Birth Injury Lawsuits Explained

Families expect that their medical professionals and doctors will provide a high standard of care. When they do not birth injuries can be devastating for families.

If you suspect your child suffered a preventable birth injury due to medical malpractice or birth injuries, you should contact a birth injury lawyer for assistance. The most reputable lawyers will review your case without imposing any upfront costs. In order to prove your claim, you must establish the four elements.

Duty of Care

The birth of a child is one of the most joyous and memorable moments in the lives of any person. Unfortunately, the birth process can be traumatic for parents when medical errors result in serious injuries to their baby during birth and labor. These mistakes can be irreversible and make a family face a lifetime of challenges.

Doctors and other medical professionals are legally bound to provide patients with the level of care and expertise that is expected of health professionals in their respective fields under similar circumstances. This is referred to as the duty of care. You must demonstrate that a medical professional acted in violation of this duty to win a case. This typically involves proving how the medical professional's actions, or lack thereof, differed from what a qualified and reasonably trained medical professional would do under similar circumstances.

The second component in a negligence case is causation. You must prove through medical records and testimony from an expert that the healthcare provider responsible for the breach of duty led to your child's injuries. A doctor, for instance might not have been able to monitor your child's vitals during labor and birth. This could have led to prolonged oxygen deprivation, which in turn caused brain damage.

Damages are the last element in a successful negligence case. You must prove that either you or your child suffered actual, quantifiable losses as a result of the healthcare professional's negligence in their duty of care. This includes past and future medical costs and lost wages and also non-economic damages like pain and discomfort.

Causation

Medical professionals are bound to their patients to offer care that is in accordance with standards in their area of expertise. A nurse or doctor who does not meet the standard of care can cause injury to a patient and result in claims for damages. To succeed in the case of a birth injury, an attorney must prove that the breach of duty directly led to the injuries suffered by your child. This must be proven with evidence like medical records and expert testimony.

It is also crucial to establish that your child would not have suffered a traumatic injury when a medical professional been able to provide the level of medical care expected. Medical experts are required to examine the case to determine if the doctor or the hospital behaved in a way that was not consistent with the accepted medical guidelines.

Birth injuries can have a profound impact on your life and require medical care for a lifetime. It is essential to hold at-fault doctors and hospitals responsible for their negligence, and to seek compensation that can help the future of your child's needs.

A lawyer who has handled medical malpractice cases has the ability to manage the entire legal process, including responding to insurance requests and bringing a lawsuit against the parties responsible. They can also build an evidence-based argument and obtain expert testimony, locate medical records as well as other documents and then fight for an equitable settlement to cover the losses of your family and continue to pay for cost of care.

Damages

Medical experts are needed to scrutinize medical records, evidence from you and your family members and other evidence in a birth injury lawsuit. They will prove that the doctor involved in your case has violated their duty of care for your child and causing injuries to your child. They will then calculate the damages you have suffered as a result of those injuries. Included are your current and future medical costs in addition to lost wages, loss in quality of life emotional distress, and other losses.

If nurses, doctors or other medical staff commit mistakes that are not preventable before, during, or after the birth of your child, it could result in devastating consequences for your family. It isn't easy to bring legal action against doctors and hospitals that may have acted negligently or with a lack of care. They typically have their own teams of lawyers working full-time to protect clients and defend against claims or reduce settlement amounts.

When you employ a New York birth injury lawyer and appointing at-fault medical professionals accountable. Your lawyer will be in contact with the insurers and file a claim with the court and build a solid argument based on evidence to establish liability. They will also fight for you to obtain an equitable jury verdict or settlement for your losses as well as care costs over your life. They may also bring a lawsuit within the timeframe for any applicable statute of limitations and the clock starts to run from the date the malpractice or negligence occurred.

Statute of limitations

A successful claim for compensation in a birth-related injury case requires four components. Your attorney can explain each one and build a strong legal argument in support of your claim.

Medical negligence claims require that you prove that the defendant had an obligation to care for your child, that the defendant violated that duty, and that this breach led to the injuries to your child. It is essential to prove causation in order to be successful in an action. This means that the defendant's actions or omission to act would not have caused the injuries to your child.

The defendants have the option of challenging each of these elements. They can argue that there is no doctor-patient relationship, or that the normal care isn't what you claim it to be. Additionally, they may contest your evidence and expert witnesses and their opinions.

To prove breach of obligation, you'll need submit medical records and other documents as well as a written statement that describes the circumstances that led to the birth of your child. You'll also need to submit the demand package, which includes a list of all parties you consider to be defendants. A knowledgeable attorney can help you identify the proper defendants and make sure there is enough insurance coverage. Lawyers can assist in advancing litigation-related costs, such as the fees of highly experienced medical experts. This can help reduce some of the financial stress that comes with litigating claims for birth injuries.