Birth Injury Lawsuits Explained
Families expect that their doctors and other medical professionals will ensure a high standard of care. When they do not, birth injuries can be devastating for families.
If you suspect your child has suffered a preventable birth injury as a result of medical malpractice, contact a birth injury lawyer for help. Reputable lawyers will evaluate your case at no cost and will not charge upfront fees. A successful claim requires the proof of the four elements of your case.
Duty of Care
The birth of a child is one of the most joyous and memorable events in the lives of any person. Unfortunately, this process can become traumatic for parents if medical errors result in serious injuries to their child during the birth process and during labor. These errors can be irreversible and cause the possibility of a lifetime of difficulties for the family.
Medical professionals and doctors have a legal obligation to treat patients with the same care and expertise that is expected of health care providers in their field in similar situations. This is referred to as the duty of care. To prevail in a lawsuit against a healthcare provider at fault, you must prove that the medical professional violated this obligation. This usually means proving that the medical professional’s actions or the lack of them, differed from what a competent and competent medical professional would do under similar circumstances.
The second component in a negligence lawsuit is the causation. You must prove, using medical documents and expert testimony that the at-fault healthcare provider’s breach of duty caused the injury of your child. A doctor, for example could not have observed the vitals of your child during labor and delivery. This could have led to prolonged oxygen deprivation, which could have caused brain damage.
The final component of a successful negligence claim is damages. You must prove that you and/or your child experienced real tangible, quantifiable losses as the result of the healthcare provider’s lapse 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 required to their patients to provide treatment that is in line with standards in their field. A doctor or nurse who fails to adhere to the standard of care can cause injury to a patient and result in the possibility of a claim for damages. In order to win a birth injury lawsuit the attorney must prove that the breach of duty directly caused your child’s injuries. This has to be proven by evidence, like 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 met the expected standard of care. Medical experts are asked review the case in order to determine if the doctor or the hospital behaved in a manner not in accordance with the accepted medical practice.
Birth injuries can alter the course of your child’s life and require medical care for a lifetime. It is essential to hold the at-fault doctors and hospitals accountable for their negligence and obtain compensation that will provide for your child’s future 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 accountable parties. They can also develop a case based on evidence, secure expert testimony, retrieve medical records and documents, and fight for fair settlements to cover family’s life-long care costs and losses.
Damages
A birth injury lawsuit requires the expertise of medical experts who will examine medical records, evidence from your family and you as well as other evidence. They will help you establish that the hospital or doctor involved in your case violated their duty of care and caused your child to suffer injuries. They will then calculate the damages you have suffered due to those injuries. These include the future and present medical expenses and the loss of income, the loss of quality of life, emotional distress, and other losses.
It can be a devastating experience for your family if nurses, doctors and other medical staff commit unavoidable errors prior to or even after the birth of your child. It can also be difficult to pursue legal action against hospitals and doctors who could have committed malpractice or negligence. They often have their own legal teams who are on call 24/7 to protect their clients and to deny claims or reduce settlement amounts.
You can hold medical professionals responsible for their actions by hiring a New York birth injuries lawyer. Your lawyer will handle communication with insurance companies and then submit your claim to court, and develop a strong evidence-based case to establish liability. They will also work to secure you an acceptable settlement or jury verdict for your losses as well as lifetime care costs. They will also file your lawsuit in time to meet any applicable statute of limitations, since 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 includes four parts. Your attorney can help you understand the components and build a solid legal argument in support of your claim.
Medical negligence claims require that you prove that the defendant had the duty of care towards your child, and that he breached that duty, and that this breach led to the injuries to your child. In order for a claim to be successful, it is also essential that you prove causation, which means that your child’s injuries could not have occurred without the defendant’s actions (or inaction).
Defense attorneys can challenge any of these elements. They may claim that there isn’t a doctor-patient relationship or that the standard of care is not what you claim it to be. They can also challenge your proof or the opinions of your expert witnesses.
You’ll need to provide medical records, as well as other evidence, as well as an account of what went wrong during the birth injury attorneys of your child. You’ll also have to make an application for a demand form, which includes a list of the people you believe should be named defendants. An experienced lawyer can assist you in identifying proper defendants and make sure they have adequate insurance coverage. A lawyer can also assist in advancing costs related to litigation like the cost of highly qualified medical experts. This can ease some of the financial burden associated with pursuing the case of birth injury.