9 Things Your Parents Teach You About Birth Injury Lawsuit

Birth Injury Litigation

Medical negligence during labor and birth can result in serious birth injuries to infants. These injuries can have a lasting impact on the child as well as their families.

A successful lawsuit could help pay for future and present medical expenses, lost wages and other damages. A successful lawsuit could take years to achieve.

Compensation

Despite the remarkable medical advancements birth is still an extremely risky process. Both babies and mothers expect that doctors behave professionally and avoid errors which could have lasting consequences. If you believe a doctor or hospital has been negligent in causing the injury of your baby and/or death, you should consult a New York birth injuries lawyer to determine the legal options you have.

If you are successful in your claim, you will be awarded financial compensation. This can include future and current medical expenses loss of wages, emotional stress and many other damages. In some instances juries and judges could also award punitive damages in the event of unacceptable behavior.

Your attorney will work in conjunction with a network of experts witnesses to analyze what happened and establish the standard of care that is accepted. They will review all your medical records and review the actions of your medical team during your birth injury lawsuit. This information can help build a strong argument and maximize your chances for success.

Typically your lawyer will attempt to negotiate a settlement with the malpractice insurance company prior to filing an action. This will involve making a demand package that includes a report detailing your family's losses and the medical evidence that supports the claims. The malpractice carrier will then respond with an offer. If a settlement is not reached, the case will proceed to trial.

Damages

The damages a plaintiff gets may be either financial (such as medical bills) or non-economic (such as pain and suffering). In a majority of cases juries award both. The amount of damages a victim will receive is determined by how the injury has affected them as well as their previous and future losses. Some states restrict the amount of non-economic damages juries can award.

In order to seek compensation to recover compensation, birth injury lawsuit it must be proved that the defendant acted in breach of their duty of care. This is done by combining medical records, expert testimony and depositions. Medical experts are those who are experts in a specific field of medical practice. They examine every piece of evidence and be called in to testify in court if required. In cases involving birth injury lawsuit injuries, an expert can help prove that the defendant's actions are against the standard of care expected from an expert in medicine who has the same education and experience in the specific circumstances of the case.

In addition to medical experts, attorneys will conduct depositions of any person who has a relevant story or insight. These are sworn, non-judgmental statements that permit attorneys to question witnesses directly about what happened. Some depositions are conducted via phone or by video conference, but the majority are conducted in the courtroom. These discussions can be difficult and stressful, but they are essential to constructing a convincing case for clients and obtaining the maximum possible amount of compensation.

Statute of limitations

In most states, New York requires that medical malpractice claims be filed within the timeframe of limitations. Parents have two and two and a half years from date of an act, omission or failure believed to cause the injury of their child to make a claim.

Your attorney will be able to review the medical records of your child to determine whether any nurses or obstetricians and other hospital personnel were involved in the birth of your son or birth injury lawsuit daughter. He or she may then seek any relevant documents and information that could aid in determining the cause of your child's injuries.

In order to prove the misconduct, your lawyer needs to establish that the defendant was responsible for your child's obligation, and then breached it by failing to meet the standards of care required in similar circumstances. To prove this, your lawyer will work with medical professionals to compare the actions of the medical professional to accepted procedures and practices.

A lawyer can also assist you to identify witnesses to testify in your case. These professionals can give valuable insight into the decision-making process of the doctor and how a particular mistake or omission contributed to the birth injury suffered by your child. This information can be utilized by your lawyer to prove your compensation claim. A successful medical malpractice claim involves two separate legal claims, one for the child who is injured as well as one for the parents of the child.

Expert Witnesses

With the right assistance families can get compensation that covers medical bills, lost income from absence from work or rehabilitative therapies and the costs of long-term health care. The most important factor to win an injury case at birth is having the most qualified expert witnesses on your side.

They can look over the evidence and provide their professional opinion about whether a medical professional breached their duty of care when they performed an action which could have resulted in injuries to an infant. They can simplify medical terms for a jury or judge to comprehend.

An expert witness's role is to provide impartial medical evidence that reflects the state of medical knowledge at the time of the event that is in dispute. This means they must not exclude any relevant information in order to form an opinion that is more favorably disposed to either the plaintiff or the defendant.

Experts should also review the relevant medical records and contemporaneous literature with sufficient thoroughness so that they can form an informed opinion. In certain cases experts could be required to make a sworn statement outside of the courtroom. These sessions can be daunting but they are an essential element of preparing for a case. Your lawyer can prepare you for these sessions and ensure that you are treated with respect.