Legal Steps to Take After a Birth Injury Diagnosis

A considerable number of birth injuries are the result of medical negligence during pregnancy and delivery. The health conditions generated by these medical mistakes often require a lifetime of care and treatment. By filing a birth injury lawsuit, aggrieved families are able to seek financial compensation to help cover the costs of hospital bills, prescription medicines, assistive devices, physical therapy, and much more. To find out if you have a valid birth injury case, contact a Dallas birth injury lawyer at Rasansky Law Firm today. 

What Is a Birth Injury Lawsuit?

Birth injury lawsuits fall under the umbrella of medical malpractice lawsuits. They make it possible for parents to pursue compensation if their child develops a medical condition caused by a medical error. A birth injury lawsuit is brought against the doctor or other healthcare provider whose negligence caused or contributed to the birth injury. 

A publication from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that the lifetime cost of caring for someone with cerebral palsy, one of the leading forms of birth injury, is roughly $1.65 million, not including daily living expenses. 

The financial compensation provided by a birth injury lawsuit can help mitigate the costs of your child’s medical care, in-home nurses, and other expenditures that could improve their overall quality of life.

If you feel that your baby’s birth injury was the result of a medical error, call us today to schedule a free consultation. We can review the facts of your case and determine if malpractice was committed.  

Are There Different Kinds of Birth Injury Lawsuits?

We have helped families affected by birth injuries successfully file lawsuits and recover damages for numerous types of birth injuries. The birth injuries that most often lead to legal action are: 

• Broken bones
• Brain damage
• Erb’s palsy
• Cerebral palsy
• Hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy  
• Fetal distress
• Injuries caused by delayed C-sections
• Injuries caused by the overuse or misuse of vacuum extractors or forceps
• Necrotizing enterocolitis
• Skull fractures
• Shoulder dystocia  
• Umbilical cord strangulation
• Spinal cord injuries
• Wrongful death
• Untreated jaundice

In no way is this list exhaustive. Numerous types of birth injuries can result from medical negligence and give rise to a birth injury lawsuit.

Who is Eligible to File a Birth Injury Lawsuit?

The parents or legal guardians of infants who sustained injuries due to a medical error made before, during, or immediately after the birthing process might be eligible to bring a birth injury lawsuit. Families can use the money from their settlement award or jury verdict to pay for necessary medical treatments, specialist appointments, assistive devices, and multiple other aids that could help their children live fulfilling and rewarding lives.

Without compensation for their child’s birth injury, most families will struggle to pay for even the minimal care their children need. Many families end up emptying their savings accounts, and retirement accounts, and taking out second mortgages on their homes just to cover the bare minimum. 

Unfortunately, attempting to file a birth injury claim on your own, or working with a lawyer who does not specialize in birth injury cases, is unlikely to yield the results you are hoping for and deserve. This is because medical malpractice cases, especially those involving labor and delivery, are extremely complex. For your birth injury lawsuit to have a successful outcome, you will have to unequivocally prove that your child’s injury was the result of medical negligence. Doing this requires extensive financial resources, and a great deal of time, and often involves working with various types of expert witnesses; something to which most people do not have access. 

Fortunately, the Dallas birth injury lawyers at Rasansky Law Firm have decades of experience handling these types of cases. We know how to prove that medical malpractice caused your baby’s birth injury and are fully aware of the expenses involved in rearing them from that point forward.

What is the Birth Injury Lawsuit Process?

By partnering with an attorney who specializes in birth injuries, you can feel confident in the fact that they will support and guide you through every phase of the legal process, from filing your claim, collecting evidence, and building your case, to protecting your rights, fighting for fair compensation, and, if necessary, representing you in court.  

Free Consultation

The first phase of a birth injury lawsuit is a free consultation. This makes it possible for families to have their cases examined by a qualified lawyer without incurring any out-of-pocket expenses.

Your child does not need to be diagnosed with a birth injury in order for you to have a free consultation. Our birth injury attorneys and supporting staff will listen to your side of the story and determine if medical negligence could have been a factor in your child’s birth injury.

Collecting Evidence

If you do have a valid lawsuit, your birth injury attorney will begin by gathering evidence that supports your claim, proving medical negligence, and calculating your total damages. We will obtain the medical records from your pregnancy and your baby’s birth, along with statements from anyone who witnessed the delivery. All of these pieces will be vital pieces of evidence in proving your baby’s birth injury was due to medical malpractice.

Filing a Lawsuit

After all evidence and information have been collected, your lawyer will then file a claim on your behalf. You are now the plaintiff in a lawsuit, and the obstetrician, nurse, or other medical professional(s) named in the lawsuit are now the defendants.

In most cases, Texas imposes a two-year statute of limitations on all negligence-based legal actions, up to and including medical malpractice. If you fail to file before the two-year deadline lapses, you will be barred from recovering any compensation. Some circumstances allow for a tolling of the statute, but they are few and far between. Working with a seasoned birth injury attorney will ensure that the statute of limitations and any other important deadlines do not pass unnoticed, damaging your otherwise rightful claim to compensation.  

Settlement Negotiations/Trial 

Once both sides have collected enough strong supporting evidence to back their individual claims, settlement negotiations usually begin. They start with your attorney requesting a specific sum of money from the defendant based on the damages you have incurred.  

When attempting to reach a settlement agreement, there is a lot of back and forth between the opposing parties. Your attorney will fight hard to secure the financial compensation you need to cover your child’s lifetime care costs. In the improbable event that a fair settlement amount cannot be reached, your lawsuit will go to trial and your attorney will represent you in court. 

Do You Have a Valid Birth Injury Case?

If your baby has an injury or medical condition that you suspect was caused by malpractice, you could be entitled to compensation. To determine whether you have a legitimate birth injury case, talk to a skilled birth injury attorney as soon as possible. The Dallas birth injury lawyers at Rasansky Law Firm can examine your medical records, decide if negligence occurred, and file a birth injury lawsuit seeking maximum compensation on your behalf. Call (214) 617-1886 to schedule your free consultation.