Birth Injury Lawsuits Explained

Families expect that their medical professionals and doctors will maintain a high level of care. Birth injuries can be devastating for families if they're not treated appropriately.

Contact a birth injury attorney to seek assistance should you suspect that your child has suffered an injury that could have been avoided during birth due to medical malpractice. The most reputable lawyers will review your case without imposing any upfront fees. A successful claim will require proving the four elements of your case.

Duty of Care

The birth of a child is one of the most joyful and memorable events in the lives of any person. However, the birth process can turn traumatic for parents who have medical errors cause serious injuries to the baby during labor and birth. These mistakes are often irreparable and force a family to be faced with a series of challenges for the rest of their lives.

Doctors and medical professionals have the legal obligation of treating their patients with the same respect and competence that is expected from health care providers of similar professions in similar situations. This is called the duty of care. You must prove that a medical professional has violated this duty to win a claim. This typically involves proving how the medical professional's actions or the lack of them, differed from what a qualified and properly trained medical professional would do in the same circumstances.

The second part of a negligence claim is the causation. You must establish, through medical evidence and expert testimony that the at-fault healthcare professional's negligence led to the injury to your child. For instance, a doctor might not have been able to observe your child's vital indicators during labor and birth. This could have led to prolonged oxygen deprivation which in turn caused brain damage.

Damages are a crucial element in an effective negligence case. You must prove that you and/or your child suffered real and quantifiable loss as a result of the healthcare provider's lapse in their duty of care. This includes future and past medical costs such as lost wages, as well as non-economic damages like pain and Birth Injury Lawsuits discomfort.

Causation

Medical professionals are required to patients to provide treatment consistent with the standards of care in their specialization. If a nurse or doctor is not able to meet this standard of care, it can cause injury to the patient, and lead to an action for damages. To succeed in a case involving birth injuries, a lawyer will need to prove the breach of duty was responsible for your child's injury. This must be proven with evidence like medical records and expert testimony.

It is also crucial to prove that your child wouldn't have suffered a traumatic injury if a medical professional had given the level of care that is expected. Medical experts are asked to examine the case to determine whether the doctor or hospital behaved in a manner that was not consistent with the accepted medical standards.

Birth injuries can cause life-altering consequences that require a lifetime of medical treatments and other expenses. It is crucial to hold at-fault doctors as well as hospitals accountable for their negligence, and to seek compensation that will ensure your child's future needs.

A lawyer with experience in handling medical malpractice cases will manage the entire legal process for you, which includes responding to insurance requests and filing a lawsuit against the responsible parties. They can also develop an argument with the help of evidence, obtain expert testimony, obtain documents and medical records and argue for fair settlements that cover the family's life-long care costs and losses.

Damages

Medical experts are needed to scrutinize medical records, evidence from you and your family members and other evidence in a birth injury lawsuit. They will help you prove that the medical professional or hospital involved in your case breached their duty of care and caused your child injuries. They will also estimate the amount of damage you've suffered as a result of these injuries. Included are your present and future medical expenses and lost wages, as well as loss of quality of your life emotional distress and other losses.

It can be a tragedy for your family when doctors, nurses and other medical staff commit preventable mistakes before, during or after the birth your child. It can also be difficult to pursue legal action against doctors and hospitals who may have acted negligently or erroneously. They have teams of lawyers who are full-time employees to protect their clients, denying claims or decrease settlements.

Medical professionals can be held accountable for their actions by hiring a New York birth injuries lawyer. The lawyer will handle all communications with insurers and then present your claim in court, and construct an evidence-based argument to prove liability. They will also fight for you to obtain a fair jury verdict or settlement for your losses and Birth injury lawsuits expenses over your life. They will also bring your case in time to be in compliance with any applicable statute of limitations, as the clock starts ticking from the date of the malpractice or medical negligence.

Statute of limitations

A successful claim for compensation in a birth-related injury case is based on four components. Your lawyer can explain each element and build a strong legal argument to support your claim.

Medical negligence claims require that you prove that the defendant had the duty of care towards your child, that he violated that duty and that the breach caused the injuries to your child. In order for a claim to be successful it is also necessary that you establish causation, which means that the injuries suffered by your child wouldn't have occurred but for the defendant's actions (or inaction).

The defendants can challenge any of these elements. They could argue that you haven't established a doctor-patient relationship, or that the standard of care is different from what you claim it to be. They can also challenge your proof or the opinions of your expert witnesses.

You'll need to submit medical records, as well as other evidence along with an explanation of what went wrong during the birth of your child. You'll also need to submit an order form with an inventory of all the people you believe should be named as defendants. A skilled attorney will assist you in identifying the most appropriate defendants and ensure there is sufficient insurance coverage. A lawyer can also assist with advancing litigation-related expenses, such as fees for highly qualified medical experts. This could help ease some of the financial burden that comes with litigating a claim for birth injury.