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The last thing any parent wants is their child injured. But when your baby was injured as the result of the negligence of a healthcare professional, you may be concerned about their future. A Washington, DC birth injury lawyer from Regan Zambri Long PLLC can help you get the compensation needed to help your baby’s future.
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In legal terms, a birth injury occurs when a mistake or a delay in medical care is made by a healthcare professional. These types of injuries can occur to a child at any stage of your pregnancy, during child labor and baby delivery, or just after child birth.
Birth injuries typically cause the most devastating, long-term results to the unborn or newborn baby. The mother can also be severely injured due to the medical professional’s reckless behavior. Some of the most common birth injuries that spur legal action include but are not limited to:
While some of the injuries cannot be prevented, many tragically happen due to medical malpractice.
No one likes to see their child suffer, especially when the injury could have been prevented. But how do you know the injury was a result of negligence or simply a mistake?
In order to prove that the injury was the result of medical malpractice, our Washington, DC birth injury attorneys will need to show the following:
Medical professionals must have the skills and knowledge to handle your needs. They must provide the same level of care they give to all patients. If the healthcare provider neglects their duties, they are in violation.
For example, a woman pregnant with her first child says that her baby has not been moving much. Instead of checking on the baby to make sure everything is ok, the medical professional tells the mother-to-be that she doesn’t know what she’s talking about since it’s her first child.
Using the example above, when the mother gives birth, the baby is stillborn. It is later determined that if the doctor had checked the mother when she had mentioned the lack of movement, the child’s life could have been saved.
Because the medical professional neglected their duties or acted in a reckless manner, the violation caused harm or injury to the patient. To learn if the violation created the injury, your birth injury attorney will need to do a thorough examination of all the medical records and speak with medical experts.
Finally, your personal injury lawyer will need to show that the injury resulted in damages to the victims. Damages usually include medical expenses, lost wages, mental anguish, and pain and suffering. In the above case, the family not only is suffering the emotional trauma of losing a child, but they have mounting medical bills and funeral costs.
No family should suffer because of the negligent behavior of a medical professional or healthcare facility. If your child suffered an injury, schedule a free consultation with our medical malpractice attorney law firm today.
There are many reasons a child may be born with birth injuries, both naturally and due to malpractice. If you believe your child’s injuries are due to negligence on behalf of your medical practitioner, then you should review your case with a birth injury attorney. To help you and your lawyer prove your case, you will need:
Every medical malpractice case is different. Proving your child’s birth injury was the fault of your medical team can be a long, exhausting process. An experienced lawyer or attorney will do the work for you by utilizing strategies, medical professionals, and other resources to fight your case.
Birth injuries are not only devastating to the family but these injuries can also be costly. Not only will you need to pay any medical expenses involved in the birth of your baby, but you could face law expenses and additional expenses aside from law fees.
With a successful birth injury law claim, you could receive the following compensation for injuries by law:
In some rare cases, punitive damages may be awarded for your law claim. This type of compensation is meant to punish the behavior of the medical professionals responsible for the injury or injuries by law.
Our Washington, DC medical malpractice lawyer has investigated and pursued birth injury lawsuits successfully for decades and has achieved outstanding results for families and their injured children. We have the attorney resources necessary to successfully handle these complex medical and legal cases.
The birth injury law attorneys at Regan Zambri Long have an excellent DC medical malpractice team that includes a Washington, DC registered nurse along with personal injury lawyers who teach other attorneys and medical professionals about baby birth injury prevention. We regularly consult with the country’s leading medical experts to not only prepare our attorneys clients’ cases but also help our clients prepare for the future medical needs of their children.
We recognize that families who have children with developmental and physical disabilities face extraordinary and unique challenges every day. Our Washington, DC birth injury lawyers are experienced in assisting families with formulating care plans for their children. We provide useful law information and resources, professional services in the DC metro community.
One example of a recent case involved a birth injury at a local hospital where the child suffered severe brain damage and cerebral palsy because of the careless acts of the doctors and nurses. The $4.1 million settlement allowed the family to care for their child at home with a special bed and various visiting health care providers. This was critical for this family since they had many other children and both parents worked round the clock to meet the family’s needs before this tragic outcome or injuries. The case resulted in the hospital changing safety rules regarding lab reporting and requiring the doctors taking care of premature babies to have more training.
