Birth Injury Compensation
If your child is suffering from a
birth injury lawsuits injury resulting from the negligence of a doctor or wrongful decision, it could be devastating. These injuries often require lifetime treatment and care, leaving you with enormous financial costs.
Additionally, many birth injuries cases require a complex debate about medical malpractice versus medical errors. Our lawyers can clarify the differences.
Costs of Treatment
Attorneys, insurance companies, and judges weigh the severity of the birth injury and the impact it has on the child's life when determining the amount compensation to be paid. If a child needs extensive medical treatment that lasts for a long time, the value of the claim will rise.
The medical treatment for birth injuries can be very expensive. Compensation for birth injuries can aid families in covering these costs. Lawyers and experts frequently collaborate to create an "Life Care Plan" that estimates the costs of a child’s
injury over the course of a lifetime. These costs include hospitalization, surgery, medical treatments and prescriptions, home improvements and equipment, among others.
Your legal team will collect medical records from the time of pregnancy and birth of your child, in addition to firsthand reports from relatives. These records will be used to show that your child was injured due to medical malpractice, and to show the extent of the injury.
Many states have medical indemnity funds that provide financial assistance to families with children who have suffered birth injuries. These funds are a source of a portion of the malpractice insurance premiums or require doctors and hospitals to contribute to an investment fund. These programs can provide families with financial aid and decrease the need to file a suit. JLARC staff, however, found that these programs didn't always meet their objectives and need to be improved.
Life Care Planning
Children with conditions such as hypoxic ischephalopathy or cerebral palsy will need medical care for the rest of their lives. These requirements include physical therapy, special equipment and home health care. The costs for these can be substantial.
A life-care plan is a document that outlines the future medical education, home-based, and other costs disabled children will have to pay for the rest of his or his or her life. These plans are used to calculate the economic portion of a settlement in the case of birth injury. The plans must be precise and carefully designed to satisfy the strict requirements of admissibility.
Experts in planning for life can assist in the development of these documents based on the input and the formal opinions of a disabled child’s doctors as well as therapists and caregivers. The plans provide a detailed description of the initial injury and its diagnosis. They also explain the root cause of the impairment as well as the long-term consequences.
A medical malpractice lawyer must collaborate with a health care planner to create the most appropriate plan for their client's situation. The aim of the plan is to ensure that your child is provided with adequate compensation to cover all of his or her future medical expenses and care. The money is usually placed in a special needs trust which is administered by an approved administrator. Typically the amount granted will be adjusted over time to meet changes in your child's future requirements.
Pain and Suffering
In a birth injury lawsuit there are damages awarded for the plaintiff's past and future suffering and pain. This includes physical and mental pain caused by the injury, as well as the inability to take part in activities that others can do.
It is also possible to recuperate for income loss if a victim's disability limits their options for employment or stops them from working. Families can also receive compensation to care for an injured child.
The verdicts in medical malpractice cases are often extremely high because juries tend to be sensitive to the victims and hold doctors accountable for their mistakes. This is why many hospitals and doctors choose to settle instead of risking the trial process, which is expensive and stressful for the parties involved.
During the lawsuit lawyers from both sides will collect evidence to justify their arguments. They will exchange documents in a process known as discovery, which involves deposing witnesses to obtain statements under the oath. The defendants could also ask to review the medical records of the plaintiff, which is legal in all states.
A successful birth injury claim requires an experienced lawyer in these kinds of cases. An experienced lawyer will examine the facts of your case, determine if it is in line with the specifications for a lawsuit and ensure the highest financial settlement that is possible.
Punitive Damages
Some medical malpractice suits also include punitive damage awards which are intended to serve as a warning and to prevent future negligence. They are awarded in cases that involve serious negligence or where there was malice on the part of the doctor. However, they are very rare in birth injury cases.
After the attorney has identified the appropriate defendants, they have to find and analyze evidence to back up their claims. They must demonstrate that the injuries incurred by medical professionals did not comply with the standards of care required. The legal team also has to prove the losses that were incurred with the injuries, referred to as "damages." These damages could be economic or non-economic.
Economic losses are typically calculated by taking into account the cost of the child's ongoing treatment, including long-term care facilities as well as other services. They could also consider the loss of earnings if the injury caused one or both parents to leave their jobs.
The legal team will draft a demand package that they will present to the malpractice insurers. The document will explain the birth injuries and the impact they have on the child and family, and demand compensation for the loss. The lawyers will negotiate until a settlement is reached with the medical providers. During the discovery process, attorneys will exchange information with other party on their case. This includes depositions of witnesses that testify on oath.