Most expectant parents have hopes and dreams for their newborn child. They want them to reach their full potential and to be physically and emotionally healthy. Unfortunately, when a birth injury occurs, these hopes and dreams are often replaced by worries and fears about what the future may hold for your child, your family, and yourself.
Having a child with a birth injury can be extremely stressful on even the best and most well-prepared parents, but filing a civil suit with a personal injury attorney’s help could bring you some relief. If your child suffered a preventable injury at birth as a result of a doctor’s negligence or carelessness, a Bolingbrook birth injury lawyer could help you take stock of your damages and seek compensation for your losses. Call today to schedule a consultation with a seasoned medical malpractice attorney.
Proving Liability for a Birth Injury in Bolingbrook
According to the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP), almost 157,700 potentially avoidable injuries to mothers and newborns occurred during childbirth in 2006. In the context of civil lawsuits, birth injury cases usually fall under the purview of medical malpractice laws.
In order to prove that a doctor or another health professional is liable for a birth injury, several elements must be proven by the plaintiff or the personal injury attorney. These include that a valid doctor-patient relationship existed, the doctor’s treatment involved negligence, and the negligence directly caused harm to the plaintiff and/or their child.
Doctor-Patient Relationship
When a doctor examines and treats a patient, a doctor-patient relationship is established. This fact is usually fairly simple to prove in court. Whether the doctor who caused the birth injury is the obstetrician that the mother saw during her entire pregnancy or an on-call doctor she had not previously seen, this relationship still exists.
Negligence by a Healthcare Provider
To prove negligence in a birth injury case, it must be shown that the doctor did not provide the same standard of care during treatment that another doctor of similar training and experience would have provided in the same situation.
Proximate Cause of Harm
Proximate cause refers to whether the plaintiff suffered harm as a direct result of the doctor’s negligence. In some birth injury cases, this is easy to show, but in others, it may be more complicated. A skilled Bolingbrook birth injury lawyer could work to connect the dots for a jury regarding how the negligence of a delivery doctor caused harm to their patient.
No Caps on Birth Injury Cases
Prior to 2010, the state of Illinois capped the award amounts that plaintiffs in medical malpractice cases could receive. While many other states still allow such caps, the Illinois Supreme Court disallowed these caps in 2010. Therefore, there is no maximum limit to how much a birth injury plaintiff in Bolingbrook may receive by filing a lawsuit. An accomplished Bolingbrook birth injury lawyer could help a plaintiff seek the compensation that they deserve.
Speak with a Bolingbrook Birth Injury Attorney
By taking your needs and emotions seriously, a qualified and compassionate Bolingbrook birth injury lawyer could provide you with hope if you have a child with a birth injury. Experienced attorneys know how a birth injury can significantly impact the entire family, so they could seek to hold the doctor, hospital, and any other liable parties accountable for their actions that lead to such a life-changing injury. Call today to schedule a consultation and see what kinds of compensation you may be eligible to receive.