What are the Reasons to Hire a Birth Injury Lawyer?
Legally Reviewed and Edited by: Terry L. Cochran
The birth of a child should be a moment of happiness, but with either negligence or mistakes during delivery time, families must endure devastating results. When your child has been injured during birth, the use of an experienced birth injury attorney could be critical to receiving justice, and that justice in the form of compensation to provide for your child.
In this blog post, we discuss why the use of a birth injury attorney in these cases is important and why the right lawyer can make a significant difference in the outcome for your family.
What Are Birth Injuries?
Birth injuries are physical damages that occur to an infant at delivery time, labor time, or at the initial time after delivery. In contrast to incidents of birth defects that occur while still pregnant, birth injuries are mostly preventable and occur due to negligence or inappropriate care at delivery time.
The typical types of birth injuries include:
Cerebral Palsy: It is a neuro disease that affects muscle tone and stance. It can be caused by a lack of oxygen at birth. Children with cerebral palsy require special care and treatment throughout their entire lifespan.
Neurological Injuries: Brachial plexus injuries like Erb’s palsy and Klumpke’s palsy occur due to trauma to the network of nerve tissue that spans between the neck and arm at delivery. The condition can occur due to undue force used while delivering a baby with shoulder dystocia.
Clavicle fracture: Clavicle fracture is a very frequent type of birth trauma that often follows complicated delivery or is due to misuse of techniques employed to deliver a baby in a breech presentation.
Head Injuries: The baby’s brain can become hypoxic at the time of delivery in hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE). It is a serious condition and can lead to developmental delay, intellectual disability, and other long-term issues.
Physicians and nurses take care to prevent such harm, but healthcare professionals who fail to follow standard procedures can have disastrous repercussions. Attorneys who handle cases involving birth injuries comprehend the intricacy of such a wound and can inform you if medical negligence was involved in your child’s case.
Difference Between A Birth Defect And A Birth Injury
It is important to know the distinction between birth defects and birth injuries if you are considering a lawsuit. The distinction can significantly impact your ability to recover damages for your child’s injuries.
Birth defects typically occur while you are pregnant and are typically caused by genetic factors, environmental factors, or maternal sickness. They occur while the baby is developing in your womb and typically cannot be prevented through medical care at delivery.
Alternatively, injuries at birth occur during delivery and labor. They can be avoided and occur due to:
- Misuse of delivery instruments such as forceps or vacuum extractors
- Poor detection of fetal distress signals
- Delayed cesarean section if medically warranted
- Inadequate handling of the baby at delivery
- Medication errors during delivery or labor
This is significant because medical negligence caused by birth injuries can lead to a suit for damages, but birth defects cannot, except if the defect would have been preventable with good prenatal care or resulted from drugs used during pregnancy that were prescribed.
You can have your medical records reviewed by an experienced birth injury lawyer and speak with medical professionals to determine if your child’s condition happened due to a preventable birth injury. It is a key step to determine if you have grounds to make a medical malpractice complaint.
Role Of Doctors, Nurses, And Hospitals In Ensuring A Safe Delivery
Medical professionals have a solemn responsibility to maintain a standard of care that will ensure the safety of mother and child both during the pregnancy stage and at delivery and labor. Such a responsibility of care is owed by all medical staff who participate in the delivery.
Doctors and Obstetricians must:
- Proper monitoring of the mother and baby throughout pregnancy
- Identify and address complications at delivery time
- Make proper delivery options
- Respond effectively and timely manner to labor emergencies
Labor and delivery nurses have several responsibilities:
- Fetal heart rate monitoring and maternal vital sign monitoring
- Identifying symptoms of fetal distress
- Providing care after delivery
Hospitals must ensure:
- Adequate manning with qualified staff
- Clean equipment
- Implementation of safety measures
- Adequate training for all staff
- Successful departments have effective communication channels
When such medical healthcare professionals breach their obligations, their negligence can have disastrous consequences. If your child’s birth injury happened due to subpar care, a qualified lawyer can help bring negligent professionals to account.
