If you believe your child suffered a birth injury due to the negligence of a healthcare provider in Scranton, you may be able to file a lawsuit and get compensated for the various costs involved. This article explores why you should hire a birth injury lawyer in Scranton.
Why hire a lawyer who specializes in birth injury cases?
If your child needed braces to correct an overbite, you wouldn’t take them to a dentist. You would take them to an orthodontist. You would take them to the professional who has the specific training necessary to solve the problem you bring to them.
It’s the same thing with attorneys. You shouldn’t take your birth injury case to a general practice attorney or even a general medical malpractice attorney. Neither of those types of lawyers has the specific experience and training necessary to handle a birth injury case.
Birth injury cases can be complicated. They often require people with specialized knowledge in navigating the many moving parts of these complex cases. Birth injury cases involve medical experts, financial experts, life care planners, physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech pathologists, rehabilitation specialists, education experts, etc. And the lawyers you hire need to have the special experience and training required to file and execute a successful birth injury lawsuit. Thus, find a birth injury attorney – that is, an attorney who has specific experience and training in birth injury law – to help you through this difficult process.
Why do I need to hire a Scranton birth injury attorney?
Some states have a unified judicial system. In New Jersey, for instance, the same rules and forms and procedures apply whether you file a lawsuit in Camden County, New Jersey or Union County, New Jersey. Pennsylvania, however, does not have a unified judicial system. Every county is different. Practicing law in Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, for instance, is very different from practicing law in Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania. There are special forms, filings, procedures, and processes that attorneys practicing law in other counties would find downright confusing. If you plan to hire a lawyer for a birth injury that occurred in or near Scranton, you should hire a Scranton birth injury lawyer.
A Scranton birth injury attorney knows the ins and outs of the complicated Lackawanna County judicial system, has the necessary contacts at the various large Scranton-based medical institutions, and knows how to navigate every crucial stage of a successful birth injury case in Scranton.
How can I find an experienced Scranton birth injury lawyer?
If your child suffered a birth injury as a result of medical negligence, you are entitled to the kind of compensation that covers all of your child’s medical bills and fully accounts for every day of your child’s pain, suffering, and loss of life’s pleasures. Perhaps most importantly, you will need compensation that provides for your child’s specialized medical treatment, individual care, and needs for the rest of their lifetime, including when you are no longer around.
If you want an attorney who can lead you and your child through every step of the legal process, who will hold negligent doctors and hospitals accountable for the life-altering injuries they caused, and who has decades of experience, hire the attorneys at VSCP Law. They are known for their record-breaking compensation, including multiple birth injury cases exceeding $19 million, including a $29 million recovery in a cerebral palsy case.
Two of the founding partners at VSCP Law were born and raised in Scranton. If you believe your loved one has suffered a birth injury, VSCP Law is the firm you should call.
Brain injuries are tragic. Your brain is the central processing unit of your body, controlling how you feel, the way you move your body, and how you learn. When this essential organ is damaged, a person can suffer tragic injuries which can change their life forever.
Often, brain injuries are the result of someone’s negligence. For instance, an emergency room doctor delays treatment for a stroke, resulting in permanent brain damage. Or an obstetrician makes a mistake during childbirth, resulting in hypoxia (or inadequate oxygen to the brain) and the child develops cerebral palsy.
If you have suffered a brain injury in Philadelphia as the result of someone’s actions or inactions, you may be able to file a Philadelphia brain injury lawsuit. You should contact an experienced brain injury attorney in Philadelphia as soon as possible so they have time to collect evidence, evaluate the information, and build your brain injury lawsuit.
Many brain injury lawsuit plaintiffs wonder how much their case is worth. In other words, how much can they expect to be compensated for their injury? Read on to understand how the value of a brain injury case is determined.
Factors that brain injury lawyers consider in determining your brain injury lawsuit’s value are:
The extent of your brain injury. How severe is the injury? How does the brain injury manifest? Are there physical symptoms resulting from the brain damage, such as paralysis (the inability to move a part of your body)? Are there intellectual injuries? Has the person suffered memory loss or cognitive impairments? Has the person suffered speech, vision, or hearing loss?
