Birth Injury Compensation

If your child has a birth injury lawsuits injury due to the negligence of a doctor or an unjust action, it can be devastating. These injuries can require lifelong treatment and treatment. You will be left with enormous financial costs.

Many birth injury cases also involve a complex debate over medical malpractice versus medical errors. Our lawyers can explain the distinctions.

Costs of Treatment

Attorneys, insurance companies and judges consider the severity of the birth injury as well as the impact it can have on the child's life when determining the amount of compensation to be awarded. For instance when a child needs constant medical attention that will increase the value of an claim.

Medical treatment for birth injury can be very expensive. Compensation for birth injuries can help families pay for these expenses. Experts and lawyers often collaborate to create an "Life Care Plan" that calculates the costs of a child's injuries over the course of a lifetime. These include hospitalization or surgical intervention, medical treatment and prescriptions, home improvement projects and other equipment, and many more.

Your legal team will collect medical documents from your child's pregnancy and birth as well as firsthand stories from family members. These will be used to show that your child suffered an injury due to negligence in the medical field and to show the extent of the damage caused.

Many states have medical indemnity funds that provide financial aid to families with children who have suffered birth injuries. These funds take a percentage of the malpractice insurance premiums or require doctors and hospitals to contribute to an investment fund. In addition to providing monetary assistance, these programs may also help reduce the need for families to pursue a lawsuit. However, JLARC staff found that these programs do not always meet their goals and could be improved.

Life Care Planning

Children with conditions such as hypoxic or cerebral palsy will require medical attention for the rest of their lives. These needs include physical therapy, special equipment and home health care. These costs can be substantial.

A life-care planning document an outline of the future medical, educational, home and other expenses a child with disabilities will endure throughout their life. These plans are commonly used to calculate the economic component of damages awarded in a case involving a birth injury. They should be comprehensive and carefully drafted to satisfy the strict requirements of evidence for legal admissibility in court.

Life-care planners can assist to develop these documents in accordance with input and formal opinions from the child's doctor or therapists as well as caregivers. The plans also contain a detailed account of the injury that caused it and its diagnosis. They also explain the root cause of the impairment as well as the long-term effects.

A medical malpractice lawyer must collaborate with a life-care planner to come up with the most appropriate plan for their clients' situation. The goal of the plan is to ensure that your child is provided with adequate compensation to cover the cost of all of his or her future medical and other expenses. The funds are usually placed into a special-needs trust which is administered by an approved administrator. Typically the amount allotted will be re-adjusted periodically to meet changes in your child's requirements.

Pain and Suffering

In cases where birth injuries are involved the damages awarded compensate the plaintiff for past and future pain and discomfort. This includes physical and mental discomfort caused by the injury as well as the inability of the plaintiff to take part in activities that other people could be able to do.

You may also recover income if a victim's injury affects their work options or prevents them working at all. Families can also receive compensation for the care of an injured child.

The verdicts for medical malpractice cases tend to be extremely high because juries are often sensitive to the victims and hold doctors accountable for their actions. Many doctors and hospitals settle rather than risk a trial that is expensive and stressful for all parties involved.

Both sides will collect evidence to support their arguments during the trial. They will exchange documents in a process known as discovery, which includes deposing witnesses to obtain statements under an oath. In many states, defendants may also request access to the plaintiff's records.

A successful birth injury lawsuit requires a skilled lawyer in these kinds of cases. A knowledgeable attorney will examine your case to determine whether you have a valid lawsuit and work to find the most effective settlement.

Punitive Damages

Some medical malpractice suits include punitive damage awards intended as a warning, and also to deter future negligence. The award of these damages is made when there is a high level of negligence or malice on the part the doctor. They are very rare in the case of birth injuries.

After the attorney has identified the appropriate defendants, they have to find and analyze evidence to support their assertions. They must demonstrate that the injuries caused by medical professionals were not up to standards of care. The legal team should also show evidence of the losses that are associated with the injuries, which are referred to as "damages." These damages could be economic or non-economic.

The economic losses are usually calculated by estimation of the cost of a child's ongoing treatment, including long-term care facilities and other services. They may also factor in loss of earnings if the accident caused one or both parents to quit their jobs.

The legal team will then create a demand form to present to the malpractice carriers. The document will outline the birth injuries, and their impact on the child and the family, and ask for compensation for the loss. The attorneys will negotiate until a settlement is reached with medical professionals. In this process, attorneys will discuss their cases with the opposing side through discovery, which includes depositions of witnesses who swear to their testimony under oath.