When medical negligence causes your child’s birth injury, you have significant legal rights, and pursuing a claim can provide the financial resources crucial for your child’s lifelong care. The legal system allows for the recovery of various categories of damages designed to compensate your family for both the economic and non-economic impacts of the injury.
You may be eligible to recover compensation for:
- Past Medical Expenses: This includes all costs incurred from the moment of the injury through the present day. This encompasses emergency room care, initial surgeries, extensive Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) stays, diagnostic tests, medications, and any immediate therapies or treatments required.
- Future Medical Costs: This is often the most significant component of damages in birth injury cases. It covers the anticipated lifetime costs of your child’s ongoing medical care, therapies, and specialized equipment. This includes:
- Long-term physical, occupational, and speech therapies.
- Future surgeries and medical procedures.
- Consultations with various specialists (neurologists, orthopedists, etc.).
- Medications and adaptive medical equipment (e.g., wheelchairs, braces, feeding tubes).
- Costs associated with nursing care or personal aides.
- Non-Medical Needs and Life Care Costs: These damages address the broad spectrum of non-medical support your child will require to lead the fullest possible life. This can include:
- Special Education: Funding for specialized schools, private tutors, or supplemental educational services outside of what public schools can provide.
- Home Modifications: Costs to adapt your home to your child’s needs, such as installing ramps, widening doorways, or creating accessible bathrooms.
- Adaptive Vehicles: Expenses for specialized vans or cars equipped to transport your child and their medical equipment.
- Personal Aides and Respite Care: Compensation for caregivers who assist with daily living activities and for respite care to give family caregivers much-needed breaks.
- Assistive Technologies: Costs for communication devices, specialized computer equipment, or other technologies that enhance your child’s independence and quality of life.
- Pain & Suffering: This category compensates for the non-economic impacts of the injury. It addresses your child’s physical pain, discomfort, and emotional trauma. It also accounts for the emotional distress, anxiety, depression, and disruption to family life experienced by the parents and, in some cases, siblings.
- Lost Earning Capacity: This includes compensation for:
- Your child’s future lost earning capacity: If the injury prevents or significantly limits their ability to work and earn an income as an adult. This is often projected based on expert economic analysis.
- Lost parental income: If one or both parents had to reduce work hours or leave their jobs entirely to provide full-time care for the injured child.
Important Legal Considerations:
- State Laws Vary: It’s critical to understand that state laws vary significantly regarding medical malpractice claims. Some states impose caps on damages, limiting the amount of non-economic damages, such as pain and suffering, that can be recovered. Others may have specific rules regarding notice, affidavits, and expert witnesses.
- Statutes of Limitations: Every state has strict statutes of limitations, which are deadlines for filing a lawsuit. These deadlines can be complex in birth injury cases, sometimes tied to the child’s age or the date of injury discovery. Acting quickly is crucial, as failing to file within the statutory period can result in your claim being permanently barred.
- Preserving Evidence: The sooner you seek legal counsel, the better. Timely action helps preserve critical evidence, such as medical records, fetal monitoring strips, and witness testimony, which can degrade or become harder to obtain over time.
Understanding your legal rights and the potential for recovering damages is the first step toward securing the financial stability and quality of life your child deserves. Our firm is dedicated to navigating these complexities on your behalf and fighting tirelessly for maximum compensation.
