Birth Injury Lawsuits Explained

The birth of a child is a potentially dangerous and stressful experience, but families expect their medical professionals and doctors to provide a high level of medical care. If they don't, birth injuries can be catastrophic to families.

If you suspect that your child has suffered a preventable birth injury law firm injury due to medical malpractice, contact a birth injury lawyer for help. Reputable lawyers will evaluate your case for free and charge no upfront fees. A successful claim is based on the evidence of the four elements of your case.

Duty of Care

Few events in life are more joyous and special than the birth of a child. However, this event can become traumatic for parents if medical mistakes result in severe injuries to their baby during the birth process and during labor. These mistakes could be irreparable and force a family to face a lifetime of challenges.

Medical professionals and doctors have the legal obligation of treating their patients with the same care and expertise that is expected from health care professionals of similar professions in similar circumstances. This is known as the duty of care. You must prove that a medical professional breached this duty in order to prevail on an action. This usually means proving how the medical professional's actions or the lack of them, differed from what a qualified and appropriately trained medical professional would do under the same circumstances.

The second aspect of a negligence claim is causation. You must prove via medical records and testimony from an expert that the healthcare professional responsible for the breach of duty led to your child's injuries. For instance, a doctor might have not been able to keep track of your child's vital indicators during labor and birth. This could have led to brain damage due to the prolonged oxygen deprivation.

The final element of a successful negligence claim is the amount of damages. You must prove that either you or your child suffered real and quantifiable loss as a result of the healthcare professional's failure when it came to their duty of care. This typically includes past and future medical expenses, lost wages, and non-economic losses like pain and suffering.

Causation

Medical professionals have a duty to their patients to provide care that is in line with standards of their area of expertise. A doctor or nurse who fails to meet the standard of care can cause injury to a patient and result in the possibility of a claim for damages. In order to win a birth injury case, an attorney must prove that the breach of duty directly led to your child's injuries. This must be proved using evidence like medical documents and expert testimony.

It is also necessary to prove that your child wouldn't have suffered the injury if the medical professional had adhered to the standard of medical care. Medical experts are required to review the case to determine if a doctor or hospital was acting in a manner not consistent with the accepted medical standards.

Birth injuries can have life-altering effects that need the use of a lifetime of medical treatment and other costs. It is important to hold at-fault physicians and hospitals accountable for their negligence, and to seek compensation to help the future of your child's needs.

A lawyer who has handled medical malpractice cases has the ability to handle the entire legal process, including responding to insurance inquiries and bringing a lawsuit against the parties responsible. They can also develop an argument using evidence, get expert testimony, retrieve documents and medical records and negotiate fair settlements to cover family's lifetime care costs and expenses.

Damages

A birth injury lawsuit requires the expertise of medical experts who review medical records, testimony from your family and you and other evidence. They will determine if the doctor involved in your case violated their duty of provide care and harmed your child. They will also estimate the amount of damage you've suffered due to these injuries. Included are your present and future medical costs in addition to lost wages, diminished quality of life, emotional distress and other losses.

When doctors, nurses, or other medical staff commit preventable errors before, during, or after the birth of your child, birth injury it can cause devastating harm to your family. It can also be difficult to bring legal action against doctors and hospitals who may have committed malpractice or negligence. They have teams of lawyers who work full-time to protect their clients, reject claims or limit settlements.

When you employ an New York birth injury lawyer to represent you, you can hold medical professionals who are at fault accountable. Your attorney will handle communications with insurers and then present your claim in court, and create solid evidence-based arguments to establish liability. They will also advocate for you to get an appropriate jury verdict or settlement for your losses as well as care expenses over your entire life. They can also file a lawsuit in time for any applicable statute of limitations and the clock starts to tick from the time the medical malpractice or negligence occurred.

Statute of Limitations

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

Medical negligence claims require that you demonstrate that the defendant was under a duty of caring towards your child, and that they breached this duty, and that this breach led to the injuries to your child. To prove a claim it is essential that you prove causation, which means that the injuries suffered by your child would not have happened if not for the actions of the defendant (or negligence).

The defendants have the option of challenging each of these elements. They can argue that you don't have a doctor-patient relationship, or that the standards of care are different from what you claim it to be. Additionally, they could challenge your evidence as well as your expert witnesses opinion.

To prove a breach of duty, you'll have to submit medical records and other documentation and a written statement of what went wrong in your child's birth. Additionally, you'll need to file an application package that includes the names of all individuals you think should be named as defendants. A knowledgeable attorney will assist you in identifying the right defendants and ensure that there is enough insurance coverage. A lawyer can assist you in advancing litigation-related expenses, for example the costs of highly skilled medical experts. This can help reduce some of the financial stress that comes with pursuing a claim for birth injury.