Nothing is more heartbreaking than finding out that instead of having a happy welcome for your child, you later found out that your kid suffered a birth injury.
It’s normal to feel confused and hopeless that you could even pursue a lawsuit against the people responsible for the situation. But approaching birth injury lawyers have always proven beneficial in getting the justice families deserved.
What should I do?
The first thing you’d have to do as you find out that a birth injury had taken place is to discuss the matter with your spouse and family to ensure that everyone is aware of the situation and provide sound advice on the steps to take.
Remember that roughly 28,000 children annually are recorded to struggle with birth injuries due to a healthcare professional’s negligence, which is alarming on its own, but could take a toll on the individual once it has happened to you.
Fortunately, there are a couple of steps you can do to guarantee that you’d have the proper documents that could help your attorney come up with a plan that’ll increase the chances of winning the claim.
Proof of patient admission
This is a no-brainer, given that a birth injury couldn’t possibly proceed if you aren’t shown to be under the care of the professional you’re going to sue. What’s worse is that you could even receive an order from the court for staining the reputation of someone else.
So you must provide sufficient proof that could indicate that the doctor or nurse responsible for the injuries put you under their care. Luckily, you could do this by giving a copy of your medical records to the lawyer.
The medical records demonstrate in-depth details of your condition before and after giving birth, provided that you were seeing the same healthcare professional throughout this period. Moreover, the documents would indicate the name of the doctor and healthcare team responsible for you and notes about your labor experience for the child.
It’ll be better if you could go beyond by also providing the copy of medical bills you’ve paid over, along with statements from the insurance company you signed up for.
This is pretty much helpful because your lawyer could use these as their references and additional evidence once in court.
Detail the breach of care
It’s the duty of any professional to provide the patient with adequate care that they see fit and is proven to be effective in similar conditions. Even though most healthcare providers follow their oath, some are still open to bending or breaking these rules for their own reasons.
To guarantee that your lawyer understands the legal issues involved in your case, they are obligated to refer the case to medical experts. They will be the ones to examine if the professional has committed the things that the client claims and give your legal representative a copy of the documentation regarding the breach of duty.
The more relevant records you give, the more likely it is that the consultant would provide a thorough review of the whole medical situation—something that could give you an upper hand since the jury would typically request the medical consultants’ presence.
The jury acknowledges these experts to be credible witnesses. Aside from that, they’re also encouraged to share the specific damages sustained by the plaintiff that could be supported by documents written by a second opinion physician or someone similar.
Give evidence to the jury
Although cases differ by conditions, no doubt proving a birth injury claim is challenging.
This is why an attorney should be prepared to supplement evidence that points out that the healthcare professional’s inadequate care both for the patient and their baby led to the grave situation.
For example, suppose that you were given a prescription medication while you were pregnant that was the cause of the birth injury. In this case, you’re required to entail the name of the medication and doctor’s notes to your attorney, so they could oversee the crime’s gravity and factors that the same professional neglected in the process.
Apart from that, having testimonies that support your claim are powerful items within legal cases, so your lawyer is likely to interview several people that could be valuable sources.
The witnesses could then elaborate how your doctor has fallen short in providing the standard care expected among the specialists under identical circumstances.
As much as you’d fear that they may come after you, it’s best to address your legal concerns with a trusted attorney in the area. Remember that doctors are responsible for maintaining a high standard of care regardless of the situation, no matter who their patient is.
Once they’ve failed to do so, their incompetence or total neglect could put you in harmful conditions, so it’s to be taken seriously.
