A Productive Rant About Birth Injury Law

Birth Injury Lawsuits Explained

Families expect that their doctors and other medical professionals will ensure a high standard of care. Birth injuries can be devastating for families when they're not treated appropriately.

Contact a birth injury lawyer to seek assistance should you suspect that your child suffered a preventable injury at birth due to medical malpractice. Professionals with a good reputation will assess your case at no cost and will not charge any upfront fees. A successful claim requires proving the four elements of your case.

Duty of Care

Few events in life are more joyful and memorable than the birth of a baby. Unfortunately, this birthing process can become traumatic for birth injury lawyer parents if medical blunders result in serious injuries to their infant during labor and birth. These mistakes could be irreparable which can cause a lifetime of challenges for the entire family.

Medical professionals and doctors owe a legal duty to provide patients with the level of care and expertise that is expected of health care providers in their field under similar circumstances. This is known as the duty of care. You must demonstrate that a medical professional acted in violation of this duty to be able to win an action. This usually involves demonstrating how the medical professional's actions or absence of actions, differed from what a qualified and reasonably trained medical professional would perform under the same circumstances.

The second part of a negligence claim is causation. You must show, via medical evidence and expert testimony that the at-fault provider's breach of duty caused the injury to your child. A doctor, for instance might not have supervised your child's vitals during labor and birth. This could have resulted in prolonged oxygen deprivation which then led to brain damage.

Damages are the final part of the case of a successful negligence claim. You must demonstrate that you and your child suffered actual real, tangible financial losses from the at-fault healthcare professional's inability to fulfill their duty of care. This includes past and future medical costs and lost wages and also non-economic damages like pain and discomfort.

Causation

Medical professionals owe a duty to patients to provide treatment that is in line with the standard of care in their area of expertise. A nurse or doctor who fails to adhere to the standards of care can cause injury to a patient and could result in an action for damages. In order to win a case involving birth injuries, a lawyer will have to prove that the breach of duty was responsible for your child's injury. This must be proved using evidence such as medical records and expert testimony.

It is also essential to prove that your child would not have suffered the injury if the medical professional had adhered to the standard of care. Medical experts are obligated to examine the situation and offer their opinions as to whether or not the doctor or hospital was acting in a manner that was incompatible with the accepted medical practice.

Birth injuries can have life-altering consequences that require an ongoing series of medical treatments and other costs. It is vital that you hold hospitals and doctors accountable for their negligence, and receive compensation to help pay for the future needs of your child.

A lawyer who has dealt with medical malpractice cases can manage the entire legal process including responding to insurance requests and filing a suit against the responsible parties. They can also construct an evidence-based case and secure expert testimony, retrieve medical records and other documents, and fight for a fair settlement to cover your family's losses as well as lifetime costs of care.

Damages

A birth injury lawsuit requires the expertise of medical experts who examine medical records, evidence from your family and you and other evidence. They will assist you in proving that the medical professional or hospital involved in your case violated their duty of care and caused your child to suffer injuries. Then, they'll calculate the damages you have suffered due to those injuries. Included are your future and current medical costs, lost wages, loss of quality of your life emotional distress, and other losses.

It can be a devastating experience for your family if doctors, nurses and other medical personnel make unavoidable errors prior to, during or after the birth of your child. It can be difficult to bring legal action against hospitals and doctors who have acted negligently or in a negligent manner. They have teams of lawyers who work full-time to protect their clients, deny claims or decrease settlements.

By hiring a New York birth injury lawyer, you can hold medical professionals who are at fault accountable. Your lawyer will handle communication with insurers, make your claim to the court, and create a strong evidence-based case to prove the liability. They will also fight for you to secure an appropriate jury verdict or settlement for your damages and costs over your lifetime. They can also start a lawsuit before the deadline for any applicable statute of limitation in the event that the clock begins to run from the day the medical malpractice or negligence occurred.

Statute of Limitations

A successful claim for compensation in a case of birth injury includes four parts. Your attorney can explain the elements and create an argument that is legal and strong in support of your claim.

Medical negligence claims require you to establish that the defendant owed an obligation of care for your child, and that he violated that duty and that this breach caused the injuries to your child. In order for a claim to be successful it is also necessary that you prove causation, which means that the injuries suffered by your child could not have occurred without the defendant's actions (or negligence).

Defendants may challenge any of these elements. They could argue that you haven't established a doctor-patient relationship or that the standards of care are different from what you claim it to be. They can also challenge your evidence, or the opinions of your expert witnesses.

You'll have to provide medical records, other documents in addition to an account of what happened during the birth of your child. Also, you'll need to submit the demand package, which includes a list of all parties you consider to be defendants. An experienced lawyer can assist to identify the proper defendants and ensure you have adequate insurance coverage. A lawyer can also assist in advancing the costs associated with litigation including the costs for highly qualified medical experts. This can ease some of the financial stress associated with litigating claims for birth injuries.