Pain and suffering. Brain injuries can cause extreme pain and discomfort. The pain can be near the brain itself, such as headaches and migraines. And the pain can radiate to other parts of the body, causing debilitating pain. There is also a significant amount of emotional pain and suffering that brain injuries can cause, including anxiety, stress, and depression.
Medical care costs. Brain surgeries can be extremely expensive as can emergency services. What are other costs related to the brain injury? Follow-up visits, rehabilitation, nursing care, outpatient care, inpatient care, home health aides, etc. Medical care costs for brain injuries add up quickly.
Wage loss. Did the person have to stop working as the result of their brain injury? How much time did they miss from work? Will they ever be able to return to work again? What is the amount they would have earned had they not been injured?
The above factors focus more on what the brain injury victim experienced as the result of their brain injury. The following factors are more legal in nature, but still have to be weighed by your Philadelphia brain injury attorney:
Liability. Does the evidence support the argument that the defendant was negligent – or, breached the standard of care – and increased the risk of the occurrence of a brain injury?
Multiple defendants. Sometimes there is one defendant who is entirely responsible for the brain injury and sometimes there are multiple defendants involved. How much should each defendant pay to compensate the brain injury victim?
Punitive conduct. Occasionally, a defendant’s misconduct rises to the level of punitive damages. These damages are not really designed to compensate the victim per se; they are intended to punish the defendant and deter other defendants in the same position from such misconduct.
There are many factors that need to be considered in the valuation of your brain injury lawsuit. If you or a loved one suffered a brain injury, contact the experienced Philadelphia brain injury lawyers at VSCP Law.
A birth injury can occur before, during, and/or immediately after childbirth. A parent might suspect that a child who fails to hit developmental milestones has failed due to a birth injury. Or perhaps there’s a medical condition that can be traced to trauma during delivery. The best course of action when a parent is having such concerns is to contact a birth injury attorney in Philadelphia. Your Philadelphia birth injury lawyer can help you understand whether your child’s deficits or problems may be related to a neonatal injury and whether you have a valid traumatic birth injury claim.
How do you know if your child suffered a birth injury? Read on to learn some of the major signs of birth injury.
Brain Injury
The brain is one of the most delicate organs during childbirth. It is also the most important organ in a person’s body because it controls the bodily functions as well as the cognitive
processing. Thus, birth injuries resulting in brain damage can be the most devastating of any birth injury. There are a variety of brain injuries including hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy (HIE or, also, perinatal asphyxia), brain bleeds (hemorrhages or hematomas), periventricular leukomalacia (PVL), kernicterus, cerebral palsy, caput succedaneum, and hydrocephalus. Many of these are caused by hypoxia or a lack of oxygen in the blood.
Major signs of brain injury include physical symptoms such as headaches and seizures; sensory symptoms such as sensitivity to loud noise, bright lights, and vision problems; cognitive symptoms such as executive functioning deficits, memory problems, and inability to form age-appropriate thoughts and conclusions; speech symptoms such as difficulty communicating, enunciating, or speaking at all; and behavioral and emotional symptoms such as anxiety, disinhibition, poor regulation of impulses, and depression.
“Baby Born Blue”
Sometimes after birth, a baby will appear to be blue in color. This blue skin tone is due to a lack of sufficient oxygen to support healthy red blood cells. (Blood cells are only red when they have
enough oxygen.) If the appearance of blue skin remains for several minutes after the birth, this could be indicative of a serious medical problem.
A baby could be born blue because of issues during the labor and delivery that were not managed by their health care team.
Major signs of a child who had insufficient oxygen in their blood include developmental delays, cognitive deficits, and serious and possibly life-threatening heart and lung problems.
Erb’s Palsy and Brachial Plexus
The brachial plexus is a series of nerves near the neck that provide movement and feeling to the shoulder, arm, and hand. Erb’s palsy describes the weakness and loss of motion in these body parts. Erb’s palsy is the most common type of brachial plexus palsy. This physical injury can result from difficult deliveries, such as with a large baby or where the baby was in breech position. The injury can also result from a prolonged or delayed labor — or when the person assisting the delivery exerted excessive force in pulling the baby from the birth canal.
