Medical Malpractice Lawyer

Is Your Child’s Disability the Result of Medical Negligence?

Birth injuries are sadly more common than most people think, and thousands of babies are affected by the negligence of medical staff every year. Some of the conditions related to birth injuries are that of delays in development, cerebral palsy, and blindness.

When you give birth to a child within a medical facility, equipped for such and have professional medical staff assist with the delivery, you trust them to ensure the safety of your child. When their action or lack thereof leads to permanent disability for your child, you have the right to financial compensation.

Why Seek Financial Compensation?

Your child has to go through life disabled, disfigured, or severely hindered from full enjoyment of life’s amenities. The financial compensation is necessary to ensure you can pay for proper medical treatment and care for your child. You need to pay for rehabilitative services, may need to hire a professional healthcare worker to take care of your child at home, or may need to purchase expensive equipment required for treatment of a condition caused by the malpractice.

In addition, you may have to stay home to care for your child, which means loss of income. There is also the issue of when your child eventually grows up to be an adult, but still requires full-time care. Such a birth injury can thus have long-term effects on the entire family and your income. To this end, you need to take legal steps against the relevant practitioner or institution. This is best done with the help of an experienced medical malpractice lawyer.

The Role of the Medical Malpractice Lawyer

The medical malpractice lawyer can help determine whether the condition or injury is the direct result of medical negligence when the nature and extent of the injury are assessed. Part of this process entails reviewing medical records, obtaining witness statements, and seeking an expert medical opinion to determine whether the party or parties involved caused the injury or condition because of their negligence.

Examples of Birth Injuries

A birth injury is not just an injury that the child sustains during the delivery process. It is also an injury as the result of negligence in prenatal care, the treatment of the newborn baby, and the management of the birthing process.

A birth injury can be the result of the healthcare workers not monitoring signs of foetal distress and not acting in time to prevent injury. If the unborn baby does not get enough oxygen, the medical staff may need to call for an emergency C-section. Failure to do so can cause the injury or even death of the child.

It can also be when the practitioner allows the labour process to go on for too long. Prompt action by the healthcare professional can help to prevent the injury. If the physician, for instance, insists on the normal delivery when the child is already showing signs of extreme distress instead of doing an emergency C-section, and the child is injured as a result, then it can be reason enough to make a claim of medical malpractice.

If your child has been injured during the pregnancy, delivery, prenatal or postnatal stages of delivery, and you suspect malpractice, it is important to seek legal advice from an experienced malpractice lawyer. Do not procrastinate on the matter. It is essential to take the necessary legal steps in seeking financial compensation as soon as possible. To this end, call Adele van der Walt Incorporated’s specialised medical malpractice lawyers to help assess the merits of your case.

Disclaimer: This article is for information purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Call on our attorneys for legal advice, rather than relying on the information herein to make any decisions. The information is relevant to the date of publishing – February 2019.

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