It can be a devastating experience if your child suffers a birth injury litigation injury as a result of an error by a medical professional. These injuries usually require lifelong treatment and care, leaving you with massive financial burdens.
A lot of birth injury attorneys injury cases require a lengthy debate on medical errors versus malpractice. Our attorneys can help you to understand the distinctions.
Costs of Treatment
When determining how much to decide on a settlement for a birth trauma the attorneys of insurance companies and judges take into account the extent of the injury and its impact on the child’s life quality. For instance, if a child requires constant medical attention, this will increase the value of an insurance claim.
Medical treatment for birth injury is often expensive. Compensation for birth injuries can aid families in covering these costs. Lawyers often collaborate with experts to create a «Life Care Plan» that calculates the total costs of a child’s injury. These costs include hospitalization, surgery, specialized medical treatments and prescriptions, home improvements and equipment, etc.
Your legal team will gather medical documents from your child’s pregnancy and birth injury settlement, as well as firsthand Birth Injury Compensation accounts from relatives. These documents will be used to prove that your child was injured due to medical malpractice and to demonstrate the extent to which the injury occurred.
Many states have enacted medical indemnity funds in order to provide financial support to families of children suffering from birth injuries. These funds collect the portion of malpractice insurance premiums or require doctors and hospital to contribute to a resource pool. These programs can provide families with financial support and reduce the need to file a suit. However, JLARC staff found that these programs may not always meet their goals and should be improved.
Life Care Planning
Children suffering from conditions like cerebral palsy or hypoxic ischephalopathy will need medical care for the rest of their lives. These include physical therapy, special equipment and home health care. The majority of the time, these costs can be quite substantial.
A life-care plan is a document that establishes the future medical education, home-based, and other costs disabled children are expected to pay throughout his or their life. These plans are used to calculate the financial portion of a settlement in the case of birth injury. These plans must be thorough and carefully designed to satisfy the strict requirements of admissibility.
Life-care planning experts can assist in the creation of these documents based on feedback and formal opinions from the child’s doctors or therapists as well as caregivers. The plans include a detailed narrative about the initial injury and its diagnosis. They explain the underlying causes of the disability as well as the long-term effects.
A medical malpractice attorney should collaborate with a planner for life to come up with the best plan for their client’s specific situation. The aim of the plan is to ensure that your child receives adequate compensation to cover the cost of all of their future medical and other expenses. The money awarded is typically placed into a special-needs trust managed by an approved administrator. Typically, the amount of funds given will be adjusted regularly to meet the changing needs of your child’s needs.
Suffering and Pain
In a birth injury case the damages awarded are for the plaintiff’s future and past suffering and pain. This includes physical and mental suffering from the injury as well as the inability to participate in activities normally enjoyed by other people.
It is also possible to recuperate for lost income if the victim’s condition limits their career options or prohibits them from working. Families could also be compensated to help care for an injured child.
The verdicts for medical malpractice cases are often very high, as juries are often sympathetic to victims and hold doctors accountable for their actions. Many doctors and hospitals choose to settle instead of risking an expensive trial and difficult for all parties involved.
During the litigation lawyers on both sides will collect evidence to prove their points. They will also exchange documents during a process called discovery, which involves deposing a witnesses to obtain their statements under an oath. In many states, defendants may also demand access to the records of the plaintiff.
A successful birth injury lawsuit requires a skilled lawyer in these kinds of cases. An experienced lawyer will examine the circumstances of your case, determine if the case meets the requirements for a lawsuit, and make sure you get the best settlement for your financial needs.
Punitive Damages
Some medical malpractice suits also include punitive damage awards, intended as a warning and to discourage future negligence. They may be awarded in instances of grave negligence or when there was intentional misconduct on the part the medical professional. However, they are rare in cases of birth injury legal injuries.
After identifying the defendants the attorney must collect and analyze the evidence to support the claim. They must establish that the injuries incurred by medical professionals did not meet an acceptable standard of care. The legal team also has to prove the losses associated with these injuries, also known as «damages.» This information can be both economic and non-economic in the sense that it is not a loss.
Economic losses are figured out by estimating ongoing treatment costs, including long-term care facilities and other services. They can also include lost earnings in the event that an injury caused one or both parents to lose their job.
The legal team will create a demand form to present to the malpractice carriers. The document will detail the birth injury and its effect on the child’s family and in order to seek compensation to cover the expenses of these losses. The lawyers will negotiate with the medical providers until an agreement is reached. During the discovery process, attorneys will exchange information with other party about their cases. This includes depositions of witnesses that swear to testify under oath.