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Birth Injury Lawsuits Explained
Families are conditioned to believe that their medical professionals and doctors will provide a high standard of care. If they don't birth injuries can be devastating to families.
Contact a birth injury attorney to seek assistance if you suspect that your child suffered an injury that could have been avoided at birth due to medical negligence. Professionals with a good reputation will assess your case free of charge and will not charge upfront fees. A successful claim requires proving the four elements of your case.
Duty of Care
The birth of a child is one of the most joyful and significant events in the life of a person. Unfortunately, this process can be stressful for parents if medical blunders result in severe injuries to their baby during the birth process and during labor. These errors could be irreparable and cause an entire series of problems for the entire family.
Medical professionals and doctors have a legal obligation to treat patients with the care and expertise that is expected of health care providers in their field under similar circumstances. This is referred to as the duty of care. You must prove that a medical professional acted in violation of this duty to be able to win a case. This usually means proving how the medical professional's actions or their lack thereof, were different from what a qualified and appropriately trained medical professional would perform under the same circumstances.
The second component in a negligence case is the cause. You must prove via medical records and testimony from an expert that the healthcare professional in question's breach of duty led to your child's injuries. For instance, a doctor might not have been able to observe your child's vital signs during labor and delivery. This could have resulted in prolonged oxygen deprivation which could have caused brain damage.
Damages are a crucial component in an effective negligence case. You must prove that either you or your child suffered real tangible, quantifiable losses as the result of the healthcare provider's lapse in their duty of care. This usually includes future and past medical expenses, lost wages and other non-economic losses such as suffering and pain.
Causation
Medical professionals are bound to their patients to offer care that is in accordance with standards in their field. If a medical professional or nurse does not meet the standards of care, they could cause injury to the patient and result in a claim for damages. To win a birth injury lawsuit an attorney must demonstrate that the breach of duty directly led to the injuries suffered by your child. This can be proved with evidence like medical documents and expert testimony.
It is also important to prove that your child would not be injured when a medical professional been able to provide the level of medical care expected. Medical experts are called to examine the situation and provide their opinion on whether or not the doctor or hospital did something that was inconsistent with the accepted medical practice.
Birth injuries can have life-altering effects that need a lifetime of medical treatments and other costs. It is crucial to hold at-fault doctors as well as hospitals accountable for their negligence and seek compensation to pay for your child's future requirements.
A lawyer who has handled medical malpractice cases is able to manage the entire legal process including responding to insurance requests and filing a lawsuit against the accountable parties. They can also create an argument based on evidence, secure expert testimony, locate documents and medical records and negotiate fair settlements to pay for the family's lifetime medical 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 help you establish that the hospital or doctor involved in your case breached their duty of care and caused your child to suffer injuries. They will then determine the damages you have sustained as a result of these injuries. Included are your future and current medical expenses in addition to lost wages, loss in quality of life, emotional distress and other losses.
It can be a devastating experience for your family if nurses, doctors and other medical staff make unavoidable errors prior to, during or after the birth your child. It can also be difficult to pursue legal action against the hospitals and doctors who could have acted negligently or erroneously. They have teams of lawyers who work full-time for them to protect their clients, deny claims or limit settlements.
By hiring an New York birth injury lawyer to represent you, you can hold medical professionals at fault accountable. Your lawyer will handle communication with insurance companies and will present your claim in court, and build a strong evidence-based case to establish responsibility. They will also try to secure you an equitable settlement or verdict from a jury for your losses and life-long care costs. They can also bring your case in time to be in compliance with any applicable deadlines, since the clock begins to tick from the date of the malpractice or medical negligence.
Statute of limitations
A successful claim for compensation in a birth injury lawsuit involves four elements. Your lawyer can explain each of them and formulate a convincing legal argument in support of your claim.
Medical negligence claims require you to establish that the defendant owed a duty of caring towards your child, and that he breached that duty, and that this breach caused the injuries to your child. To be successful in a claim it is also necessary to prove causation which means that the injuries suffered by your child could not have occurred without the actions of the defendant (or failure to act).
The defendants have the option of challenging any of these elements. They can argue that you haven't established a doctor-patient connection, or that the standards of care are different from what you believe it to be. In addition, they can challenge your evidence or expert witnesses opinion.
You'll have to provide medical records, other documents and a statement describing what was wrong with the birth of your child. Also, you'll need provide a demand package which contains an inventory of the individuals you believe should be named defendants. An experienced lawyer can help you establish the appropriate defendants and ensure you have adequate insurance coverage. Lawyers can assist in advancing costs associated with litigation, like the fees of highly experienced medical experts. This helps to alleviate some of the financial strain that comes with litigating a birth injury claim.