Birth Injury Lawsuits Explained

Childbirth is a risky and stressful experience, but families expect their doctors and other medical professionals to adhere to a high standard of medical care. Birth injuries can be catastrophic for families if not treated appropriately.

Contact a birth injury attorney to seek assistance when you suspect that your child has suffered an injury that could have been prevented at birth as a result of medical negligence. A reputable lawyer will review your case for free and will not charge any upfront fees. To prove your claim, you have to prove the four elements.

Duty of Care

Few things in life are more joyous and special than the birth of a baby. However, the birth process can be difficult for some parents if medical errors cause serious injuries to the baby during labor birth injury lawsuit or delivery. These errors could be irreparable which can cause an entire series of problems for the family.

Medical professionals and doctors are required by law to treat patients with the same care and skill that is normally expected of health care providers in their field in similar situations. This is referred to as the duty of care. You must demonstrate that a medical professional acted in violation of this duty to be able to win a claim. This typically involves proving how the medical professional's actions or absence of actions, differed from what a qualified and competent medical professional would do in similar circumstances.

The second element of a negligence claim is causation. You must prove, using medical documents and expert testimony that the at-fault healthcare professional's breach of duty caused the injury of your child. For instance, a physician may have failed to monitor your child's vital indicators during labor and birth. This could have resulted in prolonged oxygen deprivation which then led to brain damage.

Damages are the final element in the case of a successful negligence claim. You must prove that you or your child experienced real significant, quantifiable damages as a result of the healthcare professional's failure in their duty of care. This includes future and past medical costs and lost wages as well as other damages like discomfort and pain.

Causation

Medical professionals owe a duty to patients to provide treatment consistent with the standard of care in their field. A nurse or doctor who fails to meet the standards of care could cause injury to a patient, and could result in the possibility of a claim for damages. In order to win a birth injury lawsuit an attorney must demonstrate that the breach of duty directly caused your child's injuries. This must be proved with evidence, like medical records or expert testimony.

It is also crucial to prove that your child wouldn't be injured when a medical professional performed the care that is expected. Medical experts are asked review the case in order to determine if a doctor or the hospital behaved in a way that was not consistent with accepted medical practices.

Birth injuries can be life-changing and require medical treatment for a lifetime. It is essential to hold doctors and hospitals accountable for their negligence and seek compensation to 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 inquiries and bringing a lawsuit against the accountable parties. They can also build an evidence-based case, secure expert testimony, recover medical records and other documents and seek an appropriate settlement to cover the losses of your family and continue to pay for cost of care.

Damages

A birth injury lawsuit requires the expertise of medical experts who will examine medical records, evidence from you and your family, and other evidence. They will help establish that the doctor involved in your case has violated their duty of provide care and birth injury lawsuit harmed your child. They will then calculate the damage you've suffered due to these injuries. Included are your current and future medical costs, lost wages, loss of quality of life emotional distress, and other losses.

It can be a tragedy for your family members when nurses, doctors and other medical professionals make errors that could have been avoided prior to or even after the birth of your child. It can also be difficult to bring legal action against the hospitals and doctors who may have committed negligence or malpractice. They have lawyers on staff who work full-time to protect their clients, deny claims or decrease settlements.

If you hire a New York birth injury lawyer to represent you, you can hold medical professionals who are at fault accountable. Your lawyer will communicate with the insurance companies and then file a claim in court and develop a solid proof-based case to prove the liability. They will also fight for you to obtain an appropriate jury verdict or settlement for your losses as well as care costs over the course of your life. They will also make your claim in time to satisfy any applicable statute of limitations, as the clock begins to tick from the date of the medical negligence or malpractice.

Statute of Limitations

A successful claim for compensation in a birth injury lawsuit requires four components. Your lawyer can provide a detailed explanation of each element and develop a solid legal argument in support of your claim.

Medical negligence claims require that you establish that the defendant owed an obligation of care for your child, that he violated that duty and that this breach caused the injuries to your child. To be successful in a claim it is crucial that you establish causation, which means that your child's injuries would not have occurred if it weren't for the actions of the defendant (or negligence).

The defendants can challenge any of these elements. They can argue that you don't have a doctor-patient relationship, or that the standards of care are different from what you declare it to be. They may also challenge your proof or the opinions of your expert witnesses.

You'll have to provide medical records, as well as other evidence and an explanation of what occurred during the birth of your child. You'll also have to submit an application package that includes an outline of the people you believe should be named as defendants. A skilled lawyer can help you establish the appropriate defendants and ensure you have adequate insurance coverage. A lawyer can help advance litigation-related expenses, for example the costs of highly skilled medical experts. This helps alleviate some of the financial burden that comes with litigating a birth injury claim.