The Work of a New Mexico Birth Injury Attorney
Unfortunately, many medical mistakes during delivery can lead to serious birth injuries in newborns. These injuries can lead to a lifetime of care and medical expenses that deplete families' finances.
Like all malpractice lawsuits, birth injury cases require proving that the medical professional violated their obligation to provide reasonable medical care. This is a complicated task.
Prepare a Claim
The legal procedure for a birth injury case begins with an evaluation of the medical records of your child. These documents could contain valuable information that proves that the doctor was negligent. A qualified attorney can identify the most important evidence and collect other documents that can be used to support your claim.
The attorney will also work with one or more expert medical witnesses to establish that the doctor's actions were not up to the standard of care that should be expected by medical professionals in the same specialty. A medical expert can help jurors understand the reason why the doctor's omission to act or conduct led to the injuries of your child.
If a medical professional is able to show that the injuries suffered by your child resulted from a doctor's negligence the next step is to determine what damages your child will receive. This will include past and future medical expenses and lost earnings over the course of a lifetime, and pain and suffering.
Based on the extent of your child's injuries, you could be eligible for punitive or exemplary damages. These additional damages are intended to punish the medical professional for their recklessness or disregard and deter others from doing the same.
Many birth injuries are caused by medical errors during the delivery of an infant. These errors can happen at any time during pregnancy however they are most likely to happen during the delivery process. If a medical professional is guilty of negligence, it could cause grave and long-lasting injuries to both the mother and baby.
Erb's palsy, shoulder dystocia, and brain damage are some of the most commonly occurring birth injuries. Erb's palsy is a type of nerve injury that can cause partial or total paralysis of the arm, and is typically caused by trauma to the brachial nerve plexus during the birth. The condition can be prevented by the proper treatment and intervention.
New Mexico law has strict laws that limit the time you have to file a lawsuit for medical negligence. Your attorney will determine if your case qualifies to be exempt from these deadlines. Even the case is strong it could be dismissed if the statute of limitations has run out. To ensure that your lawsuit is filed on time, it is essential to get in touch with a New Mexico attorney for birth injury as soon as you are able to.
Preparing for the Trial
Preparation for a trial begins much earlier than the trial date itself, as the legal teams review the evidence and develop their theories. Then, they must identify all witnesses and prepare questions for them. They should also prepare all the evidence that will be used in the trial. They must also prepare jury instructions. All of this is vital to make a claim that is successful, and win compensation for victims.
A birth good injury lawyers near me caused by an error by a medical professional can have life-altering consequences for families. Children who suffer from these injuries require a lifetime of medical care and services. Families may need help paying for therapies, treatments, and equipment that is specialized. An experienced New Mexico birth injuries attorney can help families obtain compensation to cover these costs.
To file a lawsuit for birth injuries, the family has to show that the medical provider didn't provide the kind of care that a reasonable medical professional in similar circumstances would have provided. This is known as medical malpractice. To prove medical malpractice, the victim needs to establish four elements: duty, breach of duty, causation and damages.
Many of the medical errors that result in birth injuries are based on simple errors, such as the wrong diagnosis or inadequate treatment for prenatal complications. Some are more complex such as shoulder dystocia. This is an illness that can lead to partial or total paralysis of the arm. In some instances birth injuries are only evident later in childhood when the child starts missing developmental milestones.
Contacting a birth injury attorney as soon as you can following the injury is essential, otherwise the initial statute of limitation (SOL) could run out. There are some exceptions to the SOL which can extend the time limit for filing a suit. A skilled lawyer for birth injuries can explain the SOLs that apply to your particular case and provide a timeline for filing a suit.
Medical malpractice claims involving birth injuries usually require expert testimony to prove that the doctor's treatment fell below the standard of care they provide in their specialization. Miller Weisbrod Olesky is a qualified medical malpractice firm that collaborates with highly respected experts across the nation to prove this in a birth injury claim.
How to File a Claim
Birth injuries can cause a permanent and life-altering impact on the child, parents and the family. A successful claim could pay for future and present medical expenses, loss of income as well as suffering and pain. It could also be used to pay for specialized therapies and equipment. A successful claim requires an expert medical opinion that proves the doctor, nurse or any other healthcare provider violated their duty to care and caused the child's injuries.
A New Mexico birth injury attorney can help families get justice by filing a lawsuit against responsible medical provider or healthcare facility. It is crucial to understand that medical malpractice claims are subject to strict statutes of limitation. A lawyer can go over the specifics of the case and determine the date when the statute of limitations was set to expire, so that legal action can be initiated prior to the expiration date.
In some cases doctors may be held accountable for birth injuries even though medical negligence was not committed during the time of birth. This kind of negligence could be the result of a delay in diagnosing or treating a maternal condition or a mishap with forceps during delivery or a failed Caesarean section.
Other causes of a birth injury Claims lawyers could be the lack of oxygen to the brain during labor or a prolonged labor. A New Mexico birth-injury lawyer can review a case's facts to determine the possible accountable parties, including nurses, doctors or hospitals. The lawsuits are usually brought against the hospital in which the negligent healthcare professional was employed.
It is not uncommon for an individual defendant or their attorney to argue that there could be other causes for the injuries of a baby. This could be due to genetic issues or fetal development issues. A New Mexico birth injury attorney can help the family and the victim counter this argument by establishing that there was evidence of malpractice and that the medical professional's actions or inability to act directly caused the child's injuries.
A New Mexico birth injury lawyer near me injury at Miller Weisbrod Olesky can investigate the case and hire one or more medical experts to establish that a healthcare provider's decision or failure to act was not up to the standard of care in a similar situation and resulted in the child's injuries. A successful claim can recover compensation for damages, which could include past and future medical expenses, loss of income and pain and suffering and other damages.