Birth injuries are among the most emotionally devastating events that a family can experience. The joy of welcoming a new life is overshadowed by the pain and uncertainty that comes with an unexpected injury to the newborn. In many cases, these birth injuries are caused by medical negligence (carelessness) or malpractice. Filing a birth injury claim is a crucial step toward securing justice, financial support and holding the responsible parties accountable. Here are five reasons why families may consider filing a birth injury claim.
1. To Secure Financial Compensation for Medical Expenses
Birth injuries often result in significant medical expenses, both immediately and over the long term. Depending on the nature and severity of the injury, your child may require:
- Emergency surgeries or treatments shortly after birth.
- Ongoing medical care, including physical therapy, occupational therapy or speech therapy.
- Specialized equipment such as wheelchairs, braces, or feeding tubes.
- Long-term medications and other interventions.
These costs can quickly add up, placing an immense financial strain on families. Filing a birth injury claim can help cover these expenses, ensuring your child receives the care they need without causing severe financial strain to the family. Compensation from such claims may also include future medical costs, accounting for the possibility that your child’s needs will grow as they age.
2. To Address Pain and Suffering
The emotional toll of a birth injury extends beyond financial hardship. Parents often experience feelings of guilt, anger and grief, while the injured child may endure physical pain and emotional struggles. A birth injury claim can seek compensation for the non-economic damages associated with past and future pain and suffering.
For instance, if a child’s injury results in developmental delays, learning disabilities, or physical limitations, the emotional and psychological impact can be profound. Compensation in these cases is not just about placing a monetary value on a child’s suffering; instead, it is about acknowledging the hardships they and their family face and providing resources to improve their quality of life.
3. To Hold Medical Professionals Accountable
Medical professionals have a duty to provide a standard level of care to their patients. When they fail to meet this standard — due to carelessness, oversight or improper procedures — they must be held accountable. Filing a birth injury claim serves as a way to:
- Identify what went wrong during labor, delivery or prenatal care.
- Encourage healthcare providers to improve their practices, reducing the likelihood of similar incidents occurring in the future.
- Ensure that careless parties are held responsible for their actions.
4. To Secure the Child’s Future
Many birth injuries, such as cerebral palsy, brachial plexus palsy (Erb’s palsy) or brain injuries, can have lifelong implications. Filing a claim can help secure financial resources to provide your child with opportunities for a better future. This may include:
- Access to specialized education programs or tutors.
- Funding for adaptive technologies that enable greater independence.
- Assistance with housing modifications to accommodate physical disabilities.
- Financial support for caregiving needs as the child grows.
Raising a child with special needs often requires a lifetime of planning and resources. The compensation from a birth injury claim can serve as a foundation for securing these essentials, ensuring your child has access to the tools they need to thrive despite their challenges.
5. To Gain Peace of Mind and Closure
The aftermath of a birth injury is often fraught with unanswered questions and unresolved emotions. Filing a claim allows families to investigate the circumstances surrounding the injury, providing clarity and a sense of closure. Through the legal process, you may uncover crucial details about whether or not the injury could’ve been prevented, specific actions (or lack of action) that led to the birth injury, and measures that could have been taken to ensure a safer outcome.
While no amount of compensation can undo the trauma of a birth injury, understanding what happened can offer emotional relief and a sense of justice. Families can find peace of mind knowing they did everything possible to advocate for their child.
Contacting an Experienced Lawyer
The experienced New York personal injury attorneys at the Law Offices of Kenneth A. Wilhelm can help you better understand your legal rights and options, and also fight hard to recover just compensation for you. One of our clients secured a $2,850,000 verdict in an Erb’s palsy (brachial plexus palsy) case that was reduced by the appeals court to $1,846,000 because the verdict was so large. This was the highest amount upheld by the appellate (appeals) courts for many, many years. In addition, we recovered $1,400,000 for a newborn who lost motion in the arm during birth due to doctors applying incorrect force on the baby’s head. One of our clients obtained a verdict for $43,940,000 and another of our clients got a verdict for $23,500,000, both in medical malpractice cases.
We have seen cases where New York City Health and Hospital Corporation facilities deliver babies who are born with brachial plexus palsy (Erb’s palsy) stemming from negligence (carelessness), and/or medical malpractice in the labor and delivery etc. of the children.
The following list identifies some of these hospitals (operated by New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation):
- Jacobi Hospital aka Bronx Municipal 1400 Pelham Parkway South Bronx, New York 10461 718-918-5000
- Lincoln Hospital 234 East 149th Street Bronx, New York 10451 718-579-5000
- North Central Bronx Hospital 3424 Kossuth Avenue Bronx, New York 10467 718-519-5000
- Coney Island Hospital 2601 Ocean Parkway Brooklyn, New York 11235 718-616-3000
- Kings County Hospital 451 Clarkson Avenue Brooklyn, New York 11203 718-245-3131
- Woodhull Hospital 760 Broadway Brooklyn, New York 11206 718-963-8000
- Bellevue Hospital 462 First Avenue New York, New York 10016 212-562-5555
- Harlem Hospital 506 Lenox Avenue New York, New York 10037 212-939-1000
- Metropolitan Hospital 1901 First Avenue New York, New York 10029 212-423-6262
- Elmhurst Hospital 79-01 Broadway Elmhurst, New York 11373 718-334-4000
- Queens Hospital Center 82-68 164th Street Jamaica, New York 11432 718-883-3000
Please contact us TOLL FREE 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at 1-800-WORK-4-YOU (1-800-967-5496). WE CAN EVEN COME TO YOU. There is no attorneys’ fee unless we recover money for you. We can also help with personal injury, lead poisoning and medical malpractice cases including, brachial plexus palsy (Erb’s palsy) and cerebral palsy cases in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, or Florida. If you have been seriously injured in any of the 50 U.S. states, please call us and we will try to help you with your case.
Other TOLL FREE phone numbers for us are:
1-800-RADIO-LAW, 1-888-WYPADEK, OR 1-800-LAS-LEYES
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