The birth of a baby is a truly glorious experience in most cases, but there are times that a baby can suffer birth injury as a result of medical professional errors or negligence. Such injuries can be minor or may substantially affect the child’s life.
There are many situations under which birth injury can result in temporary, long-term or permanent issues for either the mother or the baby, or both. In some birth injury personal injury cases, medical negligence is at fault for the injuries sustained and the claim is then a medical malpractice issue. A birth injury lawyer familiar with malpractice claims is best qualified for handling your birth injury lawsuit.
Medical negligence can occur under a number of circumstances. For instance, a physician may fail to run a standard screening or other test that could have prevented reasonably foreseeable complications. Or, a physician may fail to properly monitor the baby and/or the mother during labor, resulting in birth complications. Improper usage of equipment, medications or a failure to employ proper procedures can also result in birth injuries and the need to hire a birth injury lawyer to file a claim on your behalf against the doctor, nurses, hospital or other medical professional or facility responsible for the injuries sustained during birth.
Proving Your Birth Injury Personal Injury Claim
If injuries are immediately apparent following birth, you will need to hire a birth injury lawyer immediately. He or she will be able to assist you in getting the proper documentation for proving your personal injury claim. However, not all birth injuries are immediately apparent and sometimes are only discovered when a child fails to thrive or to show normal motor, cognitive or other developmental progress.
If a child fails to develop normally, a physician must examine the baby and determine if the developmental issues are the result of an injury sustained during child birth. Immediately upon discovering the developmental delays or other health complications are due to a birthing injury, you should seek legal assistance from a birth injury lawyer. He or she will be able to obtain the necessary records and other documentation for proving your birth injury lawsuit.
You will also need all of the medical records from the doctor(s) that diagnosed your baby’s health issues and linked them with a birth injury. All of the medical tests and other diagnostic procedures required to determine the nature and cause of your baby’s health issues must also be included in your birth injury claim to prove negligence or malpractice.
Your Birth Injury Case
When filing a personal injury claim for a birth injury, it’s crucial you seek the assistance of a birth injury lawyer experienced in handling such claims. Contacting a lawyer as soon as possible is also important, ideally while the details of your child’s birth are still relatively fresh in your mind so as to facilitate full discovery of pertinent information in the case, including the names of all the aides, nurses, physicians and other medical professionals present for the birth of your child. You will also need to give the attorney all of the information you can recall from your period of labor, the birthing session and the post-birth period as well. The more information you’re able to provide the better your birth injury attorney can service your claim.
Of course, you won’t have all the details of the birth, including physician notes and other medical records. This is precisely where the experience and skill of a birth injury lawyer comes into play as he or she will be able to obtain the necessary records for proving your personal injury claim. Legal assistance in any malpractice suit is essential, particularly when the ongoing medical care and financial security of your child’s future is at stake.