Bringing a new life into the world should be one of the happiest days of your life. When you go to the hospital, you expect the doctors and support staff to do everything they can to keep you and your child safe. Unfortunately, accidents and complications can happen, leading to injuries for both mother and child. When these injuries are a result of medical negligence, it can be devastating, but you may be able to hold the care team responsible for malpractice with help of a Pennsylvania birth injury attorney. But before you can sue, you’ll need to be able to prove that malpractice occurred. Let’s take a closer look.
What Constitutes Medical Malpractice for Birth Injuries?
Before we look at how to prove medical malpractice, it’s helpful to understand what constitutes malpractice for birth injuries. Medical malpractice happens when your doctor or medical care team fails to meet the standard of care. For birth injury cases, this means that the medical care team (your doctor, nurses, or other support staff) acted in a way that caused your child’s injury.
Keep in mind that some birth injuries can happen without negligence and may be deemed unavoidable due to circumstances out of your control or your medical care team’s control.
How to Prove Medical Malpractice in Pennsylvania
As we mentioned, you’ll need to be able to prove malpractice if you want your lawsuit to be successful. Your Pennsylvania birth injury attorney can help you throughout the process, but there are a few steps you’ll need to take to set your case up for success so you can get justice for your child.
Work With a Pennsylvania Birth Injury Attorney
The first thing you should do is find an experienced Pennsylvania birth injury attorney. They’ll help you compile evidence and build your case from the ground up. You’ll have access to an expert who can give you advice, help you find expert witnesses to strengthen your case if you go to court, and represent your interests throughout the legal process.
Establish a Doctor-Patient Relationship
To be eligible for a medical malpractice suit, you’ll need to be able to demonstrate a clear doctor-patient relationship between the doctor and yourself or the doctor and your child. This can be done with medical intake forms, appointment notes, and other similar documentation. