Child Birth Injury Lawyer

Overview

Child birth injuries

A child birth emergency is never planned but occurs more often than you may think. Obstetrical incidents or urgent situations are life-threatening medical conditions that occur in pregnancy during or shortly after labour and delivery.

The truth is that medical negligence happens frequently, especially in cases of a birthing injury. Many of the incidents are the result of human error. Let’s take a look at some of the basics when it comes to filing a child birth claim, including finding the best lawyer for the job and how much you could win in financial compensation.

What is a child birth injury claim?

A child birth injury claim is a form of medical negligence. Medical negligence is when a medical professional causes harm due to their lack of proper patient care, whether that be a new personal injury or a preexisting condition made worse.

When a doctor, surgeon, nurse or other healthcare professional fails in their duty of care to their patients, we call that medical negligence. There is a standard for all health care professionals, and in the case of childbirth, there are many opportunities for medical negligence.

An individual can file a claim for birth injuries, if, during the child’s birth process, a careless accident was made by the medical practitioner that resulted in an injury. But, we can break that down even more. In cases where there is potential for child birth injury claim, medical gynaecologists or obstetric specialists acted in a manner that was careless, out of line with the medical peer group or neglectful causing damages to either or both the mother of the newly born child or the newborn.

Examples of childbirth injuries

There are a few childbirth injuries that are more common than others. The most typical reasons for gynaecologists and obstetrics negligence hospital claims can be broken down as:

Neurological impairment: 30%
Stillbirth: 14%
Delay in diagnosis or failure to diagnose: 11%

Many child birth injuries and accidents occur because the primary doctor is not able to be present at the time that something is going wrong. This means that the obstetricians and gynaecologists are the ones who would be directly involved in the filed case.

Here are some examples of what kinds of childbirth injuries can occur:

Ectopic Pregnancy
Placental Abruption
Placenta Previa
Cerebral Palsy
Preeclampsia/Eclampsia
Birth defect
Traumatic brain injury
Premature Rupture Of Membranes (PROM)
Amniotic Fluid Embolism
Inversion or Rupture of Uterus
Placenta Accreta
Prolapsed Umbilical Cord
Shoulder Dystocia
Brain Injury & Brain Defects
Postpartum Haemorrhage or Infection

Process

Do I have a valid child birth injury claim for compensation?

There are several requirements that a birth injury case must meet in order for the victim to be rightfully compensated. First, you must show that you or the baby have suffered harm. Next, you must prove that a medical professional failed in their duty of care to you. If you can prove that you or the child have sustained injuries as a result of poor care, you could be entitled to birth injury compensation. The amount changes depending on many external factors that can be determined by the right lawyer who knows personal injury law.

It is important to consult a professional when it comes to legal matters. It’s highly recommended that anyone who believes they have been the victim of medical negligence or medical malpractice to get expert legal advice, including ones that cover wrongful death. We can provide medical negligence lawyers who offer free consultations to help assess your potential claim.

Timelines to keep in mind

As with most medical negligence claims, childbirth injury claims depend on several factors. It helps to have a lawyer on your team with the knowledge and experience to guide you through the process. Knowing how complex the injuries and circumstances of the injury are will help determine the length the case may take to solve.

Most medical negligence lawyers will advise you that an average child birth injury claim could take between 12 and 24 months to resolve. However, this is not always the case, there are situations that complete in up to 36 months or much quicker than cases that are mediated. A mediated case is one where both parties use a neutral third party to come to an agreement without the case going to trial.

Gerard Malouf & Partners

How we manage child birth injury

At Gerard Malouf & Partners law offices, we understand that not every case is the same and that, as a victim, you need guidance through this time. We have the expertise necessary to make the right calls and do our best to get you what you deserve. That is why we meet with every client individually to determine whether you are eligible to make a claim and record a statement about what happened.

The next part of our process is to create an accurate and helpful brief to send to the relevant medical expert, who will understand the medical ramifications of your particular case. Part of this will require your full medical history to provide all the context and details of the circumstances to prepare an accurate chronology of the event that led to the injury or worsening of your condition.

Based on the feedback from the brief and the medical experts, our professionals will have another consultation to fill in any gaps within this chronology and revisit your original statement. From there, we will manage your case through the rest of the birth injury lawsuit process.

What compensation can I expect?

The variety of financial compensation can change depending on similar factors that will impact the time the case takes to resolve. Damages are never the same and rely on several different things including each individual’s circumstances. However, we take a look at components that will help determine the potential compensation amounts given to the victim.

Here are some examples of circumstances that can affect the level of compensation:

Medical costs of treating the injury.
Medical record.
Resulting in medical costs that the mother or child sustained.
Other ongoing medical costs.
Pain and loss damages.
Loss of earnings or superannuation.

Find the right child birth injury lawyer

Having a great lawyer on your team can make all the difference in the outcome of your case and it is important to find one that specialized in birth injury law. Our experts understand that some of the jargon or requirements are confusing and are the last thing that you want to deal with right now. That is why we can take care of everything for you, while you recover from the traumatic event. You deserve justice and Gerard Malouf & Partners has a proven track record of success with cases like yous with a qualified birth injury attorney.

Your claim is our priority

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Frequently Asked QuEstions

What you need to know about child birth injury claims

While our experts are here to answer all your questions, here are some of the most commonly asked questions concerning child birth injury claims:

Who pays for the compensation?

Medical professionals take our insurance to cover themselves against the risk of legal action.

Can you claim for diseased family members?

YES, learn how here.

How is medical negligence proven?

The process can be long, but the start can be found at an RCA (root cause analysis) which must be undertaken and can be discovered by obtaining copies of the medical notes at the institution where the unfortunate outcome occurred.

“Thank you so much for my claim, it has helped me, my Husband and Daughter through a very rough time and your services run smoothly and very professional. I was very impressed.” 

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Our Promise To You

Our Difficult Case Policy

At Gerard Malouf & Partners, it’s our professional obligation to strive for maximum justice and achievable compensation.

Our difficult case policy ensures that our senior lawyers and experienced management team oversee notably challenging cases. This makes sure that we achieve the best results for our clients seeking accident injury compensation.

We maintain integrity by not accepting a case if we believe it is unlikely to result in compensation, or if the costs to our client outweigh the benefits.

This is our core philosophy and what differentiates us from other law firms.

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