Birth Injury Compensation

If your child has a birth injury due to a doctor's negligence or wrongful decision, it could be devastating. These injuries can require ongoing treatment and care. You will be left with huge financial costs.

In addition, many birth injury cases are a complicated argument about medical mistakes versus malpractice. Our lawyers can explain the differences.

Costs of Treatment

When determining how much to award for a birth injury attorneys from insurance companies and judges take into account the degree of the injury as well as the impact it has on the child's quality of life. For instance the child who suffers from a medical condition requires constant medical attention, this will increase the value of an claim.

Medical treatment for birth injury lawsuit injuries can be very expensive. Compensation for birth injuries could help families pay for these expenses. Experts and lawyers often collaborate to develop an "Life Care Plan" which calculates the cost of a child's injuries over the course of a lifetime. These include hospitalization expenses and surgical procedures, as well as specialized medical treatment prescriptions, home improvements and equipment, and more.

Your legal team will gather medical records from the pregnancy as well as the birth of your child, as well as firsthand reports from relatives. They will use these records to prove that your child sustained an injury due to negligence by a medical professional, and to demonstrate the extent of the damage caused.

Many states have enacted medical indemnity funds to offer financial aid to families of children who suffer from birth injuries. These funds collect a portion of malpractice insurance premiums or require doctors and hospitals to contribute to a pool of resources. In addition to providing financial assistance, these programs may also decrease the requirement for families to file a lawsuit. JLARC staff discovered that these programs did not always meet their objectives and should be improved.

Life Care Planning

Children who suffer from disorders such as cerebral palsy or hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy will have long-term medical needs. These requirements include physical therapy and equipment that is specialized, as well as home health treatment. These expenses can be substantial.

A life-care plan is a document that establishes the future medical education, in-home, and other costs the child with disabilities will be liable for for the rest of his or his or her life. These plans are often utilized to calculate the amount of damages in a case of birth injury. These plans must be comprehensive and meticulously drafted to meet the strict requirements of admissibility.

Experts in planning for life can help develop these documents using input and the formal opinions from a child's doctors as well as therapists and caregivers. The plans include a detailed narrative about the initial injury and the diagnosis. They provide the causes of the disability as well as its long-term consequences.

A medical malpractice lawyer should work with a life care planner to come up with the most suitable plan for their clients' situation. The goal of the plan is to ensure that your child is compensated enough to cover all future expenses and health care. The money is usually put into a trust account for special needs, which is managed by an administrator who is approved. Typically the amount allotted will be re-adjusted periodically to accommodate the changing needs of your child's needs.

Pain and Suffering

In a birth injury lawsuit injury case there are damages awarded for a plaintiff's past and future pain and suffering. This includes physical and mental pain caused by the injury, as also the inability to take part in activities that other people can participate in.

It is also possible to get compensation the loss of income if an individual's disability restricts their professional options or prevents them from working at all. Additionally, families could be compensated if required to help care for the child who is injured.

The verdicts for medical malpractice cases are often very high, as juries are often sympathetic to patients and hold doctors accountable for their actions. Due to this, many doctors and hospitals prefer to settle rather than risk the trial process, which is costly and stressful for the parties involved.

During the course of the lawsuit attorneys from both sides will collect evidence to back their arguments. They will also exchange documents during a process known as discovery, Birth Injury Compensation which involves deposing a witnesses to get their statements under swearing. The defendants may also request to examine the medical records of a plaintiff which is permitted in many states.

A successful birth injury claim requires an experienced lawyer in these kinds of cases. An experienced lawyer will examine the facts of your case, determine if it satisfies the specifications for a lawsuit and ensure the highest financial settlement you can get.

Punitive Damages

Certain medical malpractice lawsuits also include punitive damage awards which are meant as a warning, and also to prevent future negligence. They can be awarded in cases that involve grave negligence or when there was malice on the part of the medical professional. However, they are rare in birth injury cases.

After identifying the defendants the attorney needs to gather and evaluate the evidence in support of the claim. They must show that the injuries caused by medical professionals did not meet an acceptable standard of care. The legal team also has to show evidence of the losses that are associated with the injuries, also known as "damages." These damages could be economic or non-economic.

Economic losses are calculated by estimating ongoing treatment costs, including long-term treatment facilities and other services. They could also consider loss of earnings in the event that the injury caused one or both parents to leave their jobs.

The legal team will draft a demand package that they will submit to malpractice insurance companies. The document will explain the birth injury, its effects on the child's and family in order to seek compensation to cover the expenses of these losses. The attorneys will negotiate with medical providers until they reach a settlement. During the discovery process, attorneys will share information with the other party on their case. This may include depositions of witnesses that take oath testimony.