Cerebral palsy and medical lawsuits

Cause of action

You have a legal cause for medical or doctor malpractice if any or both conditions are true:

• Your baby has been diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy and you have reason believe that the doctors', nurses', and hospital staff's actions or omissions were the cause of your child’s present condition.
• You have been informed that the diagnosis or symptoms indicate that a birth trauma or birth injury may have injured your child.
  

Elements of medical or doctor malpractice:

• There must be a negligent act and/or omission by any medical professional, which includes doctors, hospitals, nurses and other health care provider.
• The negligent act or omission must be the proximate cause or contributed to the injuries or damages to the child.
• there must be a departure from the generally accepted standard of care that caused the injury.

Medical expert witnesses must be hired to help prove the negligent act or omission and to explain what the generally accepted standard of care is and whether there has been a departure from the standard of care that caused the child’s injuries.

Damages

Other experts are also needed ranging from nursing experts, economists, future life care planners (cost of past and future medical treatments, nursing care, education, evaluations, home care, modifications, etc.) to other experts needed to prove the injuries and damages suffered by the child and the parents.

Cerebral palsy attorneys' fees

All cases are handled on a contingency fee basis. This means that unless a recovery has been made, the cerebral palsy attorneys will not charge for their time, expenses or other costs incurred in pursing the case. If a settlement has been made, then the cerebral palsy attorneys will receive their fee and legal costs expended on the case. All attorney's fee contracts should always be in writing, clearly stating the terms of the contract.

Other expenses and costs

The client's file contain a record of all expenses and costs in the case. The record is open for viewing and backed up by written documentation. In the majority of cases that involve severe injuries to a child, the local court judge will assign an attorney (often at the defendant's cost) to review the facts, allegations, and evidence of the case and the expenses.

This attorney will actually appear before the court and present to the judge his or her recommendation to the settlement.

This procedure is designed to protect the child’s interest, to prevent parents or guardians from taking advantage of the settlement and to insure that the money set aside for the child will always be available when the child needs them and not wasted by others.