A birth injury is any injury that was caused during the birth of a child that resulted in injury or death, and in the context of medical malpractice (not including at-home births performed by non-medical persons). To be held liable, a medical professional must deviate from a standard medical procedure. The only way to determine for sure that a child suffered from a birth injury is for a medical professional to tell the child’s parents child that negligence occurred in the hands of the obstetrician. Medical malpractice cases solely rely on expert physicians to testify there was a deviation from the standard of care in the birth of that child.
If you suspect a birth injury has occurred, it is best to retain the services of an experienced medical malpractice attorney. A skilled lawyer could investigate the incident, collect evidence, and speak to medical professionals to prove medical malpractice has occurred. Speak to a seasoned Pascagoula Birth Injury Lawyer to learn about what may be possible in your case.
Negligence is an element of medical malpractice and is generically defined as what a reasonable physician or medical provider would do under similar circumstances, but that is only part of the recovery medical malpractice case. The second part of a medical malpractice case is whether there was a deviation from the standard of care for that particular diagnosis, procedure, or operation.
Just because a physician was negligent does not mean that there will necessarily be a recovery. Medical malpractice and birth injury cases requires expert testimony. While certain types of automobile or negligence cases may not require expert testimony, medical negligence or medical malpractice always require expert testimony by a physician who can testify that the treating physician deviated from the standard of care. As one can imagine, physicians do not always want to testify against another physician.
Getting an expert involved right away is crucial to discover what occurred at the time of the birth and how the physician may have been negligent in the delivery.
Birth-injury cases have the same statute of limitations as any other medical-malpractice cases, which are two years for general medical providers and one year for state, county, and municipality medical providers. The complexity of birth injury is that they may not be discovered immediately or even soon after the injury occurred. An exception to the rule allows for the statute of limitations to be on hold until such time that the parents or the injured person discovers that there was an error or that they were misdiagnosed in some way.
It is best to speak to a skilled Pascagoula birth injury attorney to discuss an individual case as well as any exceptions to the statute of limitations.
If you believe your child has sustained an injury due to the negligence of a medical professional, let a diligent lawyer help. Following a birth injury, it is best to seek help from an experienced attorney as soon as possible, especially since there are strict deadlines to file a claim. Often, especially in cases involving newborns, a birth defect or birth injury may not be readily apparent right after the child is born, so speaking to a lawyer immediately is extremely important. Schedule a consultation with a Pascagoula birth injury lawyer today to discuss your case.