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Birth Injury Compensation
It can be a devastating experience If your child suffers a birth injury as a result of the negligence of a doctor. These injuries can require lifelong treatment and care. The family will be left with huge financial costs.
In addition, many birth injuries cases require a complex debate about medical errors versus malpractice. Our attorneys can help you understand the differences.
Costs of Treatment
Attorneys, insurance companies, and judges weigh the severity of the birth injury as well as the impact it has on the child's life when determining the amount of compensation to be paid. If a child needs intensive medical treatment that continues over time the value of the claim will increase.
Medical treatment for birth injuries can be very expensive. The compensation for a birth injury can assist families in paying for these costs. Lawyers often work with experts to put together a "Life Care Plan" which calculates the lifetime expenses incurred by a child's accident. These include hospitalization or surgical intervention, medical treatment prescriptions, home improvements and equipment, and more.
Your legal team will gather medical records from the pregnancy and birth of your child, in addition to firsthand reports from relatives. These records will be used to show that your child was injured due to medical malpractice and to prove the extent of the injury.
Many states have medical indemnity funds that provide financial aid to families of children born with birth injuries. These funds pay a portion of malpractice insurance premiums. They also require hospitals and doctors to contribute to a pool of resources. In addition to providing financial assistance, these programs may also reduce the need for families to pursue a lawsuit. JLARC staff discovered that these programs did not always meet their goals and should be improved.
birth injury attorneys Planning
Children suffering from conditions like hypoxic or cerebral palsy will require medical treatment for the rest of their lives. This includes physical therapies, specialized equipment, and home health treatment. The costs for these can be significant.
A life-care plan is a document that establishes the future medical, educational, in-home and other costs a disabled child will incur for the rest of his or his or her life. These plans are used to calculate the financial portion of the compensation awarded in cases of birth injury. They must be thorough and carefully drafted to satisfy the strict requirements of evidence for legal admissibility in the court.
Experts in planning for life can assist in the creation of these documents by utilizing the their input and the formal opinions from a child's doctors as well as therapists and caregivers. The plans also include a detailed narrative of the injury's initial diagnosis. They provide the cause of the disability and its long-term effects.
A medical malpractice lawyer should collaborate with a health care planner to come up with the most appropriate plan for their client's situation. The purpose of the plan is to ensure that your child receives adequate compensation to cover all of his or her future expenses and medical care. The funds are usually put into a trust for children with special needs, and is overseen by an administrator approved by the trustee. Typically the amount allotted will be re-adjusted periodically to reflect changes in your child's needs.
Pain and Suffering
In a birth injury case the damages awarded are for the plaintiff's future and past suffering and pain. This includes mental and physical suffering from the injury as well as the inability to participate in activities enjoyed by others.
It is also possible to get compensation for the loss of income when the victim's condition limits their career options or prohibits the person from working at all. Families could also be compensated for the care of an injured child.
Medical malpractice claims often have very high verdicts, since juries tend to show compassion for victims and hold medical professionals accountable for errors. Because of this, many hospitals and doctors choose to settle instead of undergoing the possibility of a trial, which is expensive and stressful for the parties involved.
During the course of the lawsuit lawyers on both sides will collect evidence to support their arguments. They will share documents in the course of discovery, which includes deposing witnesses to get statements under an oath. The defendants may also ask to review the medical records of the plaintiff as it is legal in most states.
An attorney with experience in this kind of case is required to submit an effective claim for birth injuries. An experienced attorney will review the circumstances of your case, determine if it is in line with the specifications for a lawsuit and work to secure the best financial settlement possible.
Punitive Damages
Some medical malpractice lawsuits include punitive damages, which are intended to communicate a message to discourage future reckless behavior. They are granted in cases of grave negligence or when there was intentional misconduct on the part the medical professional. However, they are not common in birth injury cases.
Once the attorney has identified the appropriate defendants, they need to examine and gather evidence to back up their claims. They must show that the injuries caused by the medical professionals were not up to standards of care. The legal team must also be able to prove the financial losses resulting from these injuries, referred to as "damages." The information could be either economic or non-economic in nature.
Economic losses are calculated by making estimates of ongoing treatment costs including long-term care facilities and other services. It is also possible to include the loss of earnings if the injury caused one or both parents to quit their jobs.
The legal team will create a demand form that they can present to the malpractice carriers. The document will outline the birth injuries and their effect on the child and family, and request compensation for the losses. The attorneys will negotiate with medical providers until the settlement is reached. During the discovery process, lawyers will exchange information with the other party about their case. This may include depositions of witnesses who are required to testify under oath.