When you determine your child has experienced an injury at birth, it is a traumatizing experience for the whole family. Sadly, it’s also one that takes a lot of time and resources to resolve. An experienced medical malpractice lawyer at Regan Zambri Long will help you navigate the process from start to finish, and ensure you get the justice you deserve.
The consequences of birth injuries are life-changing for parents and children alike. For the injured child, the result of a birth injury is potential physical suffering and developmental delays. Years of therapy, treatments, medications and even surgeries can follow. Therapies and treatments take the child away from school, playtime, time with family and friends, and time to enjoy childhood. Not only will the child have to cope with the physical impairments due to the birth injury, but also the emotional distress of having to continue living with the injury for the rest of his or her life.
Likewise, the parents will have to address the financial component of immediate medical care for their newborn, but also for ongoing care as the child grows. Depending on the severity of the injury, the child may need care 24/7, which could result in one or both parents not being able to return to work. In that case, the parents will not only have to deal with financial burdens due to the injury but will have to deal with future lost wages, as well.
Some common errors involve:
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the infant mortality rate in the United States in 2020 was 5.4 deaths per 1,000 live births. Birth injury or complications during pregnancy were among the five leading causes of infant death in the U.S.
A birth defect refers to an illness or a health condition that forms while the child is in the womb. Some examples of birth defects include Down syndrome, spina bifida, and some types of heart problems.
A birth injury usually occurs when the mother is in labor or is delivering the child.
The first thing you need to do is find an experienced birth injury lawyer. Your DC birth injury lawyers will follow these general steps to prove your case:
There are several factors that need to be considered when determining who is at fault in a birth injury lawsuit. Your lawyer will first investigate the doctor who delivered the baby. Did the doctor act negligently during delivery, or did the complications arise that were completely out of the doctor’s control? Other medical staff will also be considered, including nurses, midwives, and physician’s assistants.
Next, your birth injury attorneys will also need to determine if the OB-GYN ordered the appropriate tests during pregnancy, monitored the baby and mother correctly, and consulted with specialists to ensure the delivery would be safe for both the mother and the child. If they failed to do so, the liability would be on them.
Finally, your attorney will also investigate the instruments used during delivery – were they defective? Were they used improperly? If the hospital failed to provide safe equipment, then a birth injury lawsuit could be made against the hospital or manufacturer of the equipment. The experienced attorneys at Regan Zambri Long will work with medical staff and consultants to determine who is at fault in your case in order to secure the maximum compensation owed to you.
How Long Will My Birth Injury Case Take?
No one can estimate this without knowing the intricacies of your case and the injuries. No two birth injury cases are the same the outcomes or the injuries. The timeline of a medical malpractice case in Washington, DC depends on the statute of limitations, how well documented medical care was, plus a host of other variables including the injuries. At the end of the day, it could take years from start to finish for your case to be resolved. A personal injury lawyer at Regan Zambri Long will be with you every step of the way, guiding you through the process.
Is There a Time Limit to File a Medical Negligence Case?
Yes, but it depends on who is filing the claim and where the incident occurred in the DC metro area.
If you are the parent, you can file a medical malpractice claim on behalf of your child. The time limits for filing a claim are as follows:
However, if the child wishes to file a claim, the time limit differs. In Washington, DC, and Maryland, the minor has up to three years after their 18th birthday to file a lawsuit for injuries. In Virginia, the child has until they are 10 years old.
All types of birth injury cases can be incredibly complicated to prove. Many birth injuries can happen naturally, without any negligence, so you have to prove it was specifically caused by the actions of your medical team or facility. To prove this, it is critical that you are working with an experienced attorney. What you should look for:
The medical negligence attorneys at Regan Zambri Long PLLC understand the pain you and your family are going through. Once you hire our law firm, we will aggressively go after the medical professionals who are responsible for your child’s birth injury. We will do a thorough investigation and speak with experts to understand what may have happened. We will negotiate with the parties’ insurance companies and, if necessary, represent you in a court of law.
We work on a contingency basis. What this means is you do not owe us a fee until your case is settled or there is a verdict in your cases favor for injuries. We will then take a small percentage from the case settlement to cover our firms costs. If we are not successful, you do not owe us a fee.
If your child was injured during birth as a result of medical negligence, our DC lawyers are ready to help. Contact Regan Zambri Long personal injury lawyers today to schedule a consultation today.
