The 10 Most Scariest Things About Birth Injury Law

Birth Injury Lawsuits Explained

Childbirth is a risky and stressful time, but families expect their medical professionals and doctors to uphold a high standard of care. If they fail to do so, birth injuries can be catastrophic to families.

If you suspect that your child suffered a preventable birth injury due to medical negligence, contact a birth injury lawyer to get help. The most reputable lawyers will evaluate your case at no cost and charge no upfront fees. A successful claim requires the proof of the four elements of your case.

Duty of Care

The birth of a child is one of the most joyous and special events in a person's life. However, the birth process can be traumatic for parents if medical mistakes cause serious injuries to the baby during the labor and delivery. These errors could be irreparable and create the possibility of a lifetime of difficulties for a family.

Doctors and other medical professionals are required by law to treat patients with the same care and skill ordinarily expected of health professionals in their respective fields in similar situations. This is known as the duty of care. If you want to prevail against a healthcare provider at fault you must show that the medical professional breached this duty. This typically means proving that the medical professional's actions, or the failure to act deviated from what a reasonably trained and competent medical professional would have done under similar circumstances.

The second part of a negligence claim is causation. You must prove through medical records and testimony from an expert that the healthcare professional in question's breach of duty led to your child's injuries. A doctor, for instance might not have been able to monitor the vitals of your child during labor and birth. This could have resulted in prolonged oxygen deprivation which in turn caused brain damage.

The last element of a successful negligence claim is the amount of damages. You have to prove that you and/or your child experienced real, quantifiable losses as a result of the healthcare provider's lapse in their duty of care. This usually 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 treatment that is consistent with the standards in their field. If a medical professional or nurse does not meet the standards of care, it may cause an injury to the patient, and lead to a claim for damages. To succeed in a birth injury case an attorney must demonstrate that the breach of duty directly led to your child's injuries. This can be proven through evidence, like medical records or expert testimony.

It is also necessary to prove that your child wouldn't have suffered the injury in the event that the medical professional met the expected standard of medical care. Medical experts are obligated to review the case and provide an opinion regarding whether or not the doctor or hospital performed a procedure that was incompatible with accepted medical procedures.

Birth injuries can alter the course of your child's life and require medical treatment for the rest of their lives. It is important that you make hospitals and doctors accountable for their negligence and seek compensation to meet the future requirements of your child.

A lawyer who has handled medical malpractice cases has the ability to manage the entire legal process including responding to insurance requests and bringing a lawsuit against the accountable parties. They can also develop an evidence-based argument and obtain expert testimony, recover medical records along with other records and then fight for an appropriate settlement to cover your family's losses and lifetime cost of care.

Damages

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

If nurses, doctors, and other medical staff make preventable errors before or during the birth of your child, it can have devastating consequences for your family. It can also be difficult to initiate legal action against the hospitals and doctors who may have committed malpractice or negligence. They often have their own teams of lawyers who are on call 24/7 to protect their clients and deny claims, or reduce settlement amounts.

By hiring an New York birth injury lawyer to represent you, you can hold medical professionals at fault accountable. Your lawyer will communicate with the insurance companies and file a claim in court and build a solid argument based on evidence to establish liability. They will also fight to secure you an equitable settlement or verdict from a jury to cover your losses and future cost of care. They can also start a lawsuit before the deadline for any applicable statute of limitations, as the clock begins to tick from the date the medical malpractice or negligence occurred.

Statute of Limitations

A successful claim for compensation in a birth injury case includes four parts. Your lawyer can help you understand the various elements and develop an effective legal argument in support of your claim.

Medical negligence claims require that you demonstrate that the defendant was under an obligation of care for your child, and that the defendant violated that duty, and that the breach caused the injuries to your child. For a claim to succeed it is crucial that you establish causation, which means that your child's injuries wouldn't have occurred but for the defendant's actions (or the failure to act).

Defendants may challenge any of these elements. They can argue that you haven't established a doctor-patient relationship or that the standard of care is different from what you believe it to be. They may also challenge your proof or the opinions of your expert witnesses.

To prove breach of duty, you'll have to submit medical records as well as other documentation along with a declaration of what went wrong with your child's birth. You will also need to submit an demand package which contains the names of all people you consider to be defendants. A skilled lawyer can help to identify the proper defendants and ensure you have adequate insurance coverage. A lawyer can help advance litigation-related expenses, for example the fees of highly experienced medical experts. This could help ease some of the financial burden that comes with pursuing a claim for birth injury.