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Birth injuries are an agonizing scenario for any family and often bring long-term health complexities for the injured child. Parents struggling with a potential medical malpractice claim relating to the birth process rightfully demand justice and expect fair compensation. However, not just any attorney will serve your interests appropriately. The highly specialized nature of birth injury lawsuits requires a specialized birth injury attorney with extensive experience, and the highly emotional nature of birth injury requires a lawyer who can work well with you.
How Can I Find a Birth Injury Lawyer Who Has Experience With Cases Similar to Mine?
Each state sets the standards for how and when doctors, nurses, and healthcare providers in general may be held liable for errors causing severe or disabling birth injuries. Birth trauma may arise from issues during labor, complications while the baby is still in the womb or immediately following delivery.
Proving this class of medical malpractice requires that a lawyer go beyond knowledge of the law to have familiarity with things like fetal development, obstetrics, neonatology, and relevant medical standards and terms. Here are some ways to start your search:
Referrals From a Trusted Source
One proven route to identifying a knowledgeable lawyer involves soliciting referrals from trustworthy sources. Do you know friends, colleagues, or neighbors who faced a similar scenario and secured a beneficial outcome with their chosen attorney? If so, inquire about their experiences.
Additionally, don’t forget to speak with medical professionals in situations where you don’t believe malpractice occurred. Skilled doctors, nurses, or therapists caring for your child might be familiar with lawyers handling these complex lawsuits and be able to recommend some who have a good reputation not only in the legal but also in the medical community.
Online Attorney Directories and Resources
Numerous online resources offer detailed information, allowing you to search attorneys by specialization and location:
State Bar Associations
The official organizations overseeing the legal profession in individual states typically curate lists of attorneys by practice area. Consider contacting your state’s bar association directly to inquire about members actively handling birth injury matters. These groups sometimes even operate referral services or hotlines dedicated to assisting legal consumers in these circumstances.
Birth Injury or Other Organizations
Some reputable non-profit groups exist primarily to support parents contending with the difficulties of a birth injury scenario, and others exist to help those suffering generally from brain injuries or other common outcomes of a birth injury. Such organizations usually maintain resources such as attorney listings or information about how to connect with lawyers focused solely on this practice area.
Niche Attorney Directories
Certain private sites cater to medical malpractice and birth injury specifically. Search results often provide attorney profiles including educational background, practice focus, and even summaries of specific results secured on behalf of past clients.
Don’t Limit Yourself Geographically
If you reside in a rural or sparsely populated region, be prepared to cast a wider geographic net, though you will still want to stay within your state. Many specialized legal practices with outstanding resources operate at the state level, and sometimes they have branch offices with attorneys licensed and practiced in multiple states. Learn more here about a practice that can offer help in Maryland, Tennessee, New York, Pennsylvania, and Washington D.C.
When considering online resource listings, pay attention to whether the attorney regularly authors educational pieces, publications, case summaries, or participates actively within professional organizations dedicated to birth trauma litigation. Lawyers deeply engaged in a practice area demonstrate their commitment to both client results and staying on top of current standards of care: both critical when pursuing this avenue of relief.
Vetting a Potential Birth Injury Attorney
When scheduling an initial consultation with attorneys on your shortlist, don’t feel overwhelmed or hesitate to ask direct questions. Don’t merely confirm experience with birth injury lawsuits. Instead, ask the attorney to describe specific circumstances. Did they deal with a newborn suffering injuries comparable to your child? Did those cases require the use of expert witnesses, go to trial, or require complex mediation or arbitration before a final determination?
Asking About Fees
Medical malpractice representation usually operates on a “contingency fee basis.” This means payment only happens if the lawyer secures funds for you in a settlement or trial verdict and will collect as a percentage of that amount. Ask upfront whether your consultation carries a fee obligation if you ultimately don’t retain the lawyer, what percentage their firm employs as the standard contingency fee in most scenarios, and how payment of associated litigation costs and expert witness fees are handled.
Beyond Qualifications, Seek “the Fit”
Beyond mere credentials, determine your level of comfort with this attorney and whether you perceive genuine compassion and connection. Will your potential attorney understand and empathize with the long-term implications of your situation?
Remember, this case isn’t simply about getting a fair result in theory – it requires someone who shares your understanding of the profound impact birth injuries have on everyone in the family.