Most people don’t want to sue medical professionals, but it’s something to consider that medical professionals and hospitals have insurance with this in mind. A suit against medical professionals is not all about getting paid—it’s about getting your child help that he or she is entitled to and preventing the same negligence from harming other families.
Delayed Medical Responses Cause Harm To The Baby
Speed is of the utmost importance in obstetrics. Seconds of delay in response to several minutes of fetal distress can lead to permanent disability or death. It is possible to visualize slow medical reactions causing injuries at birth to comprehend why effective legal assistance is essential in such instances.
If there are complications during labor or delivery, healthcare providers have to respond quickly. Some common conditions needing prompt response are:
- Abnormal fetal heart rate patterns suggest distress
- Lumbar complications such as prolapse or compression
- Maternal bleeding
- Shoulder dystocia during delivery
Delays in such emergent conditions can lead to hypoxia in the infant’s brain that will lead to mental retardation, cerebral palsy, or other permanent neurologic impairment. Delays occasionally occur due to:
- The medical staff fails to monitor the mother and child well
- Warning signs are ignored or overlooked
- Insufficient information is communicated among healthcare staff
- The equipment required is not easily available
- Experts don’t arrive on time
Proving delay in care caused your child’s injuries involves close review of medical records, fetal monitor strips, hospital records, and depositions of hospital staff. A qualified birth injury lawyer has access to resources and knows how to work with medical professionals to establish causation between a delay in care and your child’s injuries.
These are complex cases that require a lawyer who is knowledgeable about both the medical and legal consequences of birth trauma. Families can be awarded compensation that covers initial medical care and continues to pay for care over the years with legal assistance.
Why Legal Action Can Prevent Future Negligence
While compensation is among the main motives that many families will seek to hire a lawyer who handles birth injuries, a secondary reason to sue exists: preventing other children from being injured in that same manner in the future.
- Medical malpractices have the capacity to induce system changes in health facilities through:
- Detection of risky practice: Lawsuits tend to identify patterns of negligence or exact methods of patient harm.
- Financial incentives to reform: Whenever hospitals face substantial verdicts or awards, they have a keen incentive to alter practice, people, and training.
- Establishing legal precedents: Successful cases establish legal precedents that protect other patients against such negligence.
- Pushing for policy changes: Birth injury cases in the news have led to improved monitoring standards, staffing ratios, and safety precautions at numerous hospitals.
Assume, for example, that a hospital routinely short-staffs its labor and delivery department and, therefore, fails to properly monitor mothers and babies. If staff shortfalls result in a birth injury and a successful judgment against it, the hospital will have a motive to alter its practices to prevent such incidents and subsequent lawsuits.
Filing a case with a lawyer who handles cases involving birth injuries means you not only stand up for your child but also potentially protect many other families from enduring similar atrocities. Having a higher cause usually provides families with motivation to make it through what otherwise would be a tough procedure.
Most families hesitate to sue because they do not want to pay to hire a lawyer. Most attorneys who handle cases involving birth injuries practice on a contingency fee basis. This would mean that they will not receive anything if you do not win your case or reach a settlement.
This plan has many advantages:
- You do not pay anything out-of-pocket for services
- Your lawyer is driven to secure your full compensation
- You pay it if you succeed with your case
- Legal fees usually come out of your settlement, not your pocket
Moreover, most attorneys who handle cases of birth injuries offer free initial consultations to discuss your case with you before you make your decision. During your initial interview, your lawyer will explain the basis of your case and inform you honestly if you have a case.
Of additional note is that a birth injury can be exorbitantly priced economically. The lifetime cost of caring for a cerebral palsy child can exceed $1 million over their lifetime, states the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The expenses include:
- Drug and medical interventions
- Home modification and assistive equipment
- Education assistance services
- Foreseen loss of earnings to caregiving parents
- Long-term care requirements
Such a successful case will see you being awarded compensation to pay such expenses so that your child can be taken care of throughout their lifetime. Your lawyer will make calculations of present and future expenses to see that your family’s situation will be taken care of with a proper settlement.
