When a child is born it is supposed to be a happy occasion. The joy can quickly fade to anxiety, though, if complications result in the child being born with a birth defect or injury. Suddenly, the prospect of having to provide for a lifetime of care can loom.
Desperation might lead the family of an injured newborn to want to find someone, anyone, to blame and hold accountable through filing a lawsuit. While such feelings are understandable, not every case of birth injury is necessarily actionable. To know if you have a viable case, you need to consult with an experienced attorney.
To start with, there needs to be some reasonable suspicion that a doctor, nurse or other professional involved in your care during the birth failed to follow the accepted standards of care called for by the circumstances of your case.
While child birth is a common occurrence, every delivery is unique. And so it is that a review of the specific facts of any case of suspected malpractice needs to be conducted by qualified, independent medical professionals. They can check if a record exists that the mother was prescribed and took drugs that could cause harm to the fetus, or whether caregivers failed to identify and treat specific conditions during the pregnancy.
If the facts of a case support allegations of negligence, it then is necessary to prove that the negligence caused the resulting defect or injury. If that can’t be done to a jury’s satisfaction, a lawsuit might be fruitless.
To be confident in making any decision about whether to pursue a legal claim, speak with an attorney.
