An unfortunate reality is that not everyone has a straightforward labor and birth process. For many women, childbirth can be fraught with challenges such as prolonged labor and mismanagement of complications. If your baby experienced a serious birth injury due to preventable medical errors, you deserve to hold the people responsible to account. This often involves filing a birth injury claim. Keep reading to learn what’s involved in this process, and how you can get started:
Contact an Attorney
The first thing you should do after learning that your child has a birth injury like hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy, Erb’s Palsy, or fractures is contact an experienced birth injury attorney. During a free consultation, a birth injury attorney can learn the facts of your case and determine whether it’s strong enough to proceed with a birth injury claim due to preventable medical errors.
Gather Medical Records
Legal professionals need an in-depth understanding of all aspects of your pregnancy, labor, and birth to accurately determine what went wrong. To do so, they need access to your medical records. Along with industry professionals, they will review prenatal, labor, delivery, fetal monitoring, and baby health records.
Perform An Expert Medical Review
Lawyers can have a basic understanding of the factors that contribute to a birth injury, but they aren’t medical experts. As a result, the next step in filing a birth injury claim is to have an independent specialist or obstetrician review the records to determine whether there was a breach of the standard of care. This process helps to establish liability. Legal professionals must be able to prove that a healthcare professional deviated from the accepted standard of care and that specific negligence caused the baby’s injuries.
File a Lawsuit
With a certificate of merit provided by a field expert, a birth injury lawyer can now proceed with filing a formal complaint. When a complaint is filed, both sides conduct investigations, exchange evidence, and depose witnesses, including parents, nurses, and doctors.
Proceed with Expert Testimony and Damages
For many parents, the expert testimony and damages part of the birth injury claim process is overwhelming, but worthwhile. It involves industry experts assessing the standard of care, causation, and long-term costs associated with the birth injury, including medical expenses, lost earning potential, and pain and suffering.
Negotiate or Settle
Negotiations are an essential part of the process, as they determine whether a case will be settled out of court or go to trial. Most insurers and hospitals prefer to settle due to the costs associated with trials. If a case goes to trial because a fair settlement can’t be reached, extensive evidence will be presented, and expert testimonies will be relied upon for the courts to get a fair conclusion.
Filing a birth claim is a multi-step process in which an experienced attorney must learn the facts of the case and present them to show preventable medical errors. If your baby was born with a birth injury like hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy, don’t hesitate to contact an experienced birth injury attorney to explore your claim options.
William Gall is a seasoned attorney specializing in civil litigation and family law. With a legal career spanning over two decades, William has built a reputation for his meticulous attention to detail and his unwavering commitment to justice. In addition to practicing law, he is a prolific writer, contributing regularly to various legal blogs where he shares his insights on current legal trends, case law, and best practices. His articles are well-regarded in the legal community for their thorough research and practical advice, making complex legal concepts accessible to both legal professionals and the general public.