Major signs of a brachial plexus injury include the following issues in the child’s arm, wrist or hand: numbness, tingling, discomfort, pain, limpness, or paralysis (meaning, the child cannot move the arm, wrist, or hand at all).
Birth injuries can be tragic, but parents of children who suffered birth injuries are not without legal options. A traumatic birth injury attorney in Philadelphia can help you understand your child’s injuries as well as whether you have a viable claim of liability against a healthcare provider for your child’s injuries. Don’t hesitate to get help. If you believe your child suffered a birth injury, contact the attorneys at VSCP Law.
When your child has been injured before, during, or immediately following their birth, their injuries could be serious and, in many cases, permanent. In other words, your child may suffer from those injuries for the rest of their life. A birth injury lawyer in Philadelphia could help you sue the defendants. Many people wonder whether they need to specifically hire a birth injury attorney in Philadelphia. Why not just go to a general practice lawyer or any other lawyer that you may already have a relationship with?
To start, you wouldn’t hire a math teacher to help your child learn how to play the piano. Just as there are specialists in education, so, too, are there specialists in law. Thus, for a birth injury lawsuit in Philadelphia, you should hire a Philadelphia birth injury lawyer. And not just anyone. You need to hire an experienced Philadelphia birth injury attorney. Here’s why.
In every birth injury case, time is of the essence. If your Philadelphia birth injury lawyer does not act efficiently and swiftly, critical information could be permanently lost or worse: You could lose the opportunity to file a lawsuit at all! You need to hire an experienced attorney who appreciates the time-sensitive nature of your birth injury claim.
Pennsylvania law allows you two years from when you knew or should have known that your child’s injury was the result of the defendants’ medical mistake.
In some exceptional cases, the plaintiff can show that the defendants “fraudulently concealed” their negligence (for instance, if they persuaded the plaintiff that their child’s injury was not caused by their actions or inactions). In the case of fraudulent concealment, the plaintiff is granted two years from the time they discovered (or should have discovered) that the defendants’ actions or omissions could likely have caused their child’s injury.
An experienced birth trauma attorney knows what actions must be taken early in the process such as ordering medical records including hospital intake forms, nurses’ logs, doctors’ notes, neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) records, lab results, diagnostic orders and test results, etc.
Other examples of evidence that needs to be gathered in a timely fashion include witness statements, photographs and videos, and physical objects that are related to the birth injury claim such as prescription bottles and medical devices.
The presence or absence of these crucial forms of evidence could dictate whether your lawsuit is successful or not.
Despite aggressive advertising to the contrary, many attorneys do not actually have experience working on Philadelphia birth trauma cases. Many law firms list “birth injuries” on their websites because they want people to come to them with such cases, but they don’t actually have any significant experience trying these types of complicated cases.
An experienced Philadelphia neonatal injury attorney will have tried at least dozens of cases in an actual courtroom. With each case, the birth trauma lawyer becomes more and more capable because they learn something new every time. And not only do you want an attorney who has tried many birth injury cases, but you want an attorney who has tried many birth injury cases successfully. So it’s not just experience, per se, that matters – success rate is important as well.
An experienced birth injury attorney evaluates the case with knowledge of all possible causes of action and claims for damages. For example, here <hyperlink to categories of compensation in birth injury case> are the various forms of compensation you can collect in a Philadelphia birth injury case. Also, there are special statutes in Pennsylvania that apply to certain cases. An experienced Philadelphia birth injury attorney knows which statutes apply to your case and how to craft your claim in the way that puts you in the best position to win.
If you believe your child suffered injuries as the result of a birth injury in Pennsylvania, contact the experienced birth injury lawyers at VSCP Law.
Personal Injury Legal Protections: Know Your Rights
If you or your loved one suffered injuries because of the negligent actions of another person or entity, you could file a personal injury lawsuit (also called a negligence lawsuit). But what is a personal injury lawsuit? What are your personal injury legal protections? Read on for personal injury law explained: what it is, and what you can expect.
