While the birth of a child is often an exciting event, it can be a devastating experience if medical negligence occurs. A New York Willowbrook Birth Injury Attorney can help families recover financial compensation for damages.
While winning a lawsuit cannot undo the damage, financial compensation can help pay for current and future medical expenses, therapies, medications, home accommodations, and other costs. A qualified attorney can review your case for free.
Medical Malpractice
Medical malpractice often involves doctors making careless mistakes during surgery, but it can also include misdiagnosed illnesses and improper follow-up care. Children are especially vulnerable to pediatric medical negligence. A single mistake can have lifelong effects.
For example, a doctor who uses too much force during labor may cause a birth injury like brachial plexus palsy. This can lead to permanent loss of arm movement and limit a child’s future independence. These injuries are almost always preventable, but physicians fail to deliver babies properly or respond quickly to emergency birthing situations.
Our lawyers investigate your case and build a strong claim against the OBGYN, nursing staff, or medical administrators responsible for your child’s injury. We also file a lawsuit against the hospital where your baby was born because of a legal concept known as vicarious liability. Our attorneys will collect medical records, obtain expert opinions, and identify policies and procedures that were violated to prove your claim.
Birth Injury
When a child suffers from a birth injury, it can have a permanent effect on their life. Some injuries are mild, while others lead to serious disabilities like cerebral palsy. Medical professionals are responsible for monitoring risk factors during pregnancy and labor to prevent complications like birth injuries.
When they fail to do so, it may be considered medical malpractice. This is particularly true if the injury could have been prevented with better care during the delivery process.
Depending on the type of birth injury, some children require ongoing treatment like physical therapy or surgery. Other children might need adaptive equipment like wheelchairs or leg braces to improve their quality of life. Compensation from a lawsuit can help cover the cost of these procedures, as well as past and future medical expenses, lost wages, and emotional suffering. Talk to a lawyer about your child’s birth trauma right now to find out if you can access financial aid.
Negligence
When a child suffers from a birth injury that is caused by the negligence of healthcare providers, a family may be entitled to financial compensation. A New York family lawyer can review a family’s medical records and work with health care providers to investigate the cause of the injury and to determine whether the injury could have been prevented.
Building a strong case for negligence requires evidence and expert testimony, which an experienced attorney will gather. This includes medical records, witness statements, policies and protocols violated, and other crucial documentation. It also means demonstrating that the healthcare provider had a duty of care, that they breached this duty, and that this breach directly resulted in the injury.
A successful claim can help families pay for past, current, and future medical bills, therapies, equipment, and in-home nursing care. It can also account for lost wages if parents must reduce their work hours or leave their jobs to care for an injured child.
Statute of Limitations
The statute of limitations sets a specific time limit within which families must file their case. It is designed to ensure that the legal process is conducted in a timely manner while allowing for physical evidence and witness testimony to remain available.
While some states have exceptions that allow for extensions to the statute of limitations, it is important to seek legal counsel as soon as possible. A birth injury lawyer can assess the deadline based on state laws, when the injury was discovered, and whether or not malpractice played a role.
In addition to ensuring that the claim is filed within the appropriate timeline, an attorney can help families build a strong case for compensation. They can review medical records, secure expert opinions, and identify hospital policies or protocols that were violated. They can also pursue financial compensation that covers a child’s medical expenses, therapies, long-term care needs, and more. They can even pursue compensation from the doctors or hospitals that committed the negligence, based on their professional liability insurance policies.