Having a child is one of the most wonderful things that could happen to a human being. In the United States and in most countries in the world, children are often born safely and healthy. This is because of the technical advances and training in which obstetrics have undergone for the past decades. However, there are still cases in which there are mistakes in the process of childbirth.
One of the most difficult experiences a parent could face in his/her lifetime is when a newborn child becomes injured. The term given to this is “traumatic birth injury” and it can happen due to several reasons. But mainly, this is caused by grueling and delayed birth labor which is lead to a strenuous delivery for the mother. The child oftentimes get severe injuries in the head.
Common causes of birth injury
In any medical case, an injury can always be prevented by conducting tests throughout the pregnancy. These are done to detect and prevent any difficulty and complications, and protect both the mother and child in the course of delivery and pregnancy. Proper adjustments can then be made to give the suitable treatment, oftentimes this would be a Caesarian procedure.
Medical negligence and birth injuries
Most childbirths are safe and successful, even in the case of children born with disabilities. Birth injuries in most cases are unpreventable, and are a result of negligence and poor supervision during pregnancy and delivery. These errors are hard to take, even if we say that medical professionals are humans and that for one reason or another, they can make mistakes especially if they handled many deliveries in a day and are tired or had miscalculated.
Birth injuries caused by medical negligence, on the other hand, are punishable by law and parents of children who experienced birth injuries have the right to file a legal action against the responsible medical practitioner.
Seeking the expertise of a birth injury lawyer
A birth injury is a case of medical malpractice. So, the first action to be taken is to seek financial compensation for the birth injury caused by medical negligence. This cannot be done by the parent/s alone. There will definitely be a need for a lawyer, specifically a birth-injury lawyer who is an expert in handling these cases. These lawyers are paid on a contingency basis. This means that the lawyer will first pay for all the expenses in the case. If the case will be successful, a certain percentage of the compensation to the client will be given to him/her. If the case is lost, the lawyer will not receive anything. This arrangement is of course agreed upon at the beginning by the client and the birth injury lawyer.
A medical malpractice suit is complicated and very hard to prove. It is purported that the medical professionals handling the delivery of the child failed in their duties and did not follow the medical standards. The lawyer handling the birth injury case has a lot in his hands. Usually, they will take a case which resulted to the child having a very obvious and serious birth injury such as cerebral palsy. Cases with proof of medical negligence and severe injury are other elements which a lawyer looks for in a case.
A lawyer will only take the case if the birth injury is very serious and he has enough evidence and grounds to win the case.
There are quite a number of competent lawyers and law firms available that handle child injury cases such as Kenneth M. Sigelman & Associates in San Diego. They are experts in negotiating the settlement amount and should you decide not to settle, they know exactly what legal actions you need to take. Birth injury lawyers know that you should not suffer physically, emotionally, and financially for the mistakes of medical professionals in whom you placed your trust.
The Editorial Team at Healthcare Business Today is made up of skilled healthcare writers and experts, led by our managing editor, Daniel Casciato, who has over 25 years of experience in healthcare writing. Since 1998, we have produced compelling and informative content for numerous publications, establishing ourselves as a trusted resource for health and wellness information. We offer readers access to fresh health, medicine, science, and technology developments and the latest in patient news, emphasizing how these developments affect our lives.