Birth Injury Compensation
It can be devastating when your child suffers birth injury due to the negligence of a doctor. These injuries can require lifelong treatment and care. The family will be left with huge financial costs.
A lot of birth injury cases have a complicated debate about medical errors versus malpractice. Our lawyers can help you understand the differences.
Costs of Treatment
Attorneys, insurance companies and judges take into account the severity of the birth injury and the impact it has on the child's development when determining the amount of compensation to be paid. For instance, if a child requires an ongoing medical procedure, this will increase the value of a claim.
The medical treatment for birth injuries can be costly. Compensation for birth injuries could aid families in covering these costs. Lawyers and experts often collaborate to create a "Life Care Plan" which estimates the costs of a child’s injury over the course of a lifetime. These costs include hospitalization, surgery, specialized medical treatments and prescriptions, home improvements and equipment, among others.
Your legal team will collect medical documents from your child's birth and pregnancy as well as personal accounts from relatives. These will be used to show that your child suffered an injury as a result of negligence by a medical professional, and to demonstrate the extent of the damage caused.
Many states have enacted medical indemnity funds to provide financial support to families of children who suffer from birth injuries. These funds may either take part of malpractice insurance premiums, or require doctors and hospital to contribute to the resource pool. In addition to providing monetary assistance, these programs could reduce the need for families to make a claim. JLARC staff discovered that these programs did not always meet their goals and should be improved.
Life Care Planning
Children with conditions like cerebral palsy or hypoxic ischephalopathy will need medical care for the rest of their lives. These needs include physical therapies, specialized equipment, and home health care. The majority of the time, these costs can be quite significant.
A life-care planning document an important document that outlines the future medical, education, home and other expenses children with disabilities will incur throughout his or her life. These plans are used to calculate the financial portion of a settlement in the case of birth injury. These plans should be thorough and meticulously drafted to comply with the strict requirements for admissibility.
Life-care planning experts can assist to draft these documents with input and formal opinions from the child's doctors as well as therapists and other caregivers. The plans also contain an in-depth description of the initial injury and diagnosis. They outline the root causes of the disability and
injuries their long-term effects.
A medical malpractice lawyer must work with a life planner to create the most suitable plan for their clients' situation. The goal of the plan is to ensure your child receives sufficient compensation to cover all future costs and expenses. The money is usually put into a trust for children with special needs, which is managed by an authorized administrator. Typically, the amount of funds given will be adjusted regularly to reflect changes in your child's needs.
Suffering and Pain
In a birth injury lawsuit there are damages awarded for the plaintiff's past and future suffering and pain. This includes physical and mental suffering caused by the injury, as well as the inability to engage in activities that others could be able to do.
It is also possible to recuperate for the loss of income when a victim's disability limits their career options or prohibits them from working in any way. In addition, families may be compensated if needed to take care of an injured child.
The verdicts for medical malpractice cases are usually very high as juries are often sympathetic to victims and hold doctors accountable for their errors. Many doctors and hospitals settle rather than risk a trial that is expensive and difficult for all parties involved.
Both sides will collect evidence to support their arguments during the litigation. They will exchange documents in a process known as discovery, which involves deposing a witnesses to obtain their statements under swearing. The defendants can also ask to review the medical records of the plaintiff as it is legal in all states.
An attorney with experience in this kind of case is required to file an effective claim for birth injuries. A seasoned attorney will analyze the circumstances of your case, determine if it satisfies the specifications for a lawsuit and work to secure the best financial settlement that is possible.
Punitive Damages
Some medical malpractice lawsuits also contain punitive damages. These are meant to convey a message and prevent future negligence. They may be awarded in instances of grave negligence or when there was negligence on the part of the medical professional. They are not common in cases of birth
injuries.
After identifying the defendants, the attorney needs to gather and examine the evidence to back the claim. They must prove that the injuries sustained by medical professionals did not comply with the standard of care. The legal team also has to provide evidence of the costs associated with these injuries, also known as "damages." This information could be either economic or non-economic in nature.
The economic losses are usually calculated by taking into account the cost of the child's ongoing treatment, which may include long-term care facilities as well as other services. They may also include lost earnings in the event that an injury has caused both parents to lose their job.
The legal team will prepare an offer package that they will present to the malpractice insurers. This document will describe the
birth injury lawyers injury and the impact it has on the child's family and in order to seek compensation to cover the cost of these losses. The attorneys will negotiate with medical professionals until the settlement is reached. During this process, attorneys will exchange information about their cases with the other side by way of discovery, which may include depositions of witnesses who swear to their testimony under an oath.