A birth injury lawyer may be able to help you if you believe that your child suffered a brain injury due to negligent care at birth. There are cases where a birth injury lawsuit is filed because of the prenatal care a parent was given, as well. For example, a Connecticut couple was recently awarded in excess of $50 million because of the fact that the doctors waited too long to deliver their child by C-section and he suffered a brain injury as a result. To understand how these lawsuits work, you have to understand what birth injuries are.
Some Cerebral Palsy Facts
Cerebral palsy is a condition that primarily affects motor skills. The condition results from form a brain injury that stems from hypoxia, a lack of oxygen in the bloodstream. There are many ways that this can happen. The child may have some accident in the womb that results in the condition or the child may be injured by negligent practices during the birthing process. The child may also be injured as a result of natural causes and, in these cases, there is really no reason to file a legal action.
Cerebral palsy lasts forever. The condition, because it stems from a brain injury, does not heal. It is not degenerative, however. It can also encompass a range of severities. Some people with Cerebral Palsy are completely dependent upon receiving care from others and other individuals with Cerebral Palsy are accomplished students, artists, and professionals. It just depends on how much the individual is affected by the injury.
Lawyers and Birth Injuries
Specific medical criteria need to be satisfied to establish for certain the cause of a birth injury. After this is done, if negligence was an issue, a lawyer may help you pursue a lawsuit. The lawyer will have to determine how much you might seek in damages. Damages can include the cost of medical treatments, the cost of pain and suffering, and the cost of future treatments. Some states have damage caps on these lawsuits to protect insurance companies. Other states do not. There are also limitations on how long you have to sue in some states, so you’ll want to consider this when determining how much to pursue. No attorney can guarantee that your case will win in court, but they can let you know whether or not it’s worth pursuing.