Birth injuries are never an easy experience, especially when those injuries result from preventable acts of negligence committed by the medical professionals in whom you placed your trust during such an important time. While families are tasked with rebuilding their lives and finding ways to manage life-altering repercussions, it is also important to understand they have legal rights when birth injuries are preventable – rights that can not only provide them with a sense of justice, but also the compensation and resources they need to navigate their futures.
At Shrager, Sachs, & Blanco, our Philadelphia birth injury lawyers are passionate about serving as the advocates and support system families need during difficult times. Backed by decades of combined experience and a reputation for handling challenging medical malpractice cases, we understand the vital role we play in guiding birth injury victims through their personal and legal journeys, and why it becomes so critical for families to assert their rights as a means to seek the justice and compensation to which they are entitled.
Because birth injury cases entail complex medical and legal concepts, and because standards established by law can make it difficult for victims to fully understand their rights, we wanted to provide the information needed to help you understand when it is time to speak with a birth injury lawyer about a potential case.
- You believe your birth injury was preventable – While injuries during the course of pregnancy, labor, and delivery are difficult to deal with, it is important to understand not all birth injuries or complications are preventable. Some issues, for example, may result from congenital birth defects and genetic mutations. Although birth injuries are often preventable, they may not always be avoided, especially if doctors and medical professionals took appropriate steps in attempting to address them. If you believe a birth injury could and should have been prevented, contacting an attorney with experience in this area of law can help you better understand whether it could have been avoided per standards established by law.
- You know, or suspect, medical negligence played a role – Civil lawsuits involving birth injuries require several elements to be established – one of the most important of which involves medical negligence. As defined by law, medical negligence occurs when a health care provider delivers substandard care, makes a mistake, or otherwise acts in a way that no other reasonably skillful medical professional would be expected to act under the same or similar circumstances. Because medical negligence can take many forms – including negligent prenatal care involving failures to perform appropriate tests or identify complications, failures to monitor fetal distress, and failures to perform a C-section when established medical standards would require one, among others – you should bring any suspicions to the attention of an attorney who can help you explore whether negligence played a role in your case.
- Your case involves injuries and actual damages – In order for a birth injury claim to have merit, and for victims to recover financial compensation, there must have been injuries and actual damages. These damages can include a range of economic and non-economic losses resulting directly from negligence and preventable injuries. In many birth injury cases, families experience not only considerable financial burdens, including extensive medical expenditures and future medical needs, but also tremendous emotional injuries. These damages can be recovered when victims pursue claims or lawsuits.
- You want to prevent other tragedies – If you have reason to believe birth injuries in your case were the result of preventable negligence and substandard medical care, exercising your rights through a birth injury lawsuit is important to helping you recover the compensation you need. Additionally, by working with an attorney who can put you the best possible position for an effective claim, having legal representation can seek to ensure that negligent parties are held accountable and appropriate changes are made to prevent health care providers from causing further harm. Your case can be just important to your future as it can for others.
- You understand you need help – There is no legal requirement for you to have legal representation when initiating the birth injury claim process, or even pursuing a civil lawsuit. However, without representation, you put yourself in a vulnerable position – one in which powerful health care providers and insurance companies that prioritize profits over people may exploit in an effort to pay you less than you deserve. By working with proven lawyers, you not gain the resources to navigate the complex medical and legal information inherent to birth injury cases, but also the advocacy to level the playing field with defendants who want to skirt liability. Birth injury attorneys like those at our firm have spent decades refining their skills in this difficult area of law, and have dedicated their professional careers to helping people navigate a complex process during a profoundly difficult time.
Contacting a birth injury attorney is one of the wisest and most important steps you can take following a suspected birth injury – and choosing the right attorney to call can make all the difference. If you have questions about a potential case, our award-winning lawyers at Shrager, Sachs, & Blanco are available to speak personally with you about your rights and whether you have grounds to pursue a case. Contact us for a FREE consultation.
