The birth of a child is a joyous occasion that can be transformed into a nightmare when medical professionals make a preventable mistake. Our attorneys help families recover financial compensation to cover their medical costs, damages, and losses.
Once a lawsuit is filed, your legal team investigates to collect detailed evidence and build a strong case for medical malpractice. This is followed by a trial where a judge and jury decide your fate. Contact Atlanta Birth Injury Lawyer now!
Bringing a medical malpractice claim requires a lot of time and resources, including evidence. Medical malpractice attorneys have access to a wide network of experts who can review medical records and define the accepted standard of care in a given situation. This helps build a case and provides the necessary foundation for proving negligence and causation, which are the two most critical elements of a birth injury lawsuit.
Your attorney will carefully examine the strength of your birth injury case before launching settlement negotiations with doctors and hospitals involved in the claim. This step allows them to identify and pursue the maximum compensation available based on the full extent of your damages and losses.
A strong medical malpractice case must establish four key components: duty of care, breach of duty, causation and damages. To prove the first element, your lawyer will need to demonstrate that a healthcare provider failed to uphold their obligation to act in a manner that a similarly trained and reasonable provider would have under similar circumstances. This typically involves presenting a clear timeline of events, detailed medical records and expert testimony.
Next, your attorney must show that the at-fault healthcare provider’s breach of duty directly caused your child’s birth injuries. This can require further expert testimony and a thorough analysis of your child’s medical records, as well as a comprehensive assessment of your family’s economic and non-economic damages. Non-economic damages may include emotional distress, loss of quality of life and a permanent disability. Economic damages can cover your child’s past and future medical expenses, lost income, and current and future care costs. In egregious cases, juries and judges can also award punitive damages to punish the defendants for extreme neglect or recklessness.
Before entering settlement negotiations, your attorney will carefully evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of your case to develop a negotiation strategy that’s tailored to your specific circumstances. This approach allows them to advocate aggressively for your rights during the negotiation process, ensuring that you receive a fair and just settlement.
Gathering Evidence
When medical negligence occurs before, during or after birth, it can have lifelong consequences for both mother and child. A skilled birth injury lawyer can help you understand your options and pursue compensation. An experienced legal team can also coordinate with medical experts to truly understand the case.
A thorough investigation of the evidence is critical to winning a birth injury lawsuit. Detailed medical records showing the relationship between care and injuries, a letter from a doctor confirming the professional standard of care in your situation, and a thorough analysis of the defendant’s employment and disciplinary history are just some of the necessary components to build a strong claim.
In addition to these elements, it must be proven that the defendant’s actions were a direct cause of your child’s injury. In this regard, it is often helpful to have a medical expert who can provide testimony under oath that the defendant’s deviation from the appropriate standards was directly responsible for the injury or damages sustained.
Your attorney will also need to present evidence of the losses you and your child have suffered as a result of the birth injury, such as current and future medical expenses, loss of income if the injury has caused you or your child to miss work, pain and suffering, and other non-economic damages. The medical and financial evidence can be overwhelming for families, which is why it is important to have a knowledgeable legal partner.
Once the attorney has collected all of the necessary evidence and established that negligence occurred, he or she will file a complaint. This formal request for compensation will begin the legal process of proving your claims in court. In the majority of cases, however, doctors reach satisfactory settlements without going through a trial. It is crucial to choose an attorney with a high rate of successful pretrial settlements so that you can avoid the risk and expense of a lengthy trial. An experienced birth injury attorney will know how to negotiate with insurance companies to obtain the best possible outcome for your claim.
Filing a Claim
Winning a birth injury lawsuit can’t undo the harm done to your child, but it can help you and your family pay for necessary medical care, rehabilitation, and financial losses that resulted from the injuries. This includes current and future medical expenses, lost wages, loss of consortium, pain and suffering, and more.
To win a claim, your lawyer must prove four elements: duty of care, breach of this duty, causation, and damages. This involves reviewing the medical records related to your child’s birth and constructing legal arguments in support of each element.
Depending on the type of injuries suffered, your attorney will need to hire expert witnesses to evaluate your case. These experts will examine the evidence, identify what went wrong and why, and offer their opinion on the medical malpractice that occurred.
After evaluating the evidence, your attorney will prepare a demand letter for the doctors and hospital responsible. Your attorney may need to file a lawsuit and negotiate with the defendants’ malpractice insurance companies before reaching a settlement agreement.
If the parties cannot reach a settlement, your attorney will prepare to take the case to trial. However, most medical malpractice cases are settled before going to court.
During the trial, you may need to testify about your experience during your child’s birth and how the injuries affected your life. Your attorney will also need to depose doctors and other medical staff involved in your child’s birth to gather statements under oath.
When deciding on an attorney, you should ask about their litigation and trial skills, as well as how many cases they typically manage at one time. Insurance firms are more likely to offer a fair settlement when they know you have an experienced lawyer capable of taking your case all the way through trial.
Representation in Court
The length of time it takes to resolve a birth injury case varies from family to family. In many cases, a settlement can be reached without the need to go to trial. However, if a lawsuit is necessary, an experienced birth injury attorney knows how to defend your rights and fight for the maximum compensation possible.
Medical malpractice attorneys negotiate with insurers and file the legal paperwork required to initiate a claim. They also collect and organize evidence, including expert witness testimonies and medical records. This allows them to build a strong case against negligent medical providers and prove that they failed to provide the standard of care.
While most malpractice attorneys are not medical doctors, they have a network of experts who can review medical records and define the accepted standards of care. These experts are vital in proving that the doctor or hospital failed to meet these standards, which caused your child’s birth injuries.
Your lawyer will then calculate your damages and demand appropriate compensation from the at-fault medical provider. This can include current and future medical expenses, loss of income from missed work, expenses for therapy and treatment, lost quality of life and other related damages. In addition, your attorney may be able to secure punitive damages, which are designed to punish defendants for particularly egregious acts of negligence.
A successful medical malpractice lawsuit can help parents and families receive the financial resources they need to live a happy and healthy life. This can include payment for ongoing care, special equipment, adapted living quarters and more. Winning a claim can also relieve the stress of medical bills, which can be incredibly burdensome for a family facing severe and debilitating conditions.
Families who believe they have suffered due to the negligence of a medical professional should contact a trusted birth injury lawyer as soon as possible. They will be able to explain what happened during the labor and delivery process, and help you determine whether your injury is the result of a medical mistake. Contact our team today to learn more about how a birth injury attorney can help your family.
