Settlements for Birth Injury Cases

If your child was harmed before, during or after labor as the result of medical malpractice, you may be concerned about recovering a settlement for birth injuries. You should call the experienced Syracuse birth injury lawyers of DeFrancisco & Falgiatano Personal Injury Attorneys. When birth injuries are the result of medical malpractice, it may be appropriate to seek damages from the health care providers whose professional negligence caused your child’s injuries. In most cases, heath care providers and hospitals will have seasoned counsel, adept at discovery and going to trial, and you should have that, too, in order to be taken seriously by opposing counsel and insurance adjustors, even if your case ultimately settles and does not go trial.

Not every injury a baby suffers counts as medical malpractice. Our seasoned trial lawyers must be able to demonstrate to the defendant, insurance adjustors, the jury, and judges with evidence and arguments that there was professional negligence in your case. To do this, we will need to prove: (1) you and the baby were owed a professional duty of care, (2) breach of the professional duty of care, (3) causation, and (4) actual damages.

One cause of birth injuries is traumatic delivery; in those cases, a doctor may have ignored fetal distress signs or failed to check for them. A mother or baby could suffer damage to organs and tissues because of the physical demands of going through the birth canal, or potentially getting stuck there.

When birth injuries involve serious harm, like brain damage due to insufficient oxygen before, during or after birth, a baby may need special medical attention and prolonged treatment. In fact, a child with these injuries may need treatment for his or her entire life. The costs could be substantial.

It is very challenging to settle a medical malpractice case, which is why it is crucial to retain a seasoned lawyer to negotiate on your behalf. While in some states, tort reform spearheaded by insurance companies has resulted in capped damages, New York has no cap on medical malpractice damages. Damages can be compensatory and are sometimes punitive. However, pursuing those damage can be complicated and entail significant hurdles, such as meeting procedural prerequisites and securing expert testimony that is factually supported, and both credible and persuasive.

In some cases, the defendant and adjustor work hard to figure out some way to blame a baby’s parents for the birth injury, or otherwise poke holes in their case. Damages may be reduced when there is comparative fault by the parents in connection with seeking care. For that reason, it is crucial to retain a lawyer who is unafraid to go to trial. In some cases, a strong reputation for being able to perform at trial and secure verdicts does create pressure for the defendant and insurer to settle case rather than undergo the considerable expenses of trial.

While there are cases involving minor injuries that can be settled informally through an insurer, many cases must go through alternative dispute resolution (ADR) such as nonbinding arbitration or mediation. In ADR, a neutral person hears arguments and evidence from each side. With arbitration, the third party neutral known as an arbitrator decides the outcome. Often arbitration is less formal than a trial and rules of evidence may be relaxed. Mediation involves parties who agree to go before a neutral known as a mediator, who helps the parties understand the relative strengths and weaknesses or their case, in an effort to arrive at settlement.

When a fair settlement is not offered and accepted, it may be appropriate to go to trial. Birth injury lawsuits may settle on the courthouse steps, but they may also be protracted and involve significant expert testimony.

If your baby was injured as the result of a health care provider’s professional negligence, call our seasoned Syracuse medical malpractice attorneys. DeFrancisco & Falgiatano Personal Injury Attorneys possesses more than 30 years of experience securing the best settlements and awards for injured children and their families in Watertown, Herkimer, Oswego, Lyons, Ithaca, Canandaigua, Lowville, Auburn, Buffalo, Oneida, Utica, Rochester, Albany, Wampsville, Cooperstown, Elmira, Binghamton, and all of Upstate New York. For a free consultation, complete our online form or call us at 833-200-2000.