Learn About HIE and Medical Malpractice Lawsuits
Understanding Who Can Be Held Accountable for Your Child’s HIE Birth Injury
If your child suffered an HIE brain injury at birth, then you may be looking to take legal action against the responsible party. In such cases, identifying liable parties is crucial. There may be multiple parties that should be the subject of legal action.
Proving that hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy was caused by a healthcare provider’s negligence is required to file a successful medical malpractice lawsuit. You and your attorney must prove the following elements:
Duty of Care. Proving a Doctor-Patient Relationship
Medical malpractice law requires you to show that the healthcare provider owed your child a duty of care. This is easily met by proving a relationship existed between the doctor and the patient, such as being admitted to a hospital or clinic for your pregnancy or delivery.
Some of the most common parties that are held accountable in HIE birth injury lawsuits include the:
● Nurse and doctor, monitoring the pregnancy
● Doctor tasked with monitoring labor and delivering the baby
● Medical practice of the doctors involved with the pregnancy and delivery
● Hospital where the birth took place
Breached Duty of Care
The next step in a medical malpractice claim is to demonstrate that the healthcare provider failed to act as a reasonably careful medical professional would in the same situation.
This might include:
- Delays in responding to signs of distress
- Improper use of delivery tools
- Not ordering a needed C-section
An in-depth analysis of medical records, scans, reports, and other relevant documents is necessary. This will assess which parties were negligent and may be held accountable for your baby’s birth injuries.
Causation
In a medical malpractice claim, it’s essential to connect the healthcare provider’s actions or lack of appropriate medical treatment directly to your child’s HIE. Many factors can cause a child’s birth injury.
Medical records, expert testimony, and test results often help trace how the medical providers’ negligent care led to a lack of oxygen and resulted in injury.
An experienced medical malpractice attorney and medical experts can uncover why the birth trauma occurred.
Damages
Lastly, medical malpractice law requires you to demonstrate the actual, measurable consequences of the alleged medical negligence.
These could include physical or brain injuries, medical expenses, lost wages, occupational therapy for injured patients, loss of opportunities for your child, emotional distress, and any other future medical care.
If you’re able to prove these elements, you could recover compensation from the responsible party.
Evidence Used to Prove Medical Malpractice Claims Related to HIE
Proving a medical malpractice claim for a child’s HIE diagnosis relies on collecting strong evidence from a variety of sources. Here’s what this often includes:
Medical Records and Fetal Monitoring Strips
Every entry and vital sign in a hospital chart can offer important clues into medical negligence. Fetal heart monitor strips might reveal increased stress or missed warning signs that were not quickly addressed. This can indicate a healthcare provider error, potentially leading to medical malpractice liability.
Witness Testimony About Medical Errors
Witness statements from family members, nurses, doctors, or any other healthcare professionals present during labor and delivery can fill in gaps about possible negligent conduct by healthcare providers.
Personal accounts sometimes highlight problems, such as communication breakdowns, slow response times, or unusual conduct, during medical treatment.
Expert Opinions About The Level of Medical Attention Received
Outside doctors can compare the care you or your baby received with national guidelines or published protocols. An expert’s analysis can underline points where healthcare staff may have mishandled a complication or misread warning signs, amounting to medical negligence.
Blood Tests and Imaging From the Hospital or Emergency Room
Blood gases, pH levels, MRIs, and other scans support a timeline and clarify how severe the oxygen loss was, alongside whether it lines up with whatever else you’re claiming in your medical malpractice lawsuit – like whether permanent brain damage is present.
Gathering as much information as possible from different sources gives your legal team a stronger chance of understanding your family’s story and fighting for the support your child needs through medical malpractice law.
Limited Period of Time to File an HIE Lawsuit
If you are considering taking legal action against a doctor, nurse, hospital, or other healthcare provider, it is essential to initiate the legal process as soon as possible. Why? Because each state has its own statutory deadline for filing a birth injury medical malpractice lawsuit.
This deadline is also known as the statute of limitations. In effect, claimants only have until the applicable statutory deadline to file a lawsuit. Once the deadline passes, your birth injury lawsuit will likely be barred from going forward.
Initiating the legal process sooner rather than later is also beneficial, as many states have imposed additional requirements and procedural hurdles for medical malpractice lawsuits to proceed in court.
For example, some states have passed laws requiring advanced notification to the doctor or medical facility that they are the subject of a lawsuit.
Contact The Yost Legal Group To Discuss a Possible HIE Birth Injury Lawsuit
If you have questions about what happened during childbirth, contact an experienced medical mistake lawyer. If you suspect medical negligence led to your child’s injuries, you never have to handle it on your own.
An HIE lawyer can help make this difficult situation more manageable by helping you with a medical malpractice case. Call 1-800-Yost-Law to speak directly with a medical malpractice lawyer. Your first consultation is free, and there are no upfront fees.
If you choose to move forward with a birth injury lawyer, you won’t pay anything unless we win compensation on your behalf. Filing a birth injury lawsuit will help provide a lifetime of care for your HIE newborn.
We always work on a contingency fee basis, which means you never incur any out-of-pocket expenses up front.
Reach out today to The Yost Legal Group to schedule your free consultation and discuss a possible medical malpractice lawsuit if you believe that negligence resulted in serious injury to your child.
Birth Injury Claims – Lawyer for Doctor Negligence – Hypoxia Birth – HIE Infant
HIE Neonate – HIE Brain Damage – Hypoxic Ischaemic Encephalopathy