Legal Aid
A birth injury is heartbreaking enough. But when a preventable injury occurs because of medical negligence, it can be utterly devastating. If an injury during labor or birth happens to you or your child, contact the Birth Injury Center for a free case evaluation. If we take your case, you pay nothing until we get a settlement or judgment in your favor. Speed is necessary because the statute of limitations may happen quickly. Our team is skilled in medical negligence cases and will get you the best settlement or judgment.
- Last Updated Date: October 12, 2023
What Should I Do if I Suspect My Child Has a Birth Injury?
Find a Birth Injury Lawyer Near Me
How To Start the Birth Injury Legal Process
What Is the Statute of Limitations for Birth Injuries?
Should I Accept a Settlement Offer for My Child’s Birth Injury?
Discover Your Legal Options
What Is Medical Negligence for Birth Injury?
What Are the Most Common Types of Birth Injury Malpractice?
Medical negligence resulting in a birth injury brings despair at what should be a joyous time for a family. A family may realize the injury during the birth or may not find out until later when symptoms show up. In either case, the Birth Injury Center is here to help families stand up for and afford their legal rights and seek the compensation they deserve.
We can provide you with a free case evaluation to see if we can meet your needs. We can put you in touch with a carefully selected birth injury lawyer who can pursue damages to help your family receive justice and provide your child with the most advanced care options.
What Should I Do if I Suspect My Child Has a Birth Injury?
If you suspect someone or something has harmed your child at birth, see a doctor and a lawyer immediately. The doctor can provide immediate care for the condition. This applies even if you discover the injury or suspect an injury after birth.
Why see the lawyer so quickly? You may already be running out of time for a lawsuit to happen. The statute of limitations is a legal deadline. The statute says you have only a set time to sue, often within one to four years. And it begins at different times in different states, perhaps when you discover the injury, perhaps at birth.
You have only a set time to sue, often within one to four years.
Find a Birth Injury Lawyer Near Me
Our partnering law firms provide legal support families in all 50 states. Contact us today to get in touch with a premier birth injury attorney who will discuss your case with you free of charge. If you’re child’s birth injury was preventable, they can can assist in filing a lawsuit and securing compensation.
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
- Vermont
- Virginia
- Washington
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
How To Start the Birth Injury Legal Process
You start the process by contacting an attorney. They will analyze the medical records and perhaps have your child seen by their own specialist doctor. At that point, they decide if you have a case or not. If you have a case, they may agree to take it, most often on a contingency basis. That means you don’t pay anything until the end. If a settlement or judgment is in your favor, they will take a percentage of your win. That percentage is negotiated before the representation begins.
The lawyer will then investigate the circumstances of your case, gather evidence, and interview witnesses. They may also consult with experts to further bolster your case.
Once the case is ready, your lawyer files the lawsuit in court. If more than one court is appropriate, your lawyer will select the one they think gives you the best advantage.
Throughout the process, your lawyer will negotiate with the opposition to try and reach a fair settlement. If no settlement can be reached, your case may go to trial, and a judge or jury will decide whether you receive damages.
What Is the Statute of Limitations for Birth Injuries?
Medical malpractice and personal injury are matters of state law. Each state sets its own statute of limitations or the amount of time you have to file a lawsuit.
This is just one of many court deadlines your lawyer will keep track of. It is best to get as quick a start as you can. Even if you don’t file immediately, this gives you more time to gather evidence, witnesses, and other things beneficial to the case.
Should I Accept a Settlement Offer for My Child’s Birth Injury?
Many factors unique to you and your settlement are involved. An attorney can evaluate your case and determine if an offer is fair. Here are some questions to ask yourself when weighing a settlement offer:
- Is the settlement enough to cover medical costs?
- Are there reasons you need the money quickly?
- What does your lawyer think your trial odds are?
- Is their liability clear or contested?
- Do you think you have enough evidence to prove medical negligence?
- Can you wait for a higher amount of money?
Your situation will help you decide if a particular offer is fair. As a general rule, early offers will be low. If you can wait awhile, you can often get more money offered.
Discover Your Legal Options
Immediately after giving birth can be the most difficult time in a woman’s life. It can seem like you have no options and nobody is there for you. That’s wrong. There are more people there for you than you think. We are among them. Call the Birth Injury Center and set up a free case review.
If you are the father, she needs your help now. It may not be too late if the problems appear later in life. Get help today. Contact us. We will listen to you. We will give you your legal options.
What Is Medical Negligence for Birth Injury?
Medical negligence differs from other kinds of negligence because we hold doctors to a higher standard than regular folks in society. Each state has different—but very similar—standards that doctors must meet. It is called the standard of care and is the skill and expertise practiced by a community of medical experts in a medical field or area. A standard of care arises when a doctor-patient relationship.
Medical malpractice laws compensate families for the expenses and damages caused by a health care provider’s negligence. Doctors, nurses, anesthesiologists, hospitals, and other health care providers are negligent when they fail to meet the standard of care. If that failure caused an injury to the mother or child and that injury resulted in damages, the health care provider is liable for compensation.
What Are the Most Common Types of Birth Injury Malpractice?
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, birth injuries may occur as often as
Meanwhile, 45 percent of new mothers suffer birth trauma. Birth injury was once more common in babies with some of the older technology and practices used. The most common types of birth injury today are:
In addition to those conditions, several delivery room errors can lead to injury and worse. Just stopping paying attention for one minute can cause a lifetime of problems.
The most common are:
- Errors in administering medication
- Failing to identify and treat an infection
- Failing to monitor a child before, during, and after birth
- Failing to perform a timely C-section
- Forceps delivery complications
- Prolonged delivery
- Vacuum delivery complications
If you or your baby has suffered any of these misfortunes, contact the Birth Injury Center immediately.
Written by:
Birth Injury Center Team
The Birth Injury Center aims to create informational web content and guides to help women and their families seeking support and guidance for birth injuries caused by medical negligence. All of the content published across The Birth Injury Center website has been thoroughly investigated and approved by medical expert Natalie Speer, RNC-OB, Attorney Ryan Mahoney, and Attorney Rick Meadows.
