For most people, the first and most obvious step in finding a birth injury attorney is sitting down at their laptop and using a search engine, such as Google, to find one. However, this will likely bring up lots of results, many of which claim to be the best or ask clients to hire them, guaranteeing results. These types of law firms are the ones that you should go to as your last port of call when all other channels for finding a good quality birth injury attorney have failed.
The reason why there are so many law firms out there touting for business in this way, is because birth injury cases can be extremely lucrative. In some instances, in fact, the compensation received can be in the millions of dollars, with some of the very biggest ones being worth as much as $200 million. It is clear then from this that it is highly important that you want an experienced and knowledgeable birth injury attorney handling your case.
There are a number of different reasons as to why a birth injury may occur, and in the vast majority of these cases, they are completely avoidable if the correct type of care is given. However, where there are cases of negligence amongst medical professionals during pregnancy, labour, or delivery, it can result in birth injuries happening. Due to the sheer number of patients that doctors and nurses see, there are the odd occasions where incidents like this happen; after all, these individuals are only human and are prone to making mistakes. Where mistakes happen, birth injuries occur, and they can be pretty devastating for the patient, in some cases being left with lifelong injuries as a result.
In those instances where the birth injury occurred as a result of medical negligence, the individual/individuals who were responsible can be sued in order to obtain compensation from them for the injuries that they inflicted. The very first step in obtaining compensation for a birth injury is hiring a qualified and experienced Birth Injury Attorney. The better that they are at their job, the better that your chances are of your case being a success and you receiving compensation. However, this is not a straightforward thing, given the sheer amount of choice that there is when it comes to these types of legal professionals.
Suing a medical professional that helped you and your child may be a difficult thing to do, especially if you like them on a personal level. However, the fondness that you have for them should not impact doing what is right and getting the compensation that you and your child deserve.
After all, the money obtained from a birth injury case will provide financial assistance for looking after your injured child, something that most people would not be able to do adequately without receiving financial compensation. It is important to remember in these situations that it is not the individual medical professional themselves who will have to pay the compensation but the medical establishment where they work.
What exactly is a birth injury attorney?
This is an attorney that specializes in working with clients that have experienced some sort of medical negligence or malpractice that resulted in a birth injury. The vast majority of the time, they work on a contingent fee basis. Birth injury legal cases involve allegations against medical professionals, such as doctors, and medical establishments, such as hospitals, that have not delivered the correct standard of care, which has resulted in a birth injury.
In comparison to regular personal injury law cases, birth injury law cases are much more complex and are so more expensive as a result. Because of the complexities involved, not all personal injury lawyers are able to handle these types of cases, which is why you want to hire one that has experience in birth injury law.
The types of cases that a birth injury attorney will take
A birth injury lawyer will handle any type of legal case where a patient has experienced a significant injury during birth. The most common type of injury in cases like these include things like HIE, Erb’s palsy, and even cerebral palsy. The main two things that a birth injury lawyer will look for in these types of cases is clear evidence of medical malpractice/negligence and how severe the birth injury is.
The most important of these two things is how severe the birth injury is. The reason for this is because pursuing this type of case can actually be very expensive for a birth injury lawyer, and if they are unsuccessful, they could be left with large bills (hundreds of thousands of dollars) to pay for expert witnesses etc., so they want to make sure that they have a good chance of winning. The more injured a patient is, the more likely the case is to succeed.
In the example of a birth injury where a patient has their arm injured during birth due to a medical professional pulling them out too hard and are diagnosed with a type of Erb’s palsy, but the injury to their arm disappears after a few months of physiotherapy, the vast majority of birth injury lawyers would likely avoid the case even if it can be proven that care standards were breached. The reason for this is that although painful and damaging, an arm injury will not justify the cost associated with taking a case to trial.
How to find a good birth injury lawyer
Whilst some birth injury lawyers are better than others, there are many out there that are competent enough to deal with these types of cases, so you do not have to go hunting around to find the very best of the best to handle your case. However, you do need to be wary of those legal professionals that claim to be experts in birth injury law when they are not.
