Birth Injury Compensation

If your child suffers birth injury because of a doctor's negligence or wrongful action, it can be devastating. These injuries usually require lifelong treatment and care, leaving you with huge financial burdens.

Additionally, many birth injuries cases require an intricate debate over medical malpractice versus medical mistakes. Our lawyers can explain the distinctions.

Costs of Treatment

Attorneys, insurance companies and judges look at the severity of the birth injury as well as the impact it has on the child's development in determining the amount compensation to be paid. If a child needs intensive medical treatment that continues over time the value of the claim will rise.

Medical treatment for birth injuries can be extremely expensive. Compensation for birth injuries can help families cover these costs. Lawyers often collaborate with experts to create a "Life Care Plan" which calculates the lifetime cost of a child's injuries. These include hospitalization costs or surgical intervention, medical treatment and prescriptions, home improvement projects and equipment, and injuries much more.

Your legal team will collect medical records from the time of pregnancy and birth of your child, as well firsthand accounts from relatives. These records will be used to prove that your child was injured due to medical malpractice and to prove the extent to which the injury occurred.

Many states have passed medical indemnity funds to offer financial aid to families of children who suffer from birth injuries. These funds are a source of a portion of malpractice insurance premiums or require hospitals and doctors to contribute to an account of resources. In addition to providing financial assistance, these programs could also help reduce the requirement for families to bring a lawsuit. However, JLARC staff found that these programs don't always meet their goals and could be improved.

Life Care Planning

Children suffering from conditions like cerebral palsy and hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy will have ongoing medical requirements. These needs include physical therapies and equipment that is specialized, as well as home health care. These costs can often be substantial.

A life-care plan is a document that establishes the future medical education, in-home, and other expenses the child with disabilities will be liable for for the rest of his or their life. These plans are commonly used to help calculate the economic component of damages in a case of birth injury. These plans must be comprehensive and carefully written in order to meet the strict requirements of admissibility.

Life-care planning experts can assist to draft these documents using feedback and formal opinions from the child's doctor caregivers, therapists, and doctors. The plans provide a detailed description of the initial injury and the diagnosis. They outline the root causes of the disability and their long-term effects.

A medical malpractice lawyer should work with a life care planner to draft the most suitable plan for their client's situation. The plan's purpose is to ensure your child receives sufficient compensation to cover their future expenses and health care. The money is usually placed into a trust for children with special requirements, which is managed by an authorized administrator. The amount of money given is usually adjusted periodically to reflect changes in the future needs of your child.

Suffering and Pain

In cases involving birth injuries and damages are awarded to compensate the plaintiff for future and past discomfort and pain. This includes mental and injuries physical stress caused by the injury as well as the inability to participate in activities enjoyed by other people.

It is also possible to recuperate for income loss if an individual's disability restricts their career options or prevents the person from working at all. Families may also be compensated to care for an injured child.

Medical malpractice cases usually have very high verdicts, since juries tend to show sympathy for victims and hold doctors accountable for their mistakes. Due to this, many doctors and hospitals prefer to settle instead of undergoing a trial, which is expensive and stressful for all parties involved.

During the litigation lawyers on both sides will gather evidence to prove their points. They will exchange documents in a process known as discovery, which is the process of the deposition of witnesses to obtain statements under swearing. The defendants may also ask to review the medical records of the plaintiff, which is legal in all states.

An experienced lawyer who has handled this kind of case is required to submit a successful claim for birth injuries. A knowledgeable attorney will examine your case to determine whether you have a valid lawsuit and will help get the best settlement.

Punitive Damages

Some medical malpractice suits include punitive damage awards intended as a warning and to discourage future negligence. These damages are awarded when there is a significant amount of negligence or malice on the part the doctor. However, they are not common in cases of birth injuries.

After the attorney identifies the proper defendants, they must collect and analyze evidence to back up their claims. They must demonstrate that the injuries caused by the medical professionals did not meet a high standard of care. The legal team must also be able to prove the financial losses resulting from these injuries, known as "damages." This information could be either economic or non-economic in nature.

Economic losses are figured out by taking into account ongoing treatment costs including long-term treatment facilities and other services. They can also include losses in earnings if the injury caused one or both parents to leave their jobs.

The legal team will create a demand document for the malpractice insurers. The document will outline the birth injuries and the impact they have on the child as well as the family, and ask for compensation for the losses. The attorneys will negotiate with medical providers until a settlement is reached. In this process, attorneys will discuss their cases with the other side by way of discovery, which may include taking depositions from witnesses who take testimony under oath.