The Work of a New Mexico Birth Injury Attorney
Many medical errors during the delivery can cause serious birth injuries in newborns. These injuries can result in a lifetime of medical expenses and treatment, which can take the financial burden off families.
Birth injuries require the same proof requirements as other malpractice claims. The medical professional must have breached their duty to provide a reasonable medical treatment. This is a complicated undertaking.
Prepare a Claim
The legal procedure for a birth injury case begins with a review of the medical records of your child. These records could contain important evidence that proves that the doctor was negligent. An experienced attorney can pinpoint the key pieces of evidence and also gather other documents that can be used to back your claim.
The attorney will also collaborate with one or more expert medical witnesses to establish that the doctor did not meet the standard of care that would be expected from a medical professional in the same specialty. A medical expert can help the jury understand how the doctor's actions or failure to act caused your child's injuries.
If a medical professional can prove that the doctor's negligence caused the injuries to your child The next step will be to determine the damages your child is entitled to. This includes future and past medical expenses as well as lost earnings throughout life and pain and suffering.
You could be entitled to damages for punitive or exemplary in proportion to the severity of the injuries sustained by your child. These additional damages are designed to punish the medical professional responsible for their utter negligence or disregard and discourage others from acting in the same way.
Many birth injuries are caused by medical errors during the birth of an infant. These errors can occur at any time during pregnancy but are more likely to occur during labor and delivery. Medical malpractice can lead to permanent and serious injuries to both the mother and child.
The most frequent types of birth injuries include shoulder dystocia, brain damage, spinal cord injuries, and Erb's Palsy. Erb's palsy is a type of nerve damage that causes partial or complete paralysis of the arm, and is typically caused by trauma to the brachial nerve plexus during the birth. Often this condition can be prevented with appropriate treatment and intervention.
New Mexico law has strict statutes of limitations that dictate a limited time period during which you are able to bring a medical malpractice lawsuit. Attorneys can determine if your case qualifies for exceptions to these deadlines. If the statutes of limitation have run out and your case is dismissed, even if have an excellent case. To ensure that your lawsuit is filed in time, it's important to get in touch with a New Mexico attorney for birth injury as soon as you are able to.
Prepare for the trial
Preparation for a trial begins prior to the trial date itself, as the legal teams review the evidence and form their theories. They must then identify all witnesses and formulate their questions. They should also prepare all exhibits that will be used in the trial. They must also prepare jury instructions. All of this preparation is critical for presenting a successful claim and obtaining compensation for the victims.
A birth injury that is caused by a medical mistake can be life-altering for a family. Children who suffer from these injuries require an entire lifetime of medical treatment and assistance. Families may require assistance to pay for treatments, therapies and specialized equipment. An experienced New Mexico birth injury attorney can help families obtain financial compensation that can help pay for these needs.
In order to start a lawsuit for birth injuries the plaintiff's family must prove that their medical professional or doctor failed to provide the treatment that reasonable medical professionals would have given in similar circumstances. Medical malpractice is what it is. To prove medical negligence, the person who suffered must establish four elements that include breach of duty, causation, and damages.
Many of the medical errors that result in birth injuries are simple mistakes like misdiagnosis and inadequate treatment of prenatal issues. Some are more complex such as shoulder dystocia that could result in total or partial arm paralysis. Some birth injuries only show up after childhood, when children begin to miss developmental milestones.
Contacting a birth injury attorney as soon as you can following the injury is crucial, otherwise the initial statute of limitations (SOL) could run out. There are some exceptions to the SOL that can extend the time limit to file a lawsuit. A knowledgeable birth injury attorney can provide specific SOLs that apply to your particular case and recommend an appropriate timeline for filing an action.
Birth injuries typically involve expert testimony to establish that the doctor's care fell below the standard of care they provide in their specialization. A qualified medical malpractice firm, like Miller Weisbrod Olesky works with highly-regarded experts around the country to establish these facts in a birth injury claim.
How to File a Claim
If a birth injury occurs, it can cause lasting and life-altering injuries to the child parents, the child, and the family. A successful claim can offer compensation for future and present medical expenses, loss of income, and suffering and pain. It can also help to pay for the cost of specialized equipment and therapies. However an effective claim requires expert medical evidence to prove that the doctor, nurse, or other healthcare provider breached their duty of care and caused the child's injuries.
A New Mexico birth injury lawyer can assist families to receive the justice they deserve by filing an action against the responsible medical professional or healthcare facility. It is important to note that medical malpractice lawsuits have strict statutes. Lawyers can examine the specifics of the case to determine when the statute began to run, so that legal action may be taken prior to the expiration date.
In some instances doctors may be held responsible for birth injuries even if medical negligence was not committed at the time of delivery. This kind of negligence could result from a delay in diagnosing the maternal condition, or by incorrectly using forceps to deliver the baby or even an unsuccessful Caesarean.
Other causes of birth injury include an insufficient supply of oxygen to the brain during labor or a prolonged labor. A New Mexico birth-injury lawyer can review a case's facts to identify possible accountable parties, including nurses, doctors, or hospitals. Most often the lawsuits are brought against the hospital in which the healthcare professional who was negligent was employed.
It is not unusual for an individual defendant or their attorney to assert that there are other reasons behind the injuries suffered by a baby. This could be due to genetic issues or issues with fetal development. knowledgeable birth injury lawyer can assist the family of the victim counter this argument, by proving that the existence of evidence of medical malpractice and the actions of the medical professional and their failure to act directly resulted in the child's injuries.
A New Mexico birth injury lawyer at Miller Weisbrod Olesky can investigate the case and hire one or more medical experts to prove that a healthcare provider's decision or failure to act fell below the standard of care in a similar circumstance and resulted in the child's injuries. A successful claim could result in compensation damages, which can include future and past medical expenses, loss of income as well as pain and suffering and other damages.