Emotions can run high when it comes to dealing with legal cases that focus on the preventable injuries that occur to newborn infants, and is not hard to see why. When you're talking about a brachial plexus lawsuit, it is important to know that most of these injuries are caused by doctors using bad techniques and putting too much pressure on an infant's head or neck during a difficult birthing process.
This means high-strung emotions, and it's easy to get sucked in and want to play the blame game. Obviously, a mother's natural instinct will be to defend her child and to be angry with the individuals who caused any undue injury or pain. The trouble with any brachial-plexus-related injuries is that they generally come during a particularly difficult birth, and this means there are almost always extenuating circumstances that can muddy up the waters during a court case.
This makes cases particularly difficult to try, since an additional burden of evidence comes up that demands the plaintiff prove some degree of negligence that goes beyond what most people would consider reasonable in a difficult situation. Generally speaking, trust for doctors and medical professionals tends to be relatively high, which will make it even more challenging to convince a jury that the negligence is above and beyond.
However, it is critical that you have proper medical malpractice representation to make sure that you give yourself the best chance of getting an excellent end result for your case.
How Can You Prove Negligence in a Brachial Plexus Injury Case?
There are a few different ways, or at least common strategies, that can be used in order to help prove negligence during one of these medical lawsuits. During these cases, being able to prove one of six particular issues will help the case to go in your favor.
Those six factors are:
- The doctor doesn't notice the baby is too big for the mother's womb or ignores the obvious signs.
- The doctor is negligent in providing postnatal care to the newborn infant.
- There are obvious signs of awkward positioning of the baby, but the doctor doesn't notice or proceeds ahead anyway.
- It becomes obvious that a cesarean section is needed, but the doctor fails to order it or fails to order it at the appropriate time.
- Failure to recognize any telltale signs of fetal distress.
- The doctor did not notice the umbilical cord is trapped or compressed
These are six factors that can cause serious problems during the birth of a baby, and being able to clearly prove any one of those, much less several of them, can definitely shift a civil case over brachial plexus in your favor. In fact, many brachial plexus lawsuits absolutely depend on being able to prove one of these specific points.
What You Need to Know Before a Lawsuit
The problem with a brachial plexus injury is that the aftereffects last long after the initial injury or initial issue. Medical needs can become extremely costly, especially when the brachial plexus injury requires months of physical therapy under the direction of a hospital.
Those bills can add up extremely quickly, and it is important to look ahead and realize that you will need to be able to provide for the medical treatment and recovery of your injured child. This is an area that often makes a lawsuit necessary.
You will find that it is important to realize that the amount awarded can vary greatly. In some settlements, the compensations awarded cover all expenses; in other cases, you may only get part of the upcoming medical bills covered. Each case is different, and you have to be prepared for any scenario.
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