Sandy Birth Injury Attorney

Children and their parents may be resilient, but everyone can fall victim to injury. Medical professionals who don’t take your concerns seriously before you go into labor can injure you or your child during delivery. If you have evidence of this negligence on hand, though, you can hold the offending party accountable.

Birth injury lawyers throughout Sandy want to give new parents every opportunity to defend their and their child’s right to a safe birth. In the face of a birth injury, you can meet with 1Law representatives and discuss what steps you should take to bring your case before a judge.

Recognizing a Birth Injury

Worst injuries most often refer to health conditions endured by a child due to negligence or an appropriate medical treatment during delivery. These conditions are considered avoidable by third-party medical practitioners and can have a lifelong impact on a child’s health. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), some of the most common birth injuries for a child to face include:

• Brachial pulse
• Bruising
• Facial paralysis
• Fractures
• Subconjunctival Hemorrhaging
• Paralysis of the shoulder or arm

Parents Can Fall Victim to Birth Injuries, Too

While the term “birth injury” often makes parents think of their children, newborns are not the only parties who can suffer an injury at the hands of negligent medical professionals. The birthing parent can also face lifelong disability or death due to medical professionals’ inattention.

It does not matter if this inattention is intentional or accidental. Parents who endure disability or the loss of a loved one because of professional inattention have the right to bring their concerns before a civil judge. 

These parties are subject to the standard statute of limitations covering personal injury cases in Utah. However, all parties are also invited to collaborate with a birth injury attorney in Sandy to more comprehensively present their concerns.

Pursuing a Birth Injury Claim Allows You to Fight for Compensation

The value of your birth injury case depends on the nature of your losses. When filing a civil suit on the child’s behalf, you can take into account their current and anticipated expenses. Should you wish to file such a claim on your own behalf, you can tribute the same predictive assessment to your own losses.

In most cases addressing a child’s injuries, our team advocates for your right – and, subsequently, your child’s right – to compensation for injury-related medical expenses. Additional losses named in your complaint can include emotional distress, essential home care, and additional medical aides. 

As an adult filing a claim, you can also request compensation for lost wages or opportunities to work. Should medical negligence result in the wrongful death of either a parent or loved one due to a birth injury, you can pursue coverage for funeral expenses and related distress. 

Information to Include in a Birth Injury Claim

To bring forward a birth injury claim on behalf of an injured child or yourself, you must gather relevant information to better make your case to a civil judge. It is essential that you use your complaint to name the party liable for your losses. 

You must also use your available documentation to elaborate on the value of those losses. It is in your best interest to present bills and state-approved multipliers in tandem. These combined estimates can help you better argue for your right to birth injury damages. 

Birth Injury Liability

While it can feel as though an individual doctor or nurse is responsible for injuries during the birthing process, these parties are most often protected by their employers. If you wish to bring a birth injury case before a judge, you may need to name an institution liable for your losses. 

The question of responsibility only changes if the allegedly-liable party operates as a traveling nurse or independent contractor. However, circumstances in which a medical professional is not protected by an employing institution are rare. You can discuss these unique circumstances with Sandy birth injury attorneys, should you encounter them.

Birth Injury Liability and Settlement Offers

In most cases, you will be forced to tangle with a medical institution’s legal team to fight for birth injury compensation. On one hand, most medical institutions want to avoid time in Civil Court. As such, you may receive a settlement offer after sustaining a birth injury. 

On the other hand, these settlement offers can often be insufficient. Hospitals’ insurance companies try to reduce the strain on the hospital’s budget. You should bring any settlement offers you receive before one of our attorneys to discuss whether or not it adequately addresses the value of your losses.

Taking a Birth Injury Case to Civil Trial

If you do not receive a settlement offer, or if the settlement offer you do receive is insufficient, you can take your claim to trial. Our attorneys can guide you through the process of discovery and help present an array of evidence establishing an institution is negligent before a county clerk. 

Provided the county clerk moves your case forward, you can then argue your case for compensation before a judge and jury. 

The Statute of Limitations for Birth Injury Cases Involving Children is Flexible

Under normal circumstances, birth injuries that impact a parent’s ability to meet their day-to-day needs must be filed with Utah’s personal injury statute of limitations in mind. However, cases involving the injury of children are different. Utah civil courts consider a child’s parents to serve as adequate representatives in cases addressing the child’s injury. 

More specifically, the deadlines that apply to a traditional personal injury case in Utah do not apply to cases involving injured children. Instead of the usual four years awarded to accident survivors, children injured during labor or gestation may have cases brought forward on their behalf until they turn 18. 

Even at this point, those children can choose to act on their own behalf in civil court. These parties will have the requisite four years given to them by Utah Code Ann. §78B-2-307 to bring their concerns to the attention of a civil judge. 

We Help Parents Address Birth Injuries in Civil Court

No parent should have to contend with the trials of a difficult birth. It’s impossible, however, to stay on top of everything that could go wrong during pregnancy or labor. Should you or your child endure a birth injury, you don’t have to face your losses alone. You can work with a birth injury attorney in Sandy, UT, to bring instances of medical negligence to light.

Our team wants to give you the tools you need to identify and respond to birth injury negligence. For more information about how you can act on a child’s behalf in court, contact 1Law today. You can discuss the extent of your and your child’s losses during a case consultation with our team. We can also discuss your case via our free legal chat.