A critical time at birth for babies is switching from using oxygen from the mother to breathing on their own. If a baby cannot get a full amount of oxygen, organ and brain damage can happen quickly. Sometimes doctors miss the signs that a child is suffering from birth asphyxia.
The consequences of birth asphyxia can be deadly. Survivors often suffer disability for the rest of their lives. Caring for a child with this condition is expensive, but you can get help to pay for their care with the help of our Georgia birth injury attorneys.
Why You Need to Speak With a Birth Asphyxia Attorney Right Away
Birth asphyxia is one of the most serious of birth injuries a baby can experience. It can cause widespread organ and brain damage. The damage is also unpredictable. Your child can suffer from conditions like:
- Cerebral palsy
- Behavioral issues
- Learning issues
- Seizures
- Early death
- Heart and lung problems
The consequences depend on how long your child wasn’t getting enough oxygen and how the dead cells affect the live ones once oxygen is restored. Brain damage can spread to neighboring healthy cells.
Parents with children who’ve had birth asphyxia need to speak with a Georgia birth asphyxia attorney immediately. The expense of caring for a child with these conditions will skyrocket. The sooner you speak with us, the sooner you may get compensation to pay for your child’s care.
How Is Medical Negligence Proven?
Are all cases of birth asphyxia caused by medical negligence? The answer is no, which is why we must prove your doctor could have prevented it if they had taken better care of your baby. To prove medical negligence, we need to show three things.
First, we need to explain what a similarly trained medical provider would have done in the delivery room. These are called standards of care and they form a baseline of competent medical treatments. A medical expert’s testimony can establish what these are for your situation.
Second, we have to show how your health care provider failed to meet the standards of care and put your child at risk for birth asphyxia. Failing to meet the standards is the hallmark of medical negligence, and not that your child suffered an injury.
Finally, we must show that the negligent act caused measurable injury in your newborn. For birth asphyxia, there are often obvious deficits but the full extent of your baby’s injuries may not appear until your child is older.
How Will Hiring a Georgia Birth Asphyxia Attorney Help Me?
Parents who come to us want answers about what happened to their child. How could they have suffered such a devastating injury? Our first task after a consultation is to find the answer to that. We may find there was nothing that could have been done, or we may find that your child’s asphyxia could have been prevented.
If so, our next task is helping you and your baby get justice through a malpractice lawsuit. Malpractice lawsuits help families remove the financial burden of caring for children suffering from the effects of birth asphyxia. This gives you the freedom to focus on your child’s care, not how much it costs. See our caregiver guide for more advice on caring for a child with birth asphyxia.
Our attorneys are aggressive and will take your case to trial if the insurers will not give you what you’re owed. Malpractice suits also put doctors on notice and inform the public about their mistakes. Your lawsuit could prevent another family from being harmed by a careless doctor.
How Much Could I Get From My Case?
All birth injury cases are unique, so there is no way to estimate an exact amount of how much you could get through a lawsuit or a malpractice settlement. It depends on how bad the injury is and how it has affected your family.
Birth asphyxia is one of the most serious birth injuries and could require years of medical treatment. Thus, we can comfortably say that a successful lawsuit will probably bring in at least six figures in compensation, and possibly more than that in severe cases.
As we investigate what happened and how your child’s birth asphyxia has affected your baby and your family, we will discover the true value of your case. You can get paid for economic and non-economic damages, and potentially even punitive damages.
Georgia also has no caps on malpractice awards, so we are free to pursue as much compensation as your case will allow. Contact our Georgia birth asphyxia attorneys now to learn your legal options.
Georgia Malpractice Laws to Know About
The amount of money you could get from your case can be substantial. Several states have malpractice caps that limit how much money families can get after malpractice lawsuits even when they involve children. Fortunately, in Georgia there are no more limitations. They were struck down as unconstitutional in 2010.
If your case must go to trial, we have to speak with a medical expert who will testify that malpractice may have caused your child’s asphyxia. This is called the expert affidavit requirement. We have to file this report along with the complaint. While this takes time and could require a medical exam by our expert, it will add evidence to your claim.
There are also deadlines for starting a case. For injuries to people under the age of five, claims must be filed by their seventh birthday in most cases. Parents seeking damages should start their claim well before this deadline to avoid getting dismissed from the court without compensation.
Contact a Georgia Birth Asphyxia Attorney
The Birth Injury Lawyers Group has helped many victims of birth asphyxia get the care they need through lawsuits. Let us put our expertise and success to work for you. Contact us today to speak with a Georgia birth asphyxia lawyer right now who can help. All consultations are free and without obligation.
If we believe you have a case, you will owe nothing for our services unless you win compensation. If you lose, you pay nothing, so why wait? Get answers about what happened now by contacting our offices.