Birth Injury Lawsuits Explained

Families expect that their medical doctors and other professionals will provide a high standard of care. If they fail to do so, birth injuries can be devastating for families.

If you suspect that your child suffered a birth injury as a result of medical malpractice or birth injury law firm injuries, you should contact a birth injury lawyer for help. Reputable lawyers will evaluate your case free of charge and will not charge upfront fees. To prove your claim, you have to prove the four elements.

Duty of Care

Few occasions in life are more joyful and memorable than the birth of a baby. However, the birth procedure can be very stressful for some parents if medical mistakes cause serious injuries to the baby during labor or delivery. These mistakes could be irreparable and make a family confront a long list of challenges.

Medical professionals and doctors are under an obligation under law to treat their patients with the same care and expertise that they expect from health care providers in similar professions in similar circumstances. This is referred to as the duty of care. In order to win a case against an at-fault healthcare provider, you must prove that the medical professional breached this obligation. This usually involves demonstrating how the medical professional's actions or the lack of them, differed from what a competent and reasonably trained medical professional would do in the same circumstances.

The third element of a negligence claim is causation. You must prove, using medical documents and expert testimony that the at-fault provider's breach of duty caused the injury of your child. A doctor, for instance could not have observed the vitals of your child during labor and delivery. This could have caused brain damage due to prolonged oxygen deprivation.

The final aspect of a successful negligence case is damages. You must demonstrate that you and your child have suffered real, tangible financial losses from the healthcare professional's failure to meet their duty of care. This includes past and future medical costs, lost wages, and non-economic losses like pain and discomfort.

Causation

Medical professionals are obligated to patients to provide treatment consistent with the standards of medical care in their area of expertise. A doctor or nurse who fails to meet the standard of care may cause injuries to patients, and could result in claims for damages. In order to be successful in a case that involves birth injuries, a lawyer must prove that the breach of duty caused the injury to your child. This can be proved with evidence like medical documents and expert testimony.

It is also essential to establish that your child would not be injured when a medical professional performed the care that is expected. Medical experts are required to examine the situation to determine if the doctor or the hospital behaved in a manner that was not in accordance with accepted medical practices.

Birth injuries can have life-altering impacts that require the need for a lifetime of medical care and other expenses. It is important that you hold hospitals and doctors accountable for their mistakes, and receive compensation to cover the future requirements of your child.

A lawyer who has dealt with medical malpractice cases can handle the entire legal process including responding to insurance requests and bringing a lawsuit against the parties responsible. They can also construct a case using evidence, get expert testimony, obtain medical records and documents and advocate for fair settlements to pay for the family's costs for care throughout their lifetime and losses.

Damages

A birth injury lawsuit requires the expertise of medical experts who will review medical records, testimony from your family and you, and other evidence. They will help you prove that the doctor or hospital involved in your case breached their duty of care and caused injuries to your child. Then, they'll estimate the damages that you have suffered as a result of these injuries. This includes the current and future medical expenses as well as lost wages, loss in quality of life, emotional distress and other losses.

It can be a tragedy for your family members when doctors, nurses and other medical staff make unavoidable errors prior to, during or after the birth of your child. It can be also difficult to bring legal action against the hospital and doctors who might have acted negligently or erroneously. They usually have their own legal teams working full-time to protect clients and to deny claims or reduce settlement amounts.

You can hold medical professionals accountable for their actions by hiring a New York birth injuries lawyer. The lawyer will handle all communications with insurance companies and present your claim in court, and construct solid evidence-based arguments to prove the responsibility. They will also advocate for you to get an equitable jury verdict, or settlement for your losses and expenses over your entire life. They can also bring your case in time to satisfy any applicable statute of limitations, since the clock begins to tick from the date of the malpractice or medical negligence.

Statute of limitations

Four factors are essential to file a claim to be compensated when birth injuries occur. Your attorney can help you understand the elements and create an effective legal argument in support of your claim.

Medical negligence claims require that you establish that the defendant owed the duty of care towards your child, that the defendant violated that duty, and that this breach caused the injuries to your child. For a claim to succeed, it is also essential that you establish causation, which means that the injuries suffered by your child would not have happened if not for the actions of the defendant (or inaction).

The defendants can challenge any of these elements. They can argue that there is no doctor-patient relationship, or that the normal care isn't what you claim it is. They can also challenge your evidence or the opinions of your expert witnesses.

You'll need to provide medical records, any other documentation, as well as an account of what happened during the birth of your child. Also, you'll need to submit an application package that includes an outline of the parties you consider to be defendants. A knowledgeable attorney can help you identify the most appropriate defendants and ensure they have adequate insurance coverage. Lawyers can also help with advancing litigation-related expenses including the costs for highly qualified medical experts. This can ease some of the financial burden that comes with pursuing claims for birth injuries.