Birth Injury Lawsuits Explained
Families expect that their medical professionals and doctors will provide a high standard of care. Birth injuries can be catastrophic for families if they're not treated properly.
If you suspect your child was born with a preventable injury due to medical malpractice, contact a birth injury lawyer for help. A reputable lawyer will review your case with no upfront fees. To prove your claim, you must demonstrate the four elements.
Duty of Care
The birth of a child is one of the most joyous and significant events in a person's lifetime. Unfortunately, the process can be traumatic for parents when medical mistakes cause serious injuries to the baby during labor or delivery. These errors can be irreversible and create a lifetime of challenges for a family.
Medical professionals and doctors are required by law to treat patients with the respect and expertise that is expected of health care providers in their respective fields under similar circumstances. This is known as the duty of care. In order to win a case against a healthcare provider at fault you must prove that the medical professional breached this duty. This usually involves demonstrating how the medical professional's actions, or absence of actions, differed from what a competent and properly trained medical professional would do in the same circumstances.
The second aspect of a negligence claim is the causation. You must prove with medical records and evidence from an expert that the healthcare provider responsible for the breach of duty caused your child's injuries. A doctor, for example, may not have monitored the vitals of your child during labor and birth. This could have caused brain damage due to prolonged oxygen deprivation.
The final element of a successful negligence case is damages. You have to prove that you and/or your child suffered actual significant, quantifiable damages as a result of the healthcare provider's lapse in their duty to care. This typically includes future and past medical expenses, lost wages and other non-economic losses such as pain and suffering.
Causation
Medical professionals are obligated to patients to provide care that is consistent with the standard of care in their field. If a physician or nurse fails to meet this standard of care, they could cause an injury to the patient, and lead to an action for damages. In order to win a case of birth injury, an attorney must prove that the breach of duty directly caused your child's injuries. This has to be proved by evidence such as medical documents and expert testimony.
It is also crucial to prove that your child wouldn't have suffered an injury even if a medical professional provided the standard of medical care expected. Medical experts are asked to review the case to determine if a doctor or the hospital behaved in a manner that was not in line with the accepted medical standards.
birth injury attorney injuries can alter the course of your child's life and require medical attention for a lifetime. It is important to hold at-fault doctors and hospitals accountable for their negligence, and to seek compensation that will the future of your child's needs.
A lawyer who has handled medical malpractice cases is able to handle the entire legal process including responding to insurance requests and filing a lawsuit against the parties responsible. They can also create a case based on evidence, secure expert testimony, locate medical records and documents and negotiate fair settlements to pay for the family's costs for care throughout their lifetime and expenses.
Damages
Medical experts are needed to examine medical records, testimony from you and your family members and other evidence in the
birth injury lawyers injury lawsuit. They will help you prove that the doctor or hospital involved in your case breached their duty of care and harmed your child. They will then estimate the damages you've suffered because of these injuries. These include the future and present medical expenses as well as lost wages, loss of quality of life, emotional distress and other losses.
It can be a devastating experience for your family members when nurses, doctors and other medical staff make unavoidable errors prior to or even after the birth your child. It can be difficult to bring legal action against hospitals and doctors who have committed malpractice or negligence. They usually have their own teams of lawyers who are on call 24/7 to protect their clients and to deny claims or reduce settlement amounts.
When you employ a New York
Birth Injury Law Firms injury lawyer, you can hold at-fault medical professionals accountable. Your lawyer will be in contact with the insurers and file a claim in court and build a solid evidence-based case to establish the responsibility. They will also fight to get you an appropriate settlement or jury verdict for your losses as well as lifetime healthcare costs. They can also start a lawsuit before the deadline for any applicable statute of limitations when the clock begins to run from the day the medical malpractice or negligence occurred.
Statute of limitations
A successful claim for compensation in a case of birth injury is based on four components. Your attorney can help you understand the various elements and develop a strong legal case in support of your claim.
Medical negligence claims depend on the defendant's obligation to you an obligation of care, that the defendant breached this duty and that the breach directly resulted in the injuries to your child. To prove a claim it is also necessary that you prove causation, which means that your child's injuries wouldn't have occurred but for the defendant's actions (or negligence).
The defendants have the option of challenging each of these elements. They could argue that there is no doctor-patient connection or that the normal care isn't what you claim it is. They can also challenge your evidence, or the opinions of your expert witnesses.
To prove a breach of duty, you'll have to submit medical records and other documentation, and provide a declaration of what went wrong during your child's birth. Additionally, you'll need to submit an demand package, which includes the names of all individuals you consider to be defendants. A knowledgeable attorney will assist you in identifying the most appropriate defendants and ensure there is sufficient insurance coverage. A lawyer can also assist with advancing litigation-related expenses like the cost of highly qualified medical experts. This helps ease some of the financial stress associated when litigating a birth injury claim.