Personal injury cases are civil cases. They are different from what you may have seen on
television when you’ve watched a courtroom drama for a homicide or criminal case, for instance. In criminal cases, a district attorney or a prosecutor will bring a criminal prosecution on behalf of the government against the defendant. And if the defendant is found to be guilty of the crime, they can be sent to prison and/or receive some other type of punishment. When a criminal defendant is sent to prison, our criminal justice system has two main objectives: to punish the defendant and to deter others from committing the same crime. That first objective – to punish the defendant – is the way we hold criminal defendants accountable for their actions.
In civil cases, we have a different judicial and trial system, but we have the same objectives: to hold the defendant accountable and to deter other potential future defendants from committing the same error.
There are essential regulations, rules of law, and statutes that apply to your case. One such rule is the Statute of Limitations. Each state has its own Statute of Limitations so it will be important for your personal injury lawyer to have keen knowledge of the state’s law. If you fail to comply with your state’s Statute of Limitations, you will lose your legal right to file your personal
injury lawsuit. Not only will you lose your right to file your personal injury lawsuit, but you also forfeit your right to be compensated for your injuries and seek reimbursement of the costs of your injuries (such as medical bills and wage loss, discussed in more detail below).
Under Pennsylvania’s Statute of Limitations law, for instance, you have two years to file a lawsuit, starting from when you knew or should have known that your injury was the result of the defendant’s actions or negligent behavior.
To comply with this rule, the best time to contact a personal injury lawyer in Philadelphia to evaluate the facts and file your lawsuit is as soon as possible. The earlier, the better. As soon as you are able after the injury occurs, contact an experienced personal injury lawyer.
Your negligence attorney will also file a Complaint in the court. The Complaint will set forth the legal support for your injury case and list all possible claims. The Complaint’s averments (or, assertions) will vary, depending on what kind of personal injury lawsuit you are filing. Personal injury cases could involve, for instance, vehicle accidents, premises liability, sexual assault, workplace accidents, and medical malpractice.
The Complaint will ask for compensation for your injuries, often claiming both economic damages and non-economic damages.
Economic damages are quantifiable – in other words, the exact figure can be established
with documentation. They include medical expenses, disability expenses, physical therapy, lost wages, and loss of future earnings.
Non-economic damages are not quantifiable – they are more of a subjective assessment of the
sad consequences of a personal case. They include loss of quality of life, loss of companionship, pain and suffering, disfigurement, scarring, and emotional distress.
If you’ve been injured, you have the right to file a civil cause of action for your injuries. You have the right to hold the defendant accountable for their actions. An experienced personal injury attorney in Philadelphia will help you file (and win!) your personal injury lawsuit. Find one at VSCP Law.
Timeline for Birth Injury Lawsuits: What You Need to Know
A birth injury is often a tragic consequence of medical negligence in the childbirth setting. It can be heartbreaking for parents to witness their baby’s injury at the initial stages and then of course for years following the date the injury occurred.
If you are a parent whose child suffered a birth injury and you suspect a medical error caused the injury, time is of the essence. The timeline of everything that occurs immediately following the birth injury is extremely important. Failure to meet certain deadlines for birth injury lawsuits could mean that you lose your rights to file a birth injury lawsuit.
The following are three important steps in the timeframe for birth injury claims that you need to take in the timeline and they all should happen in relatively quick succession.
An error that people often make is failing to get follow-up care for their injured baby. Whether it’s because the parent is overwhelmed and feeling stress – or whether it’s out of a distrust of doctors or inconvenience – some people just discontinue seeking medical treatment for their child after the baby’s medical injury. This is a huge mistake. The parent may seek a second opinion, they may change doctors, but they should not skip their baby’s critical follow-up care. Further, the parents should make sure to document and keep track of all out-of-pocket medical expenses. Medical expenses include hospital and specialist copays, pharmaceutical costs, rehabilitation expenses, and any and all purchases related to the medical and rehabilitative care of the child. Extensive follow-up care helps establish the baby’s future care needs for the birth injury case and, hopefully and most importantly, it also helps the child recover.
