For a parent, nothing hurts more than having to watch their child live a life of disability and neurological impairment just because a medical practitioner’s preventable mistake caused their child hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE).
This neurological condition that leads to cerebral palsy can be a huge source of pain and lifelong medical care for the child. It can also lead to financial devastation for parents who can’t afford the treatment costs. While not all HIE cases are caused by medical malpractice, some are.
And the best way to find out if your child’s HIE was caused by medical negligence or carelessness is by hiring a hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy lawyer in Wyoming to ascertain this. If the attorney finds evidence of negligence, they can file a medical malpractice lawsuit to help you recover damages and get justice.
For a free legal consultation, call 1-800-222-9529
Proving Medical Negligence and Liability in a Wyoming Birth Injury Case
According to a study published in the National Library of Medicine, there are roughly 31 cases of HIE per 1,000 live births. That’s a dangerously high number of children who may not live up to their full potential. Worse is the possible inference that doctors and other healthcare professionals are making mistakes that they shouldn’t at an alarming rate.
And these costly mistakes are taking massive financial, mental, emotional, and physical tolls on both the parents and the affected children. If your child was diagnosed with HIE, you need to find out if their condition was caused by medical negligence.
To do this, your lawyer would have to do the following:
- Determine if the healthcare professionals in charge of your child’s birth adhered to established medical standards of care
- Look for evidence that the healthcare practitioner’s actions failed to meet up to the required standards
- That as a result of their negligence, mistakes, or carelessness, your child suffered oxygen deprivation, which subsequently led to the HIE diagnosis
Because of the complex nature of medical malpractice lawsuits, Wyoming has a set of rules and guidelines that must be followed when filing such legal actions against healthcare practitioners.
In a birth injury case, a hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy lawyer in Wyoming may have to use expert witnesses’ services to prove the negligence of the culpable medical professionals.
Wyoming Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy Lawyer Near Me 1-800-222-9529
Compensation You Can Claim in a Wyoming Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy Case
Taking care of children who have HIE is no joke. The annual costs can easily run into the tens of thousands of dollars. Yet, as a parent, you have to ensure that the child is well cared for and gets access to everything he or she needs.
Most people cannot afford this, which is why parents without any form of compensation or financial support get into a lot of debt. But with a birth injury lawsuit, you can recover all the costs needed to provide your child with everything they require.
Some of the things that a hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy compensation claim can cover include:
- Cost of treatment
- Means of mobility if the child requires it
- Home modifications for easier access
- Vehicle modifications for transporting the child
- Consistent support and care for the child
- Hiring a permanent caregiver to take care of the child’s needs
- Medical equipment
- Rehabilitative therapy
- Pain and suffering
- Emotional anguish and distress
- Loss of personal or family income
- Reduced earning capacity if a parent has to stay at home and take care of the child’s needs full tim
Please note that per WS § 1-1-109(b), your final settlement depends on the degree to which you may be at fault too. Wyoming is a modified comparative negligence state. So, if the parent is partly at fault, the court will consider the degree to which the parent contributed to the child’s development of hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy.
For example, if the jury awards $2 million in damages, but finds that the parents were 20% responsible for the child’s HIE, the parents will only receive $1.6 million, which is 80% of the total compensation as settlement.
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How Much Can You Expect as Settlement?
Wyoming does not have a statutory limit on how much money parents who file a medical malpractice suit can receive as compensation. Therefore, there are no caps or limits to the receivable damages in a Wyoming birth injury lawsuit. This is in contrast to many other states that have instituted these limits.
So, the jury or court is often at liberty to award whatever they see fit as economic and non-economic damages in any medical malpractice lawsuit. As a matter of fact, Wyoming’s Constitution expressly forbids the enactment of any law to that effect.
However, compensation may be limited by the healthcare provider’s max insurance coverage. Please discuss with experienced birth injury lawyers regarding the terms and limits of recoverable damages in your HIE case.
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How Long Do You Have to File a Medical Malpractice Lawsuit in Wyoming?
Wyoming has a two-year statute of limitations on all medical malpractice suits. This includes HIE and birth injury lawsuits. The rationale behind this seemingly short deadline is that:
- Evidence can disappear or get lost with time
- Witness memories become unreliable
- Cover-ups can be effectively executed
You don’t want to have to deal with this while filing your claim. Therefore, you have two years from the date of identifying the negligence, injury, omission, mistakes, and harm to file the lawsuit.
If you miss the deadline by even a day, you will be time-barred and your claim will be denied—even if the claim is valid and well-deserved. So, parents looking to file an HIE medical negligence lawsuit would be best served by moving forward with it very quickly and contacting a Wyoming HIE lawyer sooner than later.
Contact a Wyoming Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy (HIE) Lawyer
Medical malpractice cases are often complicated and lengthy. This means that if you want adequate compensation for your child’s birth injury, you need to start the process as soon as possible.
An experienced Wyoming hypoxic ischemic attorney can help make the process of recovering your damages easier and faster. The lawyer will file the claim, submit evidence to the medical panel if necessary, negotiate your settlement, and fight for you until your child gets what’s rightfully theirs.
Contact our seasoned birth injury lawyers to discuss your case. We offer free case evaluations and over-the-phone consultations.
Call or text 1-800-222-9529
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