Expectant parents feel a mix of excitement and anxiety as they prepare for the arrival of their little one. Even as you worry about the birth itself, you never expect a traumatic experience.
Many people consider Georgia their second home, but like many states in the U.S., it also experiences its fair share of negligently induced personal injury accidents and birth injuries. When bringing a birth injury case, it’s crucial to understand all applicable local, state, and federal laws, statutes, and rules.
If you live in Augusta, GA, and you or your baby leave the hospital with birth injuries, contact a professional at an Augusta birth injury law firm. Lawyers with experience with this type of case can help you understand what birth injuries deserve compensation, and they can help you prove your right to compensation.
1. Determine Birth Injuries
One in three women has a traumatic birth experience, including pregnancy complications or delivery trauma. Birth injuries include damage to the mother or the baby during pregnancy, labor, and beyond.
Some common birth injuries include:
- Cerebral Palsy
- Erb’s Palsy
- Facial Paralysis
- Fractures
- Spinal Cord Injuries
- Traumatic Brain Injury
One in every 33 births results in congenital disabilities, often caused by preventable issues like suffocation, seizures, fetal distress, or excessive bleeding.
2. Prove Negligence
Even slight negligence of a doctor, obstetrician, hospital, or midwife can cause excessive harm to the mother or baby.
Birth injuries can relate to some of the following issues:
- Delaying a Cesarean section
- Failure to monitor heartbeats
- Improper forceps usage
- Lack of proper prenatal testing
- Oxygen deprivation
- Umbilical cord complications
Since medical professionals should protect their patients from harm, your lawyer will use that angle to prove negligence. If the doctor doesn’t act in a way that prioritizes you and your baby, they’re not doing their duty.
Because of this negligence, the medical professional caused injuries. In addition to physical injuries, you can claim non-economic damages such as loss of quality of life and emotional distress.
3. Obtain Medical Records
A birth injury lawyer will check your medical records to see if the doctor made notes about any issues that impacted you or your baby during pregnancy or labor. A lack of notes regarding a known issue or ignoring these notes during labor is a slam dunk for these types of cases.
Your medical history can also show if it was clear that you’d most likely experience birth trauma due to previously-known issues. These records help prove the action or lack of action on behalf of the doctors.
4. Provide Expert Testimony
If the case goes to trial, providing expert testimony from other medical professionals can help prove the negligence of those involved in your experience.
Other experts can explain how they would have acted during your birth to prevent the trauma, proving that your doctors didn’t deliver a reasonable standard of care.
This type of testimony goes a long way to show the stark contrast between what actions were appropriate and what actually happened when you were in labor. It will show that the doctors were not delivering professional care and might harm others in the future.
5. Calculate Damages
The cost of a birth injury varies depending on the damages and the lasting impact of the trauma. Hospitals often face malpractice lawsuits, so they try to minimize how much they pay victims.
However, you should have your medical bills covered, along with financial support for ongoing appointments or assistive devices. A lawyer fights to get the compensation you deserve.
Final Thoughts
An attorney can help in a birth injury case because they do all the necessary work while you heal and adapt to your new life. They work behind the scenes to review your medical records, assess the birth injuries, and prove negligence on behalf of the hospital, doctor, or midwife.
Furthermore, they will find experts who can testify in court to prove the extent of your suffering to the jury.
A birth injury lawyer will communicate with all parties involved, including medical professionals and insurance companies, to ensure you get the compensation you deserve. Meanwhile, you can take this time to recover from the trauma and regain your mental and physical health.