If your family has recently been affected by a birth injury, you may have many questions. Our New York birth injury lawyers help families like yours find answers, and in cases of medical negligence, file birth injury malpractice lawsuits.
- Lawyers who focus on New York birth injury cases.
- Over forty years of combined courtroom experience.
- We’ve helped families recover millions.
We can help you understand your legal options after a birth injury in a free consultation.
After a preventable birth injury, it’s important for the child’s parents to seek legal advice. In many cases, this is the only way to recover financial compensation. Our lawyers can help build your case.
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Childbirth is a delicate medical procedure. We trust in medical professionals to safely guide us through all of the stages of pregnancy, from neonatal care to delivery. While most medical professionals are highly trained and consistently do their jobs well, sometimes medical errors during pregnancy, labor, or delivery cause serious birth injuries.
Each year, thousands of American families are affected by birth injuries. About 7 in every 1,000 births involves an injury to the child, which means that roughly 1660 birth injuries occurred in New York in 2015. In cases where the injury only happened because of medical negligence, it’s important for the family of the child to hold their healthcare provider accountable.
How Do Preventable Birth Injuries Happen?
Nurses, doctors, obstetricians, and other healthcare providers undergo years of training in the proper methods for handling childbirth. These healthcare providers all owe a duty to their patients to follow these methods and ensure that pregnancy, labor, and delivery are handled as safely as possible.
Unfortunately, sometimes a medical professional fails to follow their field’s accepted standard of care, resulting in a medical error that causes a birth injury.
Forms Of Birth-Related Medical Negligence
All medical malpractice claims are built on proving medical negligence. Some examples of medical negligence we commonly see in birth injury cases include:
- Delayed deliveries, resulting in complications that cause an injury
- Performing a vaginal birth when a c-section would be safer
- Mistakes using forceps or vacuum extractors
- Failure to diagnose and respond to maternal health conditions, like high blood pressure
- Failure to identify signs of fetal distress
You may suspect that your child’s injury could have been prevented, but you will need to have the details of your case investigated by a qualified medical expert before you can determine if medical negligence is to blame.
Common Birth Injuries In Malpractice Cases
When medical professionals make mistakes before, during, or shortly after childbirth, infants can suffer serious injuries that may affect them for the rest of their lives. Some of the most serious preventable birth injuries include:
- Cerebral palsy
- Erb’s palsy and other brachial plexus injuries
- Traumatic brain damage
- Hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE)
- Learning disabilities
Caring for a child with a birth injury requires extensive support systems, including frequent medical care, adaptive devices, personal caretakers, and many other expenses.
When an injury could have been prevented by more careful medical practice, it’s important for the child’s family to seek compensation for the support their child needs.
What Are New York’s Medical Malpractice Laws?
If you’re considering a birth injury malpractice lawsuit, you may be curious how New York’s medical malpractice laws may apply to your case. It can be good to have a basic understanding of these laws, but you’ll need to have your case reviewed by an experienced New York birth injury lawyer in order to fully understand how they apply to your family’s situation.
What Is The Statute Of Limitations In New York?
The statute of limitations is a state-level law that sets a time limit for filing a medical malpractice lawsuit. Determining when this date begins and ends can be complicated, especially in birth injury cases.
It’s extremely important to make sure you file your claim within this deadline, as a failure to do so will prevent you from taking legal action in the future. This is why you should speak with an experienced birth injury malpractice lawyer as soon as possible following your child’s injury.
Are Malpractice Damages Capped In New York?
Unlike many other states, New York does not have any limit on the amount of financial compensation you can recover in a medical malpractice lawsuit.
Certificate Of Merit
New York is one of several states that requires the plaintiff’s lawyer in a medical malpractice lawsuit to file a document called a certificate of merit alongside the lawsuit. This document must state that the lawyer has reviewed the details of the case and spoken with at least one qualified physician, and that based on that consultation, has determined that there is a reasonable basis for a medical malpractice lawsuit.
How Can A Lawyer Help Our Family?
If you believe your child’s birth injury may have been caused by medical negligence, it’s important to seek guidance from a respected and experienced New York birth injury lawyer. Our lawyer have experience building countless birth injury malpractice cases. We understand how to compile evidence, how to work with medical experts, and how to secure settlements and court victories for the families we represent.
To find out more about how you can recover the financial compensation your child needs, contact us today for a free consultation.