As many as 85,000 cases of medical negligence are filed each year in the United States, and injuries suffered by mothers and newborns before, during, or after delivery make up just one type of these tragic cases.
With help from an experienced medical malpractice lawyer who has successfully handled birth injury claims, you can hold negligent care providers accountable for the harm they cause to you and your family.
Birth Injuries and Medical Negligence
Birth injuries to mothers and their newborns are frequently the result of carelessness on the part of a healthcare provider. When bringing a claim for damages following an injury to you or your newborn, keep in mind these considerations:
Role of Negligence in Many Cases
Doctors, nurses, and specialists enter the medical field to help others and protect health, not take it away. However, birth injuries and other acts of medical negligence still happen. This is because, like any other person, medical professionals can act carelessly or recklessly.
Lifelong Impact for Children and Their Families
Birth injuries can lead to permanent disabilities in your child, affecting them and your family in the long term. Injuries that harm your child’s brain or spinal cord can make your newborn unable to care for themselves even into adulthood.
Partial disabilities or impairments that heal can still impact or slow your child’s development and require intensive caregiving from you and your family. Any resolution of your case should factor in the financial toll you have already experienced and the challenges you and your family will face in the future.
Legal Factors in Medical Malpractice
One of the primary considerations that decides whether your medical negligence claim succeeds or fails is whether the medical professionals involved acted reasonably under the circumstances.
If any other medical provider with the same background and experience had made the same choices as the medical team did in your case, your claim for compensation might not succeed.
How a Medical Malpractice Attorney Can Help
Birth injury cases are complex, requiring significant time and resources to succeed. The tasks that must be completed can be complex and subject to strict deadlines. Fortunately, a medical malpractice attorney can handle all of these tasks on your behalf, including:
Investigating Medical Records
Obtaining all of the medical records relating to your child’s birth from each of the involved providers is not just necessary; it can be exhausting and time-consuming.
Records kept by the hospital may represent just a small fraction of the records in a birth injury case, especially if specialists or other facilities were involved in treating you or your newborn.
Once these records are located, the information contained therein must be extracted and interpreted to determine its usefulness. Medical terminology can make these records nearly unreadable to those who do not work with such language on a regular basis.
Consulting With Medical Experts
Medical experts play a significant role in many birth injury lawsuits because they are familiar with current standards of care and can advise on what reasonable doctors would do in certain situations. For this reason, there is a high likelihood that a medical expert will need to review your claim and be prepared to testify in your case.
Negotiating With Healthcare Providers and Insurers
It is common for the insurer of a hospital or provider to make a settlement offer to birth injury victims, especially when it is clear that their insured are legally liable.
Settlement offers present opportunities and challenges for you and your family. It is crucial that a settlement adequately addresses your current losses and those you will encounter in the future because of the incident.
Reaching a reasonable and appropriate settlement agreement takes time, persistence, and negotiating skills. Your lawyer will be prepared to assist you on all of these fronts.
Filing Documents in a Timely Manner
Presenting a claim for compensation following a birth injury is subject to Florida’s medical malpractice statute of limitations of two years. Filing a claim is not as simple as filling out a form. Instead, your complaint will need to be formatted for the court in which it will be filed and contain certain legal and factual information.
A medical negligence lawyer with experience in this area of the law can meet these requirements and deadlines, protecting your legal rights while you focus on your family.
Frequently Asked Questions About Birth Injury Cases
How Long Will It Take to Resolve My Case?
The time your case will take to complete depends on whether you take it to trial or try to settle it, as well as numerous other factors. Cases may take as little as a few weeks to a year or more to complete.
Can I Change My Mind After a Settlement if It Is Not Enough?
No, once you accept a settlement, that marks the end of your case, even if it turns out the settlement is not enough to address your losses. For this reason, it’s vital to meet with a qualified birth injury law firm and get their help in determining an appropriate settlement before you agree to anything.
Will All Birth Injuries Lead to Compensation?
Only birth injuries that resulted from a healthcare professional’s careless or reckless conduct are typically eligible for compensation. If the provider’s actions did not make any difference in the outcome, then you will likely not have a viable claim for compensation. A lawyer can determine whether your situation warrants a claim.
Seeking Financial Justice After Medical Malpractice
If you or your child have suffered harm because of mistakes before or during your pregnancy and delivery, turn to the dedicated team at Ratzan Weissman & Boldt. With our persistence and attention to detail, we can fight to get you the compensation you and your family deserve.
Contact us today to schedule a consultation with a seasoned medical malpractice attorney in Florida.