The person best equipped to help a parent file a successful birth injury case is an attorney who specializes in birth injury malpractice cases. The sooner the parent contacts this attorney, the more likely they will have a good outcome for their case. Time is of the essence as there is a statute of limitations, which is a law that requires a person to file a lawsuit within a certain time period or else the person will lose their right to sue. In Pennsylvania, they can file a birth injury claim up to two years after the child turns 18 (i.e., up until their 20th birthday). But the parent should never wait that long to consult a lawyer. If their baby suffered a birth injury, they need to contact birth injury advocates as soon as possible to preserve their claims. And while their child’s case doesn’t expire until the child turns 20, the parent’s case expires two years after they knew or should have known that their child’s birth injury was someone’s fault.
It’s important that the parent maintain a detailed record of all medical reports, diagnoses, treatments, and conversations with healthcare professionals regarding their child’s birth injury. Fetal heart monitoring strips, medical records, intake forms, and lab slips are all examples of crucial pieces of evidence. This is another reason the step “contact a lawyer” is so essential: the birth injury lawyer can, as mentioned above, tell the parent what evidence is necessary and will review and digest all of the necessary information because it is essential to the birth injury lawsuit. The parent’s evidence is essential because it supports the argument that the healthcare professionals’ actions or omissions caused their child’s injuries. This evidence will also help establish the extent of the child’s injuries, detailing every related issue whether it’s physical or emotional.
If your child suffered a birth injury, it’s essential to contact an experienced birth injury attorney in Philadelphia promptly to help you navigate your time-sensitive birth injury claim. To find an experienced birth injury lawyer, contact VSCP Law
For birth injury cases in Medical and Rehabilitative Care Philadelphia, time is of the essence. The short answer to the question, “When should I seek legal assistance?” is as soon as possible. The long answer follows.
In a birth injury case, a common error that people make is not to do anything. That’s right. Inaction is a common response to the tragedy of a birth injury. It’s a natural human reaction to freeze when overwhelmed with panic or stress. But when a baby has suffered a birth injury, the parent must focus first on getting the child the care they need. Once they have the child’s initial care treatment, the parent should immediately contact a birth injury attorney in Philadelphia. That Philadelphia birth injury lawyer will guide the parent through the next steps, such as collecting and preserving evidence.
Read on to learn more about all of these important steps, which need to happen in relatively quick succession.
As mentioned above, an error that people often make is failing to get follow-up care for their injured baby. Whether it’s because the parent is overwhelmed and feeling stress – or whether it’s out of a distrust of doctors or inconvenience – some people just discontinue seeking medical treatment for their child after the baby’s medical injury. This is a huge mistake. The parent may seek a second opinion, they may change doctors, but they should not skip their baby’s critical follow-up care. Further, the parents should make sure to document and keep track of all out-of-pocket medical expenses. Medical expenses include hospital and specialist co-pays, pharmaceutical costs, rehabilitation expenses, and any purchases related to the medical and rehabilitative care of the child. Extensive follow-up care helps establish the baby’s future care needs for the birth injury case and, hopefully, and most importantly, it also helps the child recover.
The person best equipped to help a parent file a successful birth injury case is an attorney specializing in malpractice cases. The sooner the parent contacts this attorney, the more likely they will have a good outcome for their case. Time is of the essence as there is a statute of limitations, which is a law that requires a person to file a lawsuit within a certain period, or else the person will lose their right to sue. In Pennsylvania, they can file a birth injury claim up to two years after the child turns 18 (i.e., up until their 20th birthday). But the parent should never wait that long to consult a lawyer. If their baby suffered a birth injury, they need to contact birth injury advocates as soon as possible to preserve their claims. And while their child’s case doesn’t expire until the child turns 20, the parent’s case expires two years after they knew or should have known that their child’s birth injury was someone’s fault.
The parent must maintain a detailed record of all medical reports, diagnoses, treatments, and conversations with healthcare professionals regarding their child’s birth injury. Fetal heart monitoring strips, medical records, intake forms, and lab slips are all examples of crucial pieces of evidence. This is another reason the first step (“contact a lawyer”) is so essential: the birth injury lawyer can, as mentioned above, tell the parent what evidence is necessary and will review and digest all of the necessary information because it is essential to the birth injury lawsuit. The parent’s evidence is essential because it supports the argument that the healthcare professional’s actions or omissions caused their child’s injuries. This evidence will also help establish the extent of the child’s injuries, detailing every related issue whether it’s physical or emotional.
