If your child suffered an injury or developed an illness during delivery, the doctor may be at fault. Contact a Scranton birth injury lawyer at Munley Law Personal Injury Attorneys for a free, confidential consultation.
A birth injury can have lifelong consequences for your baby. Your child may require extensive medical care and therapy for years to come or may have an altered quality of life into adulthood. If a doctor or other medical professional caused your child to suffer a birth injury, you are not alone. With the help of an experienced, compassionate personal injury attorney, you may be able to hold the healthcare provider accountable for their actions under Pennsylvania’s medical malpractice laws.
Lackawanna County has some of the area’s best medical facilities, but an accidental birth injury can occur anywhere. If a doctor at a Scranton healthcare facility acted negligently and caused your child to suffer an injury, a birth injury lawyer in Scranton can help you hold them accountable.
Scranton families have trusted Munley Law Personal Injury Attorneys to protect their legal rights since 1959. If you have questions about how to hold a doctor or other health care provider responsible for your child’s birth injury, we offer free case evaluations.
Call us today at (855) 866-5529 to meet with a birth injury lawyer in Scranton.
Recoverable Damages in a Scranton Birth Injury Case
Many birth injuries can lead to lifelong disabilities and devastating health concerns. Families may have to pay for decades of medical care, therapy, and even long-term care if the parents cannot provide care on a day-to-day basis. Often, filing a medical malpractice claim is the only way to recover compensation to help pay for this care.
In Pennsylvania, you may be able to collect two different types of damages — compensatory and punitive damages — with a winning malpractice claim. This includes:
Compensatory Damages
Compensatory damages cover your financial losses and expenses as well as your emotional losses or suffering.
• Compensatory Economic Damages: Economic damages pay your medical bills and reimburse your out-of-pocket costs. They also cover lost wages and related losses.
• Compensatory Noneconomic Damages: Noneconomic damages are losses that do not have an exact amount attached, but still merit compensation. They cover intangible expenses, most commonly pain and suffering.
Punitive Damages
In rare cases, if the judge believes the doctor acted recklessly or maliciously, the court will award punitive damages. This type of damages punishes the doctor, as opposed to compensating you for your losses.
Birth Injuries That Might Qualify for a Malpractice Claim
If your child suffered any of the following injuries during birth, you may be able to hold your child’s doctor liable:
● Cerebral palsy
● Brachial plexus injury, such as Erb’s palsy
● Hypoxia
● Shoulder dystocia
● Fractures, particularly of the collarbone
It is important to note that not every birth injury is proof of malpractice. A doctor delivering a baby must provide the proper standard of care, working to prevent birth injuries and preventable complications. When a doctor fails to provide this high standard of care and causes injuries, he has committed malpractice.
Some common ways a doctor’s negligence can cause a child to suffer a birth injury include:
● Prescribing dangerous drugs to the mother during pregnancy
● Failing to perform a necessary C-section
● Failure to notice and act when a baby experiences oxygen deprivation
● Failure to adequately monitor mother and baby during pregnancy, labor, and delivery
● Failure to use proper techniques to assist baby during delivery
● Not using forceps, vacuum, or medical other devices properly
● Failure to note any other issues with labor and delivery that might put the baby in danger
If you believe your child currently suffers from a disability because a doctor acted negligently and caused their birth injury, let us review your situation and determine if we believe you have a valid claim for compensation. Even if your child is now several years old, you may have options for holding the doctor accountable.
Note: While you normally only have two years to file a medical malpractice lawsuit, the courts often toll this deadline for children. You could have until two years after your child turns 18 years old to file a civil suit.
Navigating the Process to Collect Birth Injury Compensation for Your Child
We will fully investigate the circumstances of your child’s birth injury, collecting evidence and working to understand your child’s injury, what caused it, and why. We can help you understand if you have a valid medical malpractice claim, which is difficult to do on your own in these cases.
Often, we have access to a wealth of evidence you might not have on your own. We will request copies of your child’s medical records and see how the hospital documented the incident. We will also enlist the help of an expert witness, who can testify to the proper standard of care your child should have received.
This expert will have similar training and experience as the doctor in question and will practice the same field in the same geographical area. We will have this expert sign our certificate of merit, as well. Pennsylvania requires this type of certificate in every medical malpractice case.
Once we have all the proper evidence in place, we can notify the hospital and doctor of our intention to file a lawsuit if they do not offer a fair settlement through their malpractice insurance. Usually, this prompts negotiations, and we can come to a fair settlement agreement.
Discuss Your Child’s Case with a Birth Injury Lawyer in Scranton
At Munley Law Personal Injury Attorneys, we have more than six decades of experience handling Pennsylvania medical malpractice claims. We can review your case, consider your options for recovery, and fight for the payout you deserve. Your initial consultation is free, and we will not collect attorney’s fees unless we win a payout in your case.
Call us today at (855) 866-5529 to meet with a member of our Scranton birth injury lawyers.
Scranton Practice Areas
Munley Law Personal Injury Attorneys
227 Penn Ave,
Scranton, PA 18503
(570)865-4699
