What Can Get You Compensated for In a Birth Injury Claim?

Deciding whether you’ll push through a birth injury lawsuit could be a daunting situation. However, if you did go through the process and won the case, your party likely would receive compensation.

The main objective of birth injury lawyers is to do everything in their power to fight for their client’s cases and obtain a reasonable remuneration for the damages that the plaintiff party sustained so that they could start anew.

What’s a claim for compensation?

Birth injury lawsuits have two categories: the first one is punitive, and the other is compensatory.

If you want to ensure that the defendant would be put to jail for the injuries they caused your baby during or after you’ve given birth, a punitive claim would be ideal.

After all, it aims to serve as a lesson for the medical professional that their medical malpractice and the disregard for other people’s safety have put the victim’s lives in danger or a lifetime of suffering.

Meanwhile, a claim for compensation aims to reimburse the plaintiff for both incurred economic and noneconomic damages of the birth injury incident. Once it’s been proven that the defendant was liable for the accusations of the plaintiff’s party, a judge would direct that the defendant must repay the family.

In a few cases, the court may also grant a punitive punishment if they deem that compensation is insufficient in relieving the plaintiff’s losses.

Compensation according to economic damages

Reimbursements through economic or special damages are the most common type of compensation in birth injury lawsuits.

As its name suggests, this kind of compensation orders the defendant to provide a monetary payment for the expenses that the plaintiff shouldered as a result of the defendant’s shortcomings, which could include:

Disability expenses

Birth injury cases could be severe enough that the victim would have sustained a lifelong disability, which then would require them to depend on life support, have live-in nursing care, ongoing medications, or vehicle and home modifications.

As expected, these changes come with a price tag. For parents, the expenses are nothing but a sacrifice for their child’s comfort. However, this is still a valid ground to chase the defendant for the times they have to pay out of pocket.

Special education

When a birth injury results in a cognitive condition, like cerebral palsy, special care would have to be offered to the child. Unfortunately, their education could also be costly since they would have to attend the speech, occupational, and behavioral therapies to help them adjust to the real world.

Wage losses

Parents of children who had a birth injury incident typically would have to take several times off work to assist their kids in helping with their needs, such as going with them to doctor’s appointments.

Hence, they lose a considerable amount from their salary due to the company’s policy revolving around deductibles.

Medical costs

Medical costs under birth injury cases include the previous or upcoming medical care expenses, treatments, medications, surgeries, medical devices, doctor appointments, hired specialists, and even rehabilitation.

Legal and court fees

The legal process to win a birth injury lawsuit is expensive. Thus, the defendant could be ordered by the court to pay for the plaintiff’s behalf once found guilty of the crime.

This verdict intends to salvage the victim from the losses they have experienced for the defendant’s wrongful actions in the first place.

Compensation according to noneconomic damages

Noneconomic or general damages refer to the losses that the family endured after the incident. This could pertain to emotional or mental harm, such as emotional distress, physical suffering, loss of enjoyment or interest in life, psychological trauma, and mental anguish.

This could be proven through medical expert opinions, testimonies of eyewitnesses, or photographs.

In all honesty, each case differs in value. If you deem that your case could restore your family’s financial stability, then you may approach an attorney to pursue a claim for economic compensation. 

But if the birth injury emotionally and mentally scarred the family, then punitive compensation may work best for your party.