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Birth Injury Lawsuits Explained

Birth is a dangerous and stressful event, but families expect their doctors and other medical professionals to adhere to a high standard of care. If they don't, birth injuries can be devastating for families.

Contact a birth injury attorney for help if you suspect that your child has suffered a preventable injury at birth as a result of medical malpractice. A reputable lawyer will review your case and not charge any upfront fees. To prove your claim, you must prove the four elements.

Duty of Care

Few things in life are more joyous and special than the birth of a child. However, the birth process can turn traumatic for parents who have medical errors result in serious injuries to the baby during labor and birth. These mistakes can be irreparable, creating a lifetime of challenges for a family.

Medical professionals and doctors are required by law to treat patients with the same care and expertise that is expected of health care providers in their field under similar circumstances. This is called the duty of care. You must demonstrate that a medical professional violated this duty to win a case. This usually involves demonstrating how the medical professional's actions or lack thereof, differed from what a competent and reasonably trained medical professional would have done in the same circumstances.

The second element in a negligence lawsuit is the issue of causation. You must prove, through medical evidence and expert testimony that the at-fault healthcare professional's breach of duty caused the injury to your child. For instance, a doctor might have not been able to keep track of your child's vital signs during labor and delivery. This could have resulted in prolonged oxygen deprivation, which could have caused brain damage.

Damages are a crucial element in a successful negligence case. You must prove that you and your child suffered actual real, tangible financial losses from the at-fault medical professional's failure to perform their duty of care. This usually includes future and past medical expenses, lost wages and other non-economic losses such as suffering and pain.

Causation

Medical professionals are bound to their patients to offer care that is in line with standards of their area of expertise. If a medical professional or nurse fails to meet the standard of care, it may result in injury to the patient and result in a claim for damages. To succeed in a birth injury lawsuit, an attorney must prove that the breach of duty directly caused your child's injuries. This can be proven through evidence such as medical records or expert testimony.

It is also essential to establish that your child would not have suffered the injury if the medical professional had performed the required standard of treatment. Medical experts are required to look into the matter and provide an opinion on whether the hospital or doctor performed a procedure that was not in accordance with accepted medical practices.

Birth injuries can have a profound impact on your life and require medical treatment for a lifetime. It is important that you make hospitals and doctors accountable for their negligence, and receive compensation to cover the future needs of your child.

A lawyer experienced in handling medical malpractice cases can handle the entire legal process for you, including responding to insurance requests and bringing an action against the responsible parties. They can also construct an evidence-based case, secure expert testimony, recover medical records and other records and negotiate an equitable settlement to cover the loss of your family as well as lifelong costs of care.

Damages

A birth injury lawsuit requires the expertise of medical experts who will review medical records, testimony from you and your family as well as other evidence. They will assist you in proving that the medical professional or hospital involved in your case breached their duty of care and caused injuries to your child. Then, they'll estimate the damage you have suffered due to those injuries. These include your future and current medical expenses in addition to lost wages, loss of quality of life, emotional distress, and many other losses.

It can be a tragedy for your family members when doctors, nurses and other medical staff commit errors that could have been avoided prior to or after the birth your child. It can be also difficult to initiate legal action against the hospital and doctors who might have committed malpractice or negligence. They typically have their own teams of lawyers who are on call 24/7 to protect their clients and deny claims, or reduce settlement amounts.

By hiring a New York birth injury lawyer to represent you, you can hold at-fault medical professionals accountable. Your attorney will handle communications with insurers and will file your claim in court, and develop an evidence-based case to prove the liability. They will also work to secure you an equitable settlement or verdict from a jury for your losses and lifetime cost of care. They can also make your claim in time to satisfy any applicable statute of limitations, as the clock starts ticking 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 provide a detailed explanation of each element and build a strong legal argument in support of your claim.

Medical negligence claims rely on being able to prove that the defendant owed you a duty of care and that the defendant violated this obligation, and that the breach directly led to your child's injuries. It is crucial to prove causation in order to prevail in a claim. This means that the defendant's actions or inability to act would not have caused the injuries to your child.

The defendants have the option of challenging any of these elements. They may argue that there is no doctor-patient relationship or that the standard care is not what you claim it to be. They can also challenge your evidence, or the opinions of your expert witnesses.

You'll have to provide medical records, any other documentation in addition to an account of what happened during the birth of your child. You'll also need to submit a demand package with an inventory of all the parties you consider to be defendants. An experienced lawyer can help identify the right defendants and ensure there's adequate insurance coverage. A lawyer can assist with costs related to litigation, including the expenses of highly qualified medical experts. This can help to reduce some of the financial stress associated with litigating a claim for birth injury law firms injury.