendants and ensure there's adequate insurance coverage. A lawyer can assist you in advancing litigation-related expenses, for example the costs of highly skilled medical experts. This can help ease some of the financial stress that comes with litigating a birth injury claim.