A woman in St. Paul was awarded $15 million due to her child being born with cerebral palsy. According to several reports on the lawsuit, the physician and the hospital were both held to have been responsible, with 90 percent of the blame being assigned to the physician by the jury.
The claim maintained that the child should have been born by C-section. The mother had come to the hospital with signs that she was in trouble. The doctor didn’t show up until the morning after she arrived and the C-section was never performed.
Delays in giving mothers necessary C-sections have been found to have resulted in cerebral palsy injuries in the past. They have sometimes paid out millions to the families and the children, which can be put toward better medical care and other support for the child.
Lawyers have to establish that the physician was negligent in performing their duties, and that this negligence rose to the level of medical malpractice. There are several tools they have to accomplish this.
Investigation
Any child being born with Cerebral Palsy triggers an investigation into what caused the injury. This sometimes establishes that there was negligence involved. In the above case, for example, the fact that the mother showed up apparently needed a C-section and that it was never delivered would be a red flag for any attorney. Why wasn’t it delivered? If it had been, would the child have suffered the brain injury? These are the types of questions that the medical investigation may answer.
Attorneys who handle Cerebral Palsy claims also have access to experts. There are plenty of resources that they can bring to help shore up their client’s cases. Because of that, the attorneys who are skilled at representing such clients can be very successful winning jury awards and settlements. The ability of the attorney to get to the bottom of what actually happened is a huge factor in winning these claims and they do have the resources to find out what they need to know.
Limitations
There are limitations on how long you have to sue, and while these cases can last for several years, it is always in your best interests to get your case started as quickly as possible. The child in the case detailed above is now 5 years old, which shows that cerebral palsy lawsuits are often heavily contested by hospitals and their insurance companies.