What Factors Can Affect the Outcome of a Birth Injury Case?
Published: 2023-09-13 11:48:30

When a newborn baby suffers a birth injury as a result of negligence on behalf of the healthcare practitioner, it may be considered medical malpractice. Birth injury medical malpractice cases are often challenging to win, requiring the assistance of an experienced birth injury attorney. Here are some of the factors that can make or break your case. 


**What Factors Can Affect the Outcome of a Birth Injury Case?**

You Must Prove That a Duty of Care Was Breached
During childbirth, the doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals owe a legal duty of care to the mother and infant. If this duty of care is breached through negligence, resulting directly in an injury to the mother or child, then medical malpractice may have occurred. The success of your birth injury case will largely depend on how well you can prove that your child's injury was caused by a breached duty of care. 

This can often be challenging because childbirth is a complex medical process that sometimes has negative outcomes even when the healthcare professionals involved all act with due diligence, skill, and care. Indeed, the defendant will almost always argue this to have been the case. It usually takes a seasoned medical malpractice attorney to investigate the incident, determine whether and how the injury was caused by negligence, and then prove it in court. 


**What Is a Duty of Care?**

The duty of care owed to patients means that medical practitioners must carry out all tasks with a level of care, skill, and diligence as would be expected of any medical professional under the same circumstances. Any failure in the expected standards of care may constitute medical malpractice if it can be proven.


**Examples of Breached Duty of Care**

During childbirth, negligent acts may include the improper administration of amnesia or improper use of forceps or vacuum extractors. Failing to recognize and properly deal with umbilical cord problems, shoulder dystocia, or signs of fetal distress are also mistakes that can cause serious birth injuries. 

Poor placenta management or C-section performance can also harm newborn infants. Sometimes, waiting too long to perform a C-section would constitute a breach of the duty of care. When a child is injured as a result of any such potentially negligent act, the cause of the injury may not be immediately apparent. To determine the cause, an extensive investigation by a birth injury lawyer and various medical experts is often required. 


**Causation Must Also Be Proven**

Demonstrating that a negligent mistake occurred isn't enough on its own to win a case. The strength of your birth injury case also hinges on how clearly you can prove causation. This means proving that the doctor's negligence was a proximate cause of the injury. 

In other words, you must prove that the injury happened because of the doctor's error and not because of something else. Once again, this usually takes in-depth investigation, mountains of evidence, and expert witness testimony. 


**You Must Also Prove the Value of Your Damages**

If your attorney successfully proves the existence of both negligence and causation, you may well win compensation. However, you'll need to prove the full value of your damages in order to receive a fair payout. Catastrophic birth injuries can sometimes result in a lifetime of expensive ongoing medical care, physical and emotional pain, reduced enjoyment of life, and an inability to work and earn a living. All of your losses must be recovered in full. 

The monetary outcome of your case will depend on how robustly your attorney can prove the full value of the losses you've already suffered and the losses you and your child will face in the future because of the doctor's negligence. And you only have one chance to recover suitable compensation; when receiving a settlement or court-awarded payout, you'll usually be required to sign a release form that relieves the defendant of all future liability for the accident. 


**Your Birth Injury Attorney Plays a Crucial Role**

Pursuing a birth injury case against a healthcare practitioner or organization can become a grueling uphill battle. It's almost always wise to hire a seasoned birth injury lawyer to handle the fight on your behalf. 

The difficulties involved in investigating and gathering evidence to prove negligence, causation, and damages in such a complex medical procedure require the skills of a specialist attorney along with various medical experts. As such, the attorney you choose may be the most important determining factor in the outcome of your case. [Find out more](http://angeloslaw.com/personal-injury/medical-malpractice/birth-injury/) here about how an experienced birth injury lawyer in Baltimore can help you win your case. 

Birth injuries are always a tragic occurrence, and the parents of injured newborn infants are well within their rights to pursue monetary compensation when medical malpractice has occurred. If the aforementioned factors are thoroughly handled and proven by a skillful birth injury lawyer, a successful outcome can often be achieved.