If your child suffered a birth injury, it’s essential to contact an experienced birth injury lawyer promptly to help you through it all. To find an experienced birth injury attorney, contact VSCP Law.
There are birth injury medical malpractice cases. There are other medical malpractice cases. And then there are all the other lawsuits, like personal injury cases. What is the difference? Read on to learn the important factors that distinguish one from another.
Generally speaking, personal injury cases involve someone suffering an injury as the result of someone else’s negligent action or omission. An “injury” can be physical (eg, a broken leg), emotional (eg, depression), or reputational (eg, customers no longer come to your store because of your damaged reputation).
And while “injury” describes damages to your body or mind or heart or good name, actual “damages” is a broader and more conceptual term. You can have economic damages. These are quantifiable damages, such as lost wages (eg, you had to stop working for six months to recover from your injury so you lost six months of wages). Other obvious examples of economic damages are medical bills and co-pays, pharmaceutical costs, and drugstore purchases – all expenses you had to undergo to treat the injury caused by the defendant.
In addition to economic damages, you can collect non-economic damages. These are damages that are real, but not easily quantifiable. For instance, pain and suffering are non-economic damages. They are to compensate you for the inconvenience, the physical discomfort, and the emotional anguish you suffered following the injury. Other examples of non-economic damage include loss of enjoyment of life, scarring and disfigurement, and emotional distress.
In addition to the injury in your personal injury lawsuit, you also must establish that the defendant was negligent. Negligence is, simply put, the failure to take appropriate care in doing something.
Sometimes it’s easier to understand this concept of negligence with concrete examples. In the context of a car accident, let’s say a truck driver drove through a red light and hit a car that was driving through the intersection when it had the green light. The truck driver was negligent because he didn’t take care to stop at the red light, as he should have. So, in that case, it was the truck driver’s action that caused the accident.
But sometimes someone is negligent when they fail to act at all. The next example demonstrates this negligence by omission circumstance.
In the context of a slip and fall, perhaps a box of beads fell on the floor of an art store and the beads spilled all over the aisle and no one cleaned up the beads as they should have. A man was walking through the aisle, focusing on the paints on the shelves, and stepped right onto the beads. The beads caused his feet to slip and he fell hard on his back. The art store would be considered negligent for failing to sweep up the scattered beads. So, it was the art store’s failure to act – its omission – that caused the person’s injuries.
How does medical malpractice differ from personal injury negligence? There’s one key difference: medical malpractice is when negligence occurs in the context of medical treatment. In other words, the wrongdoer is a healthcare provider, such as a doctor, nurse, hospital administrator, hospital staff member, or even the hospital itself – as a corporate entity.
While the identity of the defendant is a key distinguishing factor between a standard personal injury case and a medical malpractice case, there are other very important distinctions:
In a medical malpractice case, instead of asking whether the defendant simply failed to take care, the question is more about what the reasonable professional standard of care was for the defendant to follow. And to measure that, your medical malpractice attorney would have to hire a good expert to review the medical records and make that determination.
As stated, your medical malpractice attorney will need to hire a good expert to review your medical records and determine whether or not your healthcare provider was negligent, or failed to meet the standard of care. Not only do you need a medical expert to help prove that medical negligence occurred in your case – but you also need a medical expert who practices the same field of medicine as the healthcare professional who harmed you. For instance, if your injuries occurred during orthopedic surgery, your medical malpractice attorney will likely discuss the case with an expert who is an orthopedic surgeon.
Typically, there are more medical records in a medical malpractice case compared to a standard personal injury case and the records are more complex. The question isn’t simply is the plaintiff injured, yes or no? The medical records are instead evaluated to determine both liability and injury. In other words, was the patient injured, and did a healthcare provider contribute to the cause of the patient’s injury? Thus, your attorney must help you collect and preserve all forms of evidence including blood work, radiology reports, medical records, prescription history, intake forms, discharge instructions, etc.
