If a birth injury takes place, medical malpractice attorneys may be able to provide representation to seek compensation if negligence was responsible for the injury.
What Do Medical Malpractice Lawyers Do?
Medical malpractice attorneys handle many types of cases involving negligent medical professionals who cause preventable injury to patients, including infants before, during, or after childbirth.
Birth injuries are often severe and cause permanent damage to infants, such as physical and mental disability, that lasts for the rest of their lives. These disabilities typically require treatment to manage symptoms, which families may have difficulty covering.
With the help of medical malpractice lawyers who have experience handling birth injury cases, families of injured children may be able to seek compensation to help cover the cost of treatment. In the process, attorneys may be able to hold negligent medical staff accountable for causing injuries.
How an Attorney Can Help Following a Birth Injury
When taking on a case, an attorney could begin by building a strong case against any nurses or doctors who delivered the child and caused harm through negligence. The attorney could then file the case with the court, gather evidence to support the case, and help seek full compensation for injuries sustained.
Medical professionals who deliver children should have ample experience with this task. Subsequently, they should know how to keep the mother and infant safe from harm and prevent potentially dangerous conditions and injuries. However, sometimes medical professionals fail to avoid preventable mistakes, which may make them responsible for medical malpractice.
Some instances of negligence for which a medical professional may be responsible include:
- Failure to monitor or treat maternal infection
- Failure to monitor for signs of fetal distress
- Failure to perform a necessary cesarean section (C-section)
- Failure to identify and address asphyxia (oxygen deprivation) or hypoxia (a lack of oxygen to the brain)
- Use of excessive force on an infant’s head, shoulders, neck, or arms during birth
These and other instances may count as medical malpractice that warrants compensation for birth injuries and the costs associated with them. An attorney can help with identifying defendants in these cases.
Types of Birth Injuries
There are many potential birth injuries that may develop due to negligence or other causes. For example, brain damage, Erb’s or cerebral palsy, spinal cord injuries, and infant hematomas may develop.
Many birth injuries are serious enough to cause lasting damage and costly lifelong treatment, which is why lawyers are available to help determine if parents or other caregivers can seek compensation and take legal action following birth injuries. Depending on the nature of the birth injury and the circumstances that caused it, families and their attorneys can begin building a medical malpractice case.
How to Find the Right Medical Malpractice Attorney
When looking for the ideal attorney to consult with regarding a birth injury case, it’s important to do some research into prospective choices. The following are some aspects to look for in the right lawyer before settling on an option.
Experience With Birth Injury Cases
When researching medical malpractice attorneys to handle a birth injury case, individuals should look for an attorney with sufficient experience in this particular area. The attorney should advertise that they’ve handled similar birth injury cases. Otherwise, they may not be able to determine precisely how much compensation victims deserve or how these cases work.
Contingency Fee
A good birth injury attorney won’t charge anything upfront. Instead, they will work on a contingency fee basis, which means they won’t collect any payment until they’ve reached a settlement. When first contacting an attorney, families should be able to schedule a free consultation, during which the attorney will assess the case and determine if it’s viable.
Access to Necessary Resources
A dependable attorney will also have access to resources needed to help build a case, including medical databases to obtain records and other evidence that support a claim or lawsuit. They’ll also be able to work with other reputed professionals who may help prove that medical staff’s negligence caused the child’s injuries.
With the help of the right attorney, families may be able to recover compensation for birth injuries if they can build a case against negligent medical professionals. These professionals are expected to meet a standard of care, with parents placing their trust in them to perform a safe delivery throughout the entire procedure. If these professionals fail to meet these standards, they can cause devastating injuries that warrant full compensation.
A medical malpractice attorney could evaluate a case, determine whether negligence caused birth injuries, identify the negligent parties responsible, and calculate the amount of compensation that families deserve for birth injuries sustained and the treatment required. Subsequently, an attorney could build a case to begin pursuing compensation through a medical malpractice claim or lawsuit.