Personal injury Claim for Birth Injuries

Submitted by Norman on Fri, 08/13/2010 - 15:26

The birth of a child is a wondrous and joyous experience for most parents, but sometimes due to error or negligence on the part of one or more of the medical professionals involved, a child can sustain birth injuries that can dramatically affect his or her life.

Medical malpractice refers to negligence on the part of or a medical mistake made by a doctor, nurse, hospital, or other medical staff that leads to personal injury. Many situations can lead to a birth injury causing temporary or life-long problems for both the mother and baby.

In many cases, birth injuries occur as a direct result of medical negligence, such as a doctor not running the standard tests necessary to screen for preventable complications. Other times, physicians fail to screen the fetus for stress during labor, fail to address birth complications that arise, or fail to treat or diagnose problems affecting a baby's development or growth. The improper use of medical equipment can also cause birth injuries, such as when the forceps and vacuums during complicated deliveries.

Sometimes injuries are not apparent immediately after the child is born, but are discovered later when a child is not properly developing its motor skills or cognitive skills as it should be.

If you notice your child may be showing symptoms that could be linked to a birth injury, you should take him or her to a physician for examination to verify whether any harm may have happened during childbirth. Certain birth injuries require lifelong care and treatments, so it is important to seek financial compensation to give your family the proper resources to ensure your child will be properly cared for in the years to come.

Due to the statutes of limitation, you only have a certain amount of time to file a birth injury lawsuit. Therefore, time is of the essence when filing a lawsuit against a hospital or physician.

When filing a birth injury claim, it is important to seek the services of a personal injury lawyer, who has experience handling birth injury cases, to discuss your claim immediately after you suspect something went wrong during the birth of your child. It is best to contact a personal injury lawyer promptly while the facts are all still the fresh in your mind so that you can provide the personal injury attorney with all the facts they need to build a string case. You will need to the personal injury attorney all the information regarding the birth of your child; from before, during and after the birth. You will also need to provide the name of the hospital, the name of the physician, and the names of any nurses or other aides that were on staff during the birth of your child.

Enlisting the help of a personal injury lawyer when making your personal injury claim for a birth injury will help make the process of filing the claim much easier and stress free as the personal injury attorney can use their experience and knowledge to help you through each stop of the claim process.