The evidence in a medical malpractice case is often different from a standard personal injury case in that, in many cases, you’d have to get the evidence from the defendant. In other words, if your injury occurred in the hospital where the defendant was your doctor, you’d need your medical records to help determine whether there was medical malpractice. So, your medical malpractice attorney would have to ask the defendant to supply a good portion of the evidence. Naturally, this is not always easy, and often the defendant will not hand over all the essential evidence immediately. This is why you need to hire an experienced medical malpractice attorney who knows what to ask for and how to ask for it (and then, if necessary, how to file a motion to compel the defendant to produce it).
The statute of limitations is the time you have to file a lawsuit. In a standard personal injury case, like, for instance, a car accident, this is two years from the date of the accident. In other words, the day you first encountered the defendant and were injured is the day the clock starts ticking, and you have two years to file a complaint. But, in medical malpractice cases, your injury might not occur the day you first encountered the defendant. You may be treating the defendant for days, weeks, months, or years before your injury occurs. Also, you are not required to file the lawsuit within two years until you know or should have known that your injury was the result of the defendant’s negligence. For instance, say you had abdominal surgery and were discharged from the hospital and felt fine. But within days, you start to become feverish and very ill. An x-ray determines that the abdominal surgeon accidentally left a surgical tool in your abdomen and it caused an infection. While the negligent act occurred the day of your surgery, the statute of limitations doesn’t begin to toll until the day you discover that the negligent act occurred. It’s a different timetable.
Birth injury cases are similar to medical malpractice cases in that they occur in the context of a medical setting and the defendants are doctors, nurses, hospital staff, etc. They are also similar because they require expert review and testimony and complex review of medical records.
Birth injury cases, though, are arguably more complex than medical malpractice cases for the following reasons:
–Evidence. In birth injury cases, your birth injury lawyer needs to evaluate both the baby’s and the mother’s medical records. These include fetal heart monitoring strips, the mother’s blood pressure readings, the prenatal medical records, the delivery report, bloodwork, etc.
–Statute of Limitations. In birth injury cases, the parents have two years after the child turns eighteen to file the lawsuit. However, the parent’s right to file the lawsuit for a birth injury case is two years from the date of birth. This is the law in Pennsylvania. To make sure you don’t lose your right to sue, it is imperative to contact an experienced Pennsylvania birth injury attorney.
Because birth injury cases are more complex than run-of-the-mill personal injury cases and often more complicated than other types of medical malpractice cases, it is advisable to connect with a birth trauma lawyer in Pennsylvania who has the background and experience to help you navigate this highly specialized and complex area of law.
The experienced birth injury, neonatal, and cerebral palsy lawyers at VSCP Law can help.
A birth injury can occur before, during, and/or immediately after childbirth. A parent might suspect that a child who fails to hit developmental milestones has failed due to a birth injury. Or perhaps there’s a medical condition that can be traced to trauma during delivery. The best course of action, when a parent has such concerns, is to contact a birth injury lawyer in Philadelphia. Your birth injury medical malpractice attorney can help you understand whether your child’s deficits or problems may be related to a neonatal injury and whether you have a valid birth-related medical malpractice claim.
How do you know if your child suffered a birth injury? This article examines what could have caused the birth injury as well as the major signs of a birth injury.
The brain is one of the most delicate organs during childbirth. It is also the most important organ in a person’s body because it controls bodily functions as well as cognitive
processing. Thus, birth injuries resulting in brain damage can be the most devastating of any birth injury. There are a variety of brain injuries including hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy (HIE or, also, perinatal asphyxia), brain bleeds (hemorrhages or hematomas), periventricular leukomalacia (PVL), kernicterus, cerebral palsy, caput succedaneum, and hydrocephalus. Many of these are caused by hypoxia or a lack of oxygen in the blood.
Major signs of brain injury include physical symptoms such as headaches and seizures; sensory symptoms such as sensitivity to loud noise, bright lights, and vision problems; cognitive symptoms such as executive functioning deficits, memory problems, and inability to form age-appropriate thoughts and conclusions; speech symptoms such as difficulty communicating, enunciating, or speaking at all; and behavioral and emotional symptoms such as anxiety, disinhibition, poor regulation of impulses, and depression.
Sometimes after birth, a baby will appear to be blue in color. This blue skin tone is due to a lack of sufficient oxygen to support healthy red blood cells. (Blood cells are only red when they have
enough oxygen.) If the appearance of blue skin remains for several minutes after the birth, this could be indicative of a serious medical problem.
