When Should You Contact a Birth Injury Lawyer?

After the birth of your child, you may have questions or concerns about their health, well-being, and whether or not something went wrong. When should you contact a birth injury lawyer to find out if there are legal grounds on which to act? 

The answer is right away, even if you are unsure you want or can move forward with a legal case, so call a Rhode Island birth injury lawyer today.

Contacting an Attorney Immediately is Essential

You may be working to adjust to a different life than you planned, and your last thought is to seek legal action. Family members should not wait to take that action, though, in the form of reaching out to a birth injury lawyer. There are several key reasons why you should not wait to get the legal guidance you need.

• You need answers. While every other reason listed here is important, for many parents, it is critical to have these answers. Your attorney’s investigation will provide you with that insight.
• The financial recovery could be critical. If your child has significant injuries or may need a lifetime of care, the recovery from the mistakes a doctor or hospital makes could be critical in funding the care your child deserves.
• Insurance companies are not going to treat you fairly. It is not their job to be upfront with you about what your case is worth or what legal rights you have. Their job is to turn a profit.

The sooner you reach out to a birth injury lawyer, the sooner you get answers to your questions and can take appropriate legal action forward to preserve your right to protect your child’s future.

Seek out the legal team at Gemma Law today for a free, no-obligation consultation. You pay nothing, but you get answers found in our frequently asked questions about personal injury cases.

Signs You Should Contact a Birth Injury Lawyer Now

Not every situation would warrant legal intervention, especially if your child’s condition was not something doctors could predict or treat. However, parents should rarely forgo getting the legal guidance they need simply because having an attorney means they can gather information from a third party who is just working for them.

If any of the following situations happened in your case, contact our birth injury attorney today:

• Bruising on the child’s head, shoulders, or abdomen
• Facial paralysis
• Hearing or vision impairments
• Differences in the left and right side of the child’s face or body, such as a weaker grip on one hand
• Abnormal test results
• Seizures
• Persistent crying
• The need for supplemental oxygen
• Lack of muscle tone based on the heat, birth weight, and age of the child
• Uncontrollable movements and stiffness

These warning signs are often the first to occur, happening immediately after the child’s birth and in the days to follow. If you notice these, get your child additional medical care, and be sure you document what is occurring throughout this process.

It can also be critical for you to hire an attorney at that point if you suspect the doctor engaged in reckless abuse of the child in any way.

Some Birth Injury Warning Signs Develop Over Time

You may not know that a birth injury occurred right away, as your child may not have evidence physically of it immediately. Over time, additional symptoms may develop, often becoming noticeable around the age of 8 to 12 months.

At that age, if you see any of the following signs, speak to your child’s doctor and consider calling a birth injury attorney.

• Cognitive impairments in the child
• Inability to sit up or crawl at their age
• Physical abnormalities
• Joint and muscle stiffness, including jerky movements or uncontrolled movements
• Inability to perform tasks like clapping or grasping objects
• Failing to meet development milestones

Not every incident of these conditions is a birth injury, but these warning signs point to something going wrong during the child’s birth that could trigger medical malpractice.

Avoid confronting your child’s doctor, but instead, call our birth injury attorney to discuss your case. This gives you the information you need and preserves any evidence of what went wrong until our legal team can locate it for you.

How a Birth Injury Attorney Can Help You

Birth injuries take many forms, and it is not always clear that one took place, even if your child has significant injuries or losses. However, a medical malpractice attorney can offer valuable information and resources that can help you find out for sure when it comes to birth injuries in newborns.

If you suspect your child has any type of birth injury, your birth injury attorney can help you in numerous ways:

• We understand the state‘s laws on birth injuries as well as the necessary steps to take to prove medical malpractice took place.
• Our legal team can help you find the right medical experts to testify that your child’s losses were a preventable form of injury.
• Your attorney will have the ability to utilize their knowledge to support you in the recovery of evidence, including medical information from hospitals and doctors not otherwise available to you.
• Guide you in determining the severity of your child‘s injuries, including how those injuries will impact other aspects of their life for years to come.
• Provide legal guidance in securing compensation for all of the losses your child could sustain throughout their lifetime as a result of this birth injury.

A doctor may tell you that there was nothing they could do to prevent the injury or that it was not their fault. Do not allow this to settle your case until you speak to an attorney who is working just for you. 

As an experienced birth injury lawyer with the case results to prove it, we can tell you with confidence what your rights are and what to do now.

Protect Your Child’s Future with Compensation from Those Who Hurt Them

When should you contact an attorney for a birth injury? As soon as you suspect something is not right, that the doctors are lying to you, or when you are unsure who caused these injuries, are all good times to contact us. 

Call Gemma Law now for a free consultation.