Birth Injury Compensation

It can be a devastating experience if your child suffers a birth injury due to a doctor's negligence. These injuries may require lifetime treatment and treatment. You'll be faced with huge financial costs.

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

Costs of Treatment

Insurance companies, attorneys and judges weigh the severity of the birth injury lawyer injury as well as the impact it affects the child's quality of life in determining the amount of compensation to be paid. If a child needs extensive medical treatment that continues in the future the value of the claim will rise.

Medical treatment for birth injuries is often expensive. The compensation awarded for a birth injury can assist families in paying for the costs. Experts and lawyers often collaborate to create a "Life Care Plan" that calculates the costs of a child's injuries over a lifetime. These expenses include hospitalization, surgeries, specialized medical treatments such as prescriptions, home repairs and equipment, etc.

Your legal team will gather medical records from the time of pregnancy and birth of your child, along with firsthand reports from relatives. These records will be used to show that your child was injured as a result of medical malpractice, and also to prove the extent of the injury.

Many states have medical indemnity funds that provide financial assistance to families with children with Birth Injury Law Firms injuries. These funds collect a portion of malpractice insurance premiums or require hospitals and doctors to contribute to an investment fund. These programs can help families with financial assistance and reduce the need to file a lawsuit. However, JLARC staff found that these programs may not always meet their goals and could be improved.

Life Care Planning

Children with conditions like cerebral palsy or hypoxic ischephalopathy will require medical treatment throughout their lives. These include physical therapy, special equipment, and home health care. These costs can often be significant.

A life-care plan is a document that establishes the future medical education, in-home, and other costs the child with disabilities will be liable for throughout his or his or her life. These plans are used to calculate the economic portion of a settlement in the case of birth injury. They should be comprehensive and meticulously drafted to meet the strict evidentiary requirements for admissibility in the court.

Experts in life-care planning may assist in the development of these documents based on the input and the formal opinions from a child's doctors as well as therapists and caregivers. The plans include a comprehensive description of the initial injury and the diagnosis. They describe the underlying reason for the disability and its long-term effects.

A medical malpractice lawyer should work with a life care planner to create the most suitable plan for their clients' situation. The aim of the plan is to ensure that your child receives the proper compensation to cover all of his or her future medical and other expenses. The funds are usually put into a trust for children with special needs, and is overseen by an approved administrator. Typically, the amount of funds allotted will be re-adjusted periodically to meet changes in your child's future requirements.

Pain and Suffering

In a case where birth injuries are involved that result in damages, the court will compensate the plaintiff for past and future discomfort and pain. This includes physical and mental suffering caused by the injury, as also the inability to participate in activities that others can do.

You may also be able to recover lost earnings if the injury of a victim affects their work options or prevents them working at all. Families may also be compensated for the care and treatment of an injured child.

Medical malpractice cases typically have very high verdicts, since juries tend to show compassion for the victims and hold doctors accountable for birth injury law firms their mistakes. Many doctors and hospitals opt to settle rather than risk a trial that is expensive and stressful for everyone involved.

Both sides will collect evidence to support their arguments during the litigation. They will exchange documents during a process called discovery, which includes deposing witnesses to get statements under oath. The defendants may also request to examine the medical records of a plaintiff as it is legal in all states.

A successful birth injury claim requires an experienced lawyer in these types of cases. A knowledgeable attorney will examine your case to determine whether you have a valid lawsuit and will work to achieve the highest settlement.

Punitive Damages

Some medical malpractice suits also include punitive damages, that are intended to serve as a warning and discourage future negligence. They are awarded in instances of grave negligence or when there was willful misconduct on the part the doctor. However, they are very rare in birth injury cases.

Once the attorney has identified the appropriate defendants, they have to find and analyze evidence to support their claims. They must show that the injuries caused by medical professionals did not conform to the a high standard of medical care. The legal team must 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 typically calculated by making estimates of the cost of the child's ongoing treatment, which may include long-term care facilities as well as other services. These may also include lost earnings in the event that an injury resulted in both parents to lose their job.

The legal team will develop an order package that they will submit to malpractice insurers. This document will detail the birth injuries, and their impact on the child as well as the family, and ask for compensation for these losses. The lawyers will negotiate with medical professionals until a settlement is reached. During the discovery process, attorneys will exchange information with the other party on their case. This may include depositions of witnesses that swear to testify under oath.