Birth Injury Lawsuits Explained

The birth of a child is a potentially dangerous and stressful experience, however families expect their doctors and other medical professionals to adhere to a high standard of care. Birth injuries can be catastrophic for families when they are not treated appropriately.

If you suspect that your child has suffered a preventable birth injury due to medical malpractice, contact a birth injury lawyer for help. The most reputable lawyers will review your case with no upfront costs. A successful claim will require proving the four elements of your case.

Duty of Care

Few life events are more exciting and special than the birth of a baby. Unfortunately, this process can be stressful for parents if medical blunders cause severe injuries to their baby during the birth process and during labor. These errors could be irreparable and create the possibility of a lifetime of difficulties for the entire family.

Doctors and medical professionals have an obligation under law to treat their patients with the same attention and expertise that is expected from health care providers in similar professions in similar situations. This is called the duty of care. In order to win a case against a healthcare provider who is at fault you must prove that the medical professional breached this duty. This usually means proving that the medical professional's actions, or the lack of them, 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 prove with medical records and evidence from an expert that the healthcare provider in question's breach of duty led to your child's injuries. A doctor, for example, may not have monitored your child's vitals during labor and birth. This could have led to brain damage due to the prolonged oxygen deprivation.

The final aspect of a successful negligence claim is damages. You must prove that you and your child suffered actual significant financial losses, birth injury which are quantifiable, resulting from the at-fault healthcare professional's inability to fulfill their duty of care. This includes future and past medical expenses and lost wages as well as other damages such as discomfort and pain.

Causation

Medical professionals have a responsibility to patients to provide treatment consistent with the standard of care in their field of. If a medical professional or nurse fails to meet the standard of care, it may result in injury to the patient, and lead to a claim for damages. To succeed in a birth injury case the attorney must show that the breach of duty directly caused the injuries suffered by your child. This can be proven through evidence, such as medical records or expert testimony.

It is also necessary to establish that your child would not have suffered the injury even if the medical professional performed the required standard of medical care. Medical experts are asked to review the case to determine if a doctor or the hospital behaved in a manner not in line with accepted medical practices.

Birth injuries can cause life-altering effects that require an ongoing series of medical treatments and other expenses. It is important that you hold doctors and hospitals accountable for birth injury their mistakes and seek 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 accountable parties. They can also build an evidence-based case and get expert testimony, retrieve medical records and other records and then fight for a fair settlement that covers your family's losses as well as lifetime cost of care.

Damages

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

When nurses, doctors, and other medical professionals make mistakes that could be avoided prior to or during the birth of your child, it could have devastating effects for your family. It can also be difficult to pursue legal action against hospitals and doctors who could have acted negligently or erroneously. They have teams of lawyers who work full-time to protect their clients, reject claims or decrease settlements.

By hiring an New York birth injury lawyer to represent you, you can hold at-fault medical professionals accountable. The lawyer will handle all communications with insurers and file your claim in court, and construct a strong evidence-based case to prove the responsibility. They will also advocate for you to win an equitable 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 limitations and the clock starts to tick from the time the malpractice or medical error occurred.

Statute of Limitations

A successful claim for compensation in a birth injury case is based on four components. Your lawyer can explain the factors and craft an effective legal argument in support of your claim.

Medical negligence claims require showing that the defendant owed you the duty of care and that the defendant violated this obligation and that the breach directly led to the injuries to your child. It is crucial to prove causation in order to win an action. This means that the defendant's actions or inability to act could not have resulted in the injury of your child.

Defense attorneys can challenge any of these elements. They could claim that there isn't a doctor-patient relationship or that normal care isn't what you claim it is. They may challenge your evidence or the opinions of your expert witnesses.

You'll need to provide medical records, any other documentation along with an explanation of what occurred during the birth of your child. You will also need to submit an demand package which contains the names of all people you believe should be named defendants. An experienced lawyer can help identify the right defendants and make sure there's sufficient insurance coverage. A lawyer can also assist in advancing costs related to litigation such as the cost of highly qualified medical experts. This can help reduce some of the financial burden that comes with litigating a claim for birth injury.