Birth Injury Compensation

It can be devastating for your child if they suffer a birth injury due to negligence by a doctor. These injuries can require lifelong treatment and care. You'll be faced with huge financial costs.

Many birth injury cases involve a tense debate about medical errors versus malpractice. Our lawyers can help to understand the distinctions.

Costs of Treatment

Insurance companies, attorneys, and judges look at the severity of the birth injury and the impact it has on the child's development in determining the amount of compensation to be awarded. For instance in the event that a child requires an ongoing medical procedure which will raise the value of an insurance claim.

Medical treatment for birth injuries can be very expensive. Compensation for birth injuries could help families cover these costs. Experts and lawyers often collaborate to develop a "Life Care Plan" which calculates the cost of a child's injury over the course of their lives. These include hospitalization costs or surgical intervention, medical treatment prescriptions, home improvements and equipment, and more.

Your legal team will collect medical documents from the pregnancy and birth of your child, as well as firsthand reports from relatives. These documents will be used to prove that your child was injured as a result of medical malpractice, and also to prove the extent of the injury.

Many states have passed medical indemnity funds to help families of children who suffer from birth injuries. These funds either collect the portion of malpractice insurance premiums, or require hospitals and doctors to contribute to an asset pool. In addition to providing financial support, these programs can also help reduce the need for families to pursue a lawsuit. However, JLARC staff found that the programs don't always meet their aims and should be improved.

Life Care Planning

Children with conditions like hypoxic ischephalopathy or cerebral palsy will require medical treatment throughout their lives. These include physical therapies, specialized equipment, and home health care. These expenses can be substantial.

A life-care plan is a document that establishes the future medical, educational, in-home and other costs that a disabled child will incur for the rest of his or her life. These plans are used to calculate the economic amount that is awarded in the event of birth injury. The plans must be precise and carefully drafted in order to satisfy the strict requirements of admissibility.

Life-care experts can assist in the creation of these documents by utilizing the input and formal opinions from a child's doctors or therapists as well as caregivers. The plans provide a detailed account of the injury and its diagnosis. They describe the underlying cause of the disability and its long-term effects.

A medical malpractice attorney should work with a life care planner to create the most effective plan for their client's situation. The plan's purpose is to ensure your child receives sufficient compensation to cover all of their future costs and expenses. The funds awarded are typically placed into a special needs trust that is managed by a reputable administrator. The amount awarded is typically adjusted every few months to reflect changes in the future needs of your child.

Pain and Suffering

In cases involving birth injuries the damages awarded compensate the plaintiff for past and future pain and discomfort. This includes the physical and mental suffering caused by the injury, as well as the inability of the plaintiff to take part in activities that other people are able to perform.

You can also recover lost income if an injury restricts their career options or Birth injury stops them from working at all. Families can also be compensated to care for an injured child.

Medical malpractice claims often have very high verdicts because juries tend to show compassion for the victims and hold doctors accountable for their errors. Many hospitals and doctors choose to settle instead of risking a trial that is expensive and stressful for everyone involved.

Both sides will gather evidence to back their arguments during the trial. They will exchange documents in the process of discovery, which involves deposing witnesses to obtain their statements under the oath. In most states, defendants can request access to the records of the plaintiff.

A successful birth injury lawsuit requires a lawyer with experience in these kinds of cases. An experienced attorney will go over the facts of your case, determine if it satisfies the specifications for a lawsuit and ensure the highest financial settlement you can get.

Punitive Damages

Certain medical malpractice lawsuits also include punitive damage awards which are intended to serve as a stern warning to deter future negligence. They may be granted in cases of grave negligence or when there was intentional misconduct on the part the doctor. They are very rare in cases of birth injuries.

After identifying the defendants, the attorney needs to gather and analyze the evidence to support the claim. They must prove that the injuries caused by medical professionals did not conform to the a high standard of medical care. The legal team also has to prove the losses that were incurred with the injuries, referred to as "damages." These damages can be either economic or non-economic.

Economic losses are figured out by estimating ongoing treatment costs, including long-term treatment facilities and other services. They could also include the loss of earnings if an injury resulted in both parents to lose their job.

The legal team will then prepare a demand letter for the malpractice lawyers. This document will describe the birth injury (visit web site), its effects on the child's and family as well as request compensation to cover the costs associated with these loss. The attorneys will negotiate until a settlement is reached with the medical professionals. During the discovery process, attorneys will share information with the other party about their case. This may include depositions of witnesses who are required to testify under oath.