Medical professionals are required to uphold certain standards of care during labor and delivery. When they fail to do so and a baby suffers injuries such as broken bones or nerve damage, the parents may seek compensation.
Birth Injury Attorneys can help you navigate the process. He or she can help you obtain the necessary evidence and file a claim against the liable party.
When medical negligence leads to an injury or death during birth, it can change a family forever. Birth injury attorneys help families receive financial compensation for the harm caused by the mistakes of medical professionals and hold responsible parties accountable.
To win a birth injury claim, your attorney must prove that the doctor or other health care provider violated the acceptable standard of care in their profession. This includes establishing that the medical professional had a professional relationship with you and your child.
This requires gathering medical records and hospital bills. A skilled birth injury lawyer will review these documents carefully to identify any indications of malpractice. They will also engage expert witnesses – healthcare professionals who specialize in obstetrics or neonatology – to provide further analysis. Experts can provide a variety of essential testimony, including how the injuries could have been prevented or treated differently had the doctor acted correctly.
Many birth injury cases require extensive medical testing to determine the cause and extent of a child’s injuries. A lawyer can work with healthcare professionals to get this information from a laboratory. This is an important step because it allows your attorney to establish what the correct standard of care would have been under similar circumstances. Insurers can use misstatements or minor facts to shift blame onto you and your baby, but a skilled birth injury attorney will prepare a case that accurately reflects the damages you’re entitled to.
Your attorney will also gather other necessary evidence to prove that the doctor or other healthcare provider breached their duty of care during your child’s birth. This may include obtaining a life care plan assessment from an experienced life-care planner, who can provide an estimate of your child’s future needs. This can be used to calculate the value of your case, as well as how much a settlement should be. Insurers often attempt to pressure plaintiffs into settling for far less than the case is worth, and a birth injury lawyer can help you negotiate a fair deal. They will also evaluate any offers made by the insurer to ensure that they reflect your child’s true damages.
Gathering Evidence
Some birth injuries can require lifelong treatment and limit a child’s quality of life. A successful claim can help parents pay for the necessary medical care, replacement services, and other losses, including pain and suffering. A birth injury attorney can build an effective case to hold the responsible medical professionals accountable for their mistakes and secure the funds needed to give a child the best possible quality of life.
The first step in any medical malpractice claim is collecting evidence to prove liability. This includes medical records, expert testimony, and other documentation that builds a clear sequence of events for the court to understand. An experienced birth injury attorney can use these documents to build a strong case against the responsible parties, demonstrating that they failed to meet their legal duty of care and that the failure caused your child’s injuries.
Depending on the severity of your child’s injuries, you may need to hire additional experts to help establish what happened and how the doctor’s actions or lack thereof contributed to the injury. Your attorney can work with these specialists to determine what the standard of care is for your child’s specific situation and how the defendant violated that standard.
Your birth injury lawyer will file the lawsuit with your child’s doctors, identifying you as the plaintiff and the doctors as the defendants. They will also be mindful of your state’s statute of limitations, which is the amount of time you have to file a claim before you lose your right to do so.
Insurance companies know that medical malpractice cases are complex and involve multiple parties. They can often delay negotiations or refuse to offer a reasonable settlement and instead try to blame you for the injuries or shift responsibility onto other medical providers. Your lawyer can fight back against this tactics to get your case moving forward and ensure that the insurer takes your claims seriously.
The last step is proving the extent of your child’s damages. This will involve gathering documentation and evidence of the economic and non-economic losses you and your child have suffered and will continue to suffer as a result of the negligence and your baby’s injuries. This might include medical bills, wage statements, and expert testimony about your child’s expected future needs and costs of care.
Preparing Your Case
Birth injuries often have long-lasting effects that affect the life of a child and impact other members of a family. They can cause medical expenses for the rest of the child’s life, and they can also lead to lost wages, emotional distress and other losses. A successful lawsuit against a negligent healthcare provider can provide the financial compensation necessary to cover these costs.
The first step in a birth injury claim is finding an attorney who is familiar with medical malpractice law and who has experience handling these cases. The next step is to review the case and determine if you have a strong claim for compensation. The legal team will then work to gather the evidence needed to prove negligence, such as medical records, witness testimony and expert opinions.
Once the lawyer has a strong understanding of the case, they will file a medical malpractice lawsuit. The lawsuit will be filed in the county where the birth took place and will name the doctor, hospital and other healthcare providers as defendants. The lawsuit will describe the medical malpractice that occurred and ask for compensation for the child’s injuries, the family’s losses and the cost of ongoing care.
The legal team will then negotiate with the medical provider’s insurance companies. The lawyers will use their knowledge and experience to avoid the common pressure tactics insurers may try to apply. They will also be able to evaluate whether or not the settlement offered is fair.
If a settlement cannot be reached, the attorneys will prepare for trial. This involves taking depositions from witnesses and other professionals, and it can also include a medical expert testifying about the facts of the case. The attorneys will build a compelling argument based on the medical and other evidence, and they will be prepared to fight for a just result.
A successful medical malpractice lawsuit can help a family recover the money they need to pay for a lifetime of care for their injured child. It is critical to take action as soon as possible, because the statute of limitations may expire. A New York birth injury attorney can explain the laws governing your case and how the process works.
Negotiating a Settlement
Many medical malpractice lawsuits never reach trial verdicts, and settlements are often preferred to risky trials. A settlement offers a quick resolution to the dispute and provides financial compensation for families. During the settlement process, attorneys will try to find evidence supporting the claim such as medical records and hospital bills. They may also take depositions—or sworn statements—of doctors and other witnesses involved in the case.
Insurers are aware that families need money quickly to pay for medical expenses and replace lost income, so they often apply pressure to settle a case. An experienced injury attorney can navigate the insurance industry and resist any attempts to settle for less than your family deserves.
When the parties cannot reach a settlement, the lawyer can file a medical malpractice lawsuit with the court where the negligence occurred. This will become the plaintiff’s legal case, and the doctors and hospitals will become the defendants. The case will then go through a period of motions and hearings, as well as discovery—the process in which both sides exchange information including medical documents and expert testimony.
Your lawyer will work with medical and financial experts to determine the amount you should seek for damages, such as the projected costs of your child’s lifetime care. These estimates will be used to construct what’s called a “life care plan.”
A successful birth injury lawsuit can help you provide your child with the resources they need for a happy, healthy life, even though their disability is permanent. This can include compensating you for past and future medical treatments, therapy and rehabilitation services, specialized equipment, in-home nursing care, emotional distress and the loss of enjoyment of life activities. In egregious cases, your attorney might also pursue punitive damages designed to punish the medical providers and deter similar behavior. Every case is unique, and the value of your birth injury claim will depend on the strength of your evidence. A skilled birth injury attorney can build a strong case, persuade a jury of the medical provider’s negligence, and obtain a fair damages award.