As previously mentioned, birth injury law is highly complex and extremely specialized – not just any lawyer can manage these types of cases. In order to be successful, it requires a certain level of skill, experience, and knowledge in this particular area of law. A good birth injury lawyer will possess a demonstrated track record of successfully handling these types of cases. Although it is easy to ask friends, family, and colleagues for recommendations when it comes to finding a good birth injury lawyer, the easiest way of doing this is by searching on the Internet.
Doing a quick Internet search on ‘birth injury lawyers’ will likely bring up lots of different ones within your local area. When doing your research this way, it is important that you dedicate some time into reading up information on them and looking over reviews from previous clients, both good and bad. You should also be able to ascertain how successful they have been in winning birth injury cases, something that is of course very important. When doing this, make a list of between three and four potential attorneys or law firms that you would like to meet face to face and have a consultation with. Doing this is a great and effective way of getting a good feel for someone and how they work.
What is the cost of a birth injury attorney?
Hiring a good birth injury lawyer should not leave you out of pocket. This is because, like many personal injury lawyers, they work on a contingency fee foundation. What this means is that the lawyer covers the cost of the various case expenses and fees, but takes a certain percentage of the compensation awarded to pay for these and to pay for their own personal time and effort. If they are unsuccessful and not secure any compensation, you do not have to pay them anything, the risk is all on them.
The percentage that a birth injury lawyer takes varies from lawyer to lawyer but will typically range anywhere from 33 percent up to 40 percent. There may be some instances where a lawyer charges a higher percentage than this, but these figures are the average. What is important to remember is that this percentage does not cover case fees and expenses, it is in addition to these things. The cost of paying for these things is down to you and will come out of the compensation that you were awarded.
To have your case reviewed is completely free of charge so it is always beneficial to approach a birth injury lawyer to see if you have a case worth fighting in the very first place. When a birth injury lawyer tries to charge you for such a service, this should act as a red flag and you should avoid using their services altogether.
What do birth injury attorneys do?
Upon hiring a birth injury attorney what they will begin doing is investigating your case in order to ascertain if there is enough evidence to proceed with it. As part of this, they will make a request for medical records from the establishment where the injury occurred in order to see if the right type of care was delivered, both pre and post natal.
Once a birth injury lawyer receives these records they will look through them all in order to find anything from them that supports your case. If they do find any collabatory evidence, they will then bring in the help of an expert witness or the purpose of reviewing your case and providing a formal opinion on whether or not medical negligence / malpractice was the cause for any birth injuries experienced. Given how complex all of this can be, it is not a quick process, and may even involve several expert witnesses and consultations with yourself.
Where an expert witness is in agreement that medical negligence / malpractice occurred, then the birth injury lawyer will go ahead and file a lawsuit against those who were responsible.
Can parents also make a claim for birth injury?
In a birth injury case, both the patient who was injured and their parents can both file claims, although these are done individually from one another. What the parents put forward is a case that provides them with compensation for covering the cost of previous and future medical treatments and procedures. Compensation is also awarded for any specialist care that may be required all the way up until adulthood.
As a result of all the things that financial compensation covers for parents, the settlement amounts can be very significant. The exact amount received is dependent on a number of factors, which include the severity of the birth injury and how much care is required as a result. In the vast majority of states, this is true even where the cost of medical treatments and procedures are covered by the parent’s own health insurance.
Compensation for a birth injury
The exact amount of compensation that is received for a birth injury varies from case to case and is dependent on the extent of the injury experienced. What also has an impact is the lawyer or law firm that is handling your case and the jurisdiction that you live in. In order to obtain some insight into how much you can expect to receive in compensation for a birth injury case then do your own research – there are lots of resources out there where this type of information is freely available to the public.
What is the deadline for a birth injury case?
Some deadlines do exist around the filing of a birth injury case. However, this does vary from state to state and is dependent upon the statute of limitations so you will need to do some of your own research to see what it is for where you live in America. Failing that, you could approach a birth injury lawyer to find out how long you have before filing your own case of medical negligence / malpractice.