A baby could be born blue because of issues during the labor and delivery that were not managed by their healthcare team.
Major signs of a child who had insufficient oxygen in their blood include developmental delays, cognitive deficits, and serious and possibly life-threatening heart and lung problems.
The brachial plexus is a series of nerves near the neck that provide movement and feeling to the shoulder, arm, and hand. Erb’s palsy describes the weakness and loss of motion in these body parts. Erb’s palsy is the most common type of brachial plexus palsy. This physical injury can result from difficult deliveries, such as with a large baby or where the baby was in a breech position. The injury can also result from a prolonged or delayed labor — or when the person assisting the delivery exerts excessive force in pulling the baby from the birth canal.
Major signs of a brachial plexus injury include the following issues in the child’s arm, wrist, or hand: numbness, tingling, discomfort, pain, limpness, or paralysis (meaning, the child cannot move the arm, wrist, or hand at all).
Birth injuries can be tragic, but parents of children who suffered birth injuries are not without legal options. If you believe your child suffered a birth injury, contact the Birth Injury Lawyer in Philadelphia at VSCP Law.
It is unimaginably difficult when your child suffers a birth injury. Birth Injury Lawyer in Philadelphia can assist you every step of the way, relieving you of certain burdens so you can focus your attention on the care and well-being of your child. The following is a list of some of the steps experienced Birth Injury Lawyers in Philadelphia take to help you protect your child’s rights.
When your child suffers a serious birth injury, it’s common for you to be so overwhelmed that you don’t know what to do next. You don’t know how to deal with this massive injury that is afflicting your child. You don’t know whom to talk to, how to navigate various hospital systems, and how to obtain the appropriate medical care for your child. Birth Injury Lawyer in Philadelphia can help by connecting you with the proper healthcare professionals who can provide thorough medical evaluations, early intervention, physical therapy, occupational therapy, and other critical care.
In Pennsylvania, you can file a birth injury claim up to two years after the child turns 18 (i.e., up until their 20th birthday). But you should never wait that long to consult a lawyer. If your baby suffered a birth injury, you need to contact birth injury advocates as soon as possible to preserve your claims.
While your child’s case doesn’t expire until your child turns 20, YOUR case expires two years after you knew or should have known that your child’s birth injury was someone’s fault. It is thus critical that you connect with experienced Philadelphia birth injury attorneys as soon as you suspect your child was injured.
Another way a birth injury attorney in Philadelphia can help you is by collecting evidence that could be crucial to your birth injury lawsuit. The medical terms may seem complicated and the medical records may be hard to understand; this is where experienced birth trauma lawyers come in. They will review and digest all the necessary information because it is essential to your birth injury lawsuit – it supports the argument that the healthcare professional’s actions or omissions caused your child’s injuries. This evidence will also help establish the extent of your child’s injuries, detailing every related issue whether it’s physical or emotional.
When you hire a birth injury lawyer, you may want to ask how big their network of experts is. An experienced birth injury lawyer is connected to a huge network of highly knowledgeable medical professionals. The lawyer will find you the perfect expert for your case – one with the appropriate level of background, expertise, and knowledge in obstetrics, labor and delivery, pediatrics, and/or women’s healthcare.
An experienced birth negligence law firm is obviously equipped to handle the complicated legal system with its various statutes, discovery schedules, motions practice, brief writing, and depositions. They can also help navigate other complex systems that may arise. Whether it’s a large hospital system that refuses to give you medical records, for example, or the need to find a lifecare planner to help you figure out the costs of caring for your child over their lifetime, your birth injury law firm can help navigate these complicated systems.
It goes without saying that no amount of money will take away the pain your child and your family feel after a birth injury. But, when you hire the right birth injury law firm, you can at least rest assured that you will get the most compensation possible for your birth injury case. Your birth injury lawsuit may be very complicated and it may take several months or years from the time you contacted the attorney to the time the case is finally resolved. But, after all is said and done, your Philadelphia birth injury attorney will have helped you protect your child’s rights and achieve the best possible outcome.
There is no birth injury case that is too complex for the lawyers at VSCP Law. Contact them today to protect your child’s rights.