Birth Injury Compensation

It can be a devastating experience if your child suffers a birth injury due to a doctor's negligence. These injuries can require ongoing treatment and care. You'll be left with massive financial burdens.

A lot of birth injury cases involve a complex debate over medical malpractice versus medical errors. Our attorneys can help you understand the differences.

Costs of Treatment

In determining the amount to decide on a settlement for a birth trauma, insurance companies attorneys and judges consider the degree of the injury as well as its impact on the child's life quality. For instance the child who suffers from a medical condition requires continuous medical treatment which will raise the value of the claim.

Medical treatment for birth injury attorney injury can be expensive. Compensation for birth injuries can help families pay for these expenses. Lawyers often collaborate with experts in putting together a "Life Care Plan," which calculates the life-time expenses incurred by a child's accident. These expenses include hospitalization, surgery, medical treatments such as prescriptions, home repairs and equipment, among others.

Your legal team will gather medical documents from your child's pregnancy and birth and also firsthand accounts from family members. These records will be used to prove that your child was injured as a result of medical malpractice, and also to prove the extent of the injury.

Many states have established medical indemnity funds, which provide financial aid to families of children with birth injuries. These funds either collect part of malpractice insurance premiums, or require hospitals and doctors to contribute to an asset pool. In addition to providing financial aid, these programs can also help reduce the requirement for families to bring a lawsuit. However, JLARC staff found that these programs may not always achieve their goals and could be improved.

Life Care Planning

Children with conditions like hypoxic ischephalopathy or cerebral palsy will require medical treatment throughout their lives. These requirements include physical therapy, special equipment and home health care. These costs can often be significant.

A life-care planning plan is one that lists the future medical, education home, and other costs that a child with disabilities is likely to incur throughout his or her life. These plans are commonly utilized to calculate the economic portion of damages awarded in a birth injury lawsuit. The plans must be precise and meticulously drafted to comply with the strict requirements for admissibility.

Experts in life-care planning can assist in the creation of these documents by utilizing the information and the opinions of a child with disabilities' doctors as well as therapists and caregivers. The plans include a detailed account of the injury and its diagnosis. They also explain the root cause of the disability and its long-term consequences.

A medical malpractice lawyer must collaborate with a life-care planner to create the most appropriate plan for their client's situation. The aim of the plan is to ensure that your child receives the proper compensation to cover all of his or her future care and expenses. The funds are usually put into a trust for special needs, which is managed by an approved administrator. The amount of money awarded is usually adjusted periodically to reflect the changing needs of your child.

Suffering and Pain

In a birth injury lawsuit there are damages awarded for the plaintiff's past as well as future pain and suffering. This includes mental and physical discomfort caused by the injury and the inability to engage in activities normally enjoyed by others.

It is also possible to claim for the loss of income when a victim's disability limits their options for employment or stops the person from working at all. Families can also be compensated to help care for an injured child.

Medical malpractice claims often have very high verdicts due to the fact that juries tend to show empathy for victims and hold doctors accountable for their errors. Many hospitals and doctors opt to settle rather than risk a trial that is expensive and difficult for all parties involved.

Both sides will gather evidence to support their arguments during the litigation. They will exchange documents in the course of discovery, which includes interviewing witnesses to obtain their statements under swearing. The defendants could also ask to see the plaintiff's medical records, which is legal in many states.

An experienced lawyer who has handled this type of situation is needed to make a successful claim for birth injuries. A seasoned attorney will analyze the facts of your case to determine if it meets the legal requirements and work to secure the best financial settlement you can get.

Punitive Damages

Certain medical malpractice lawsuits contain punitive damages. These are intended to send a message and deter future negligent behavior. They can be granted in cases of serious negligence or where there was malice on the part of the medical professional. However, they are rare in birth injury cases.

After the attorney identifies the appropriate defendants, they have to find and analyze evidence to support their claims. They must show that the injuries caused by medical professionals did not meet a high standard of medical care. The legal team must also be able to show the losses associated with these injuries, referred to as "damages." This information could be of a financial or non-economic in the sense that it is not a loss.

Economic losses are figured out by making estimates of ongoing treatment costs including long-term care facilities and other services. They could also include lost earnings in the event that an injury has caused both parents to lose their job.

The legal team will create a demand document to present to the malpractice carriers. The document will explain the birth injury and its effect on the child and their family in order to seek compensation to cover the costs associated with these loss. The attorneys will negotiate until a settlement is reached with the medical professionals. During this negotiation, the lawyers will share information regarding their cases with the other side through discovery, which entails depositions of witnesses who take testimony under oath.