Statute Of Limitations: Why Timing Matters
In bringing a case because of a birth injury, you should be aware of the statute of limitations. This is a law that restricts the time frame after your injury within which you must bring your case, and it varies by state.
In most states, medical malpractice lawsuits have a statute of limitations of between one to three years. Special considerations usually exist for claims related to birth injuries:
Discovery rule: In every state other than Louisiana, the statute begins to run once you discover (or would have discovered) harm, not necessarily at birth.
Minor’s tolling provision: In some states, a minor’s statute is tolled (put on hold) to a designated age, typically 18.
Special provision of birth injuries: Some states have enacted special time limits specifically for birth injuries.
For example, the best birth injury lawyer Michigan has to offer would advise you that Michigan generally allows medical malpractice suits to be filed within two years of occurrence or within six months after discovery, but if a minor child is involved, such action can generally be initiated up to the 10th birthday of such minor child.
These time and detailed time constraints make it essential to search “birth injury lawyer near me “at the earliest. It can forever bar you from claiming compensation regardless of the evident negligence.
Besides, it takes time to develop a solid case of birth injury. Your lawyer will need to:
- Obtain and review full medical records
- Consult medical experts
- Obtain witnesses testimony
- Prepare a damages schedule
The sooner you do this, the more time your attorney will have to build a good case against deadlines imposed by law.
What to Anticipate When Working with a Birth Injury Attorney
Familiarity with the legal procedure can help to minimize some of the nervousness that accompanies a birth injury case. Every case is different, but they mostly move through the same general sequence:
- Initial Consultation: During your initial consultation, your lawyer will discuss your pregnancy, delivery, labor, and your child’s current state. This is usually offered as a free case evaluation.
- Investigation stage: If your case seems solid to your attorney, he or she will start collecting evidence like medical records, witness depositions, and expert witnesses.
- Complaining: Once you have enough proof with you, your lawyer will then complain against those who were at fault.
- Discovery phase: Both sides exchange information through written questions, document production, and depositions.
- Negotiation and settlement talks: Most birth injury cases settle prior to trial. Your lawyer will negotiate with the defendants in order to obtain reasonable compensation.
- Trial: If you cannot settle your case, your case will be tried, and a judge or jury will make a final decision.
- Resolution: Your attorney will help distribute compensation after a verdict or settlement and settle medical liens.
Throughout this process, your legal professional is your voice and your counselor, breaking down complex legal terminology and helping you make the best choices for your case. An effective birth injury lawyer will inform you at every step and make sure that you have a voice heard.
Be prepared at this initial appointment to:
- Provide information on your pregnancy, labor, and delivery
- Share information about your child’s diagnosis and treatment
- Bring your current medical records with you
- Inquire regarding their familiarity with cases like theirs
- Describe the legal procedure and likely consequences
Don’t forget that consulting with an attorney does not obligate you to sue. Rather, it provides you with information to make an informed decision regarding what to do next.
Seek Justice for Your Birth Injury Case
If you or someone you love has a child who suffered a birth injury due to possible medical negligence, get the legal representation you need. Speak with our compassionate, knowledgeable Cochran, Kroll, & Associates, P.C. attorneys.
We can review your case, explain the reasons for hiring a birth injury lawyer, and help you understand your legal options for pursuing compensation. Contact us today for a free, no-obligation consultation.
Our contingency fee basis means we only get paid if we win your case, so there is no financial risk to you to get started. Call our law firm today at 1-866-MICH-LAW and schedule your no-obligation, free case evaluation.
Disclaimer : The information provided is general and not for legal advice. The blogs are not intended to provide legal counsel and no attorney-client relationship is created nor intended.
