What are some things to keep in mind if your baby has a birth injury, especially if contacting a birth injury attorney is in your future? A lot of our educational videos deal with a birth injury from the medical legal aspect. With this video, and supporting article, we set out to do something different. Because I do a lot of the videos, Renee and I thought that it would be a good idea for her to share some of the issues which present themselves when she also fields calls to our office (yes we do call people back!).
In this article I will discuss two of the biggest areas of confusion for some parents when they contact us. Having a better grasp on these issues can make your initial contact with a birth injury attorney more meaningful. Remember, these are just two of the more common issues that we hear and are in no way all the issues.
UNREASONABLE EXPECTATIONS
Some of the things to keep I mind if your baby has a birth injury and you would like to speak with a birth injury attorney are unreasonable expectations. These expectations can take form in a lot of ways. One of the more common ones is, “will my family be able to get done with this case pretty quickly?” Another way to say this in this context is how long will this take, and will it be done fast?
These expectations are unreasonable because when you understand the process, you will see that a birth injury, or birth trauma case, will take some time to complete. The cases can take at least a year to finish. The Civil Justice System is not a system that runs at warp speed. There are a lot of moving pieces which encompasses a birth injury lawsuit. For example, medial experts are needed to give opinions as to the standard of care and other issues like causation and damages. In addition, the court will put together a scheduling order which will govern the discovery and motions process. All these things take time.
GET THE MEDICAL RECORDS IF YOU CAN…
In some cases, we will have parents contact us early on regarding their baby’s injury we will often get them to give us a medical release and we will get the records. On the other hand, some families will wait and contact us down the road. When this is the case, sometimes the calls are more on the informational side of things, which is fine. If you are in the wait and see camp, then you might want to think about getting the medical records as soon as you can.
I quickly discussed the use of medical experts above and will tie that together here. Maryland law requires the use of medical experts to give certain opinions regarding these cases. One of the ways in which the experts give opinions is using the medical records. The records are the foundation of these types of cases for the most part.
Before leaving this section, I want to give you one more point of advice regarding the medical records. If you request the records, be sure to request a CD/Disk if you can. An email PDF or portal access may also be helpful. The reason being is that these records can have a specific cost per page, and this can be expensive in some cases. In addition, be sure to request mother’s records, baby’s records, and the electronic fetal heart monitor records. All three sets of records are important and as a result, do not let the hospital give you bits and pieces of the record.
THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND IF YOUR BABY HAS A BIRTH INJURY…
As I stated above, the purpose of this article is to assist with things to keep in mind if your baby has a birth injury and you are thinking about speaking with an attorney, either now, or down the line. If you have more questions for us you can reach us at 301-850-4832. We talk with families all the time regarding birth trauma and birth injury cases and would be happy to listen to your story with your baby.
Marcus B. Boston, Esq.
2 Wisconsin Circle, Suite 700
Chevy Chase, Maryland 20815
1-833-4 BABY HELP