Childbirth should be a time of celebration. It’s often a moment for which couples have long-awaited, but sometimes birth can lead to tragedies of its own. If your child was hurt due to injuries during pregnancy, it’s vital that you know what steps to take next. Below are a few things you can do to handle damages to your child due to pregnancy injuries.
Start Getting Help
The most important thing you can do once you notice that your child has been hurt is to start getting medical help. While it may be tempting to wait until after you are able to receive compensation, many injuries only become worse if left untreated. Not only is this damaging to your child, but it can be used against you later in court as a sign of negligent care. As counter-intuitive as it may seem, it’s best to pay for your child’s care now and then include the costs in your compensation claim.
Get Another Medical Opinion
When the damages are caused by medical malpractice, going back to the same doctor for repeated care afterward is not in your or your child’s best interests. Not only does it increase the risk of continued malpractice, but their diagnosis may carry a great deal of unhelpful bias. As such, it’s a good idea to take your child to a different physician so that you can get an objective medical opinion about what might have happened to your child, what their current medical condition is, and how to proceed with their care. Getting this neutral opinion will give you a better picture of the situation and will provide valuable evidence to be used later in your claim against the previous practitioner.
Document Everything
Documentation means everything going forward. Everything that you observe, everything that a doctor says to you, and everything that you receive from the hospital should be documented and kept in a safe place. Make sure to include both the diagnoses given by the offending practitioner and your new doctor so that comparisons can be drawn by the professionals for your case. This is the data that you will use in the future to help your child, so make sure that you keep building your document base as you learn more.
Contact a Lawyer
Finally, make sure that you contact an experienced birth injury lawyer so that you can determine whether or not you can bring a case against those responsible for your child’s injuries. A good lawyer will look at the data that you have collected and give you an honest opinion as to what steps you should take next. They will also be able to help you select medical professionals to act as professional witnesses, sort through what information is relevant to the case, and help you better understand what you can include as damages in your claim for compensation.
Dealing with any kind of injury to your child is an emotional process, but it’s one that you must go through for the good of that child. Get your child the help he or she needs, then start gathering data to give to your attorney. Though not all types of damage can be fixed, you can hold those who caused the problems responsible for their errors.
Author information: Meghan Belnap is a freelance writer who enjoys spending time with her family. She loves being in the outdoors and exploring new opportunities whenever they arise. Meghan finds happiness in researching new topics that help to expand her horizons. You can often find her buried in a good book or out looking for an adventure. You can connect with her on Facebook right here and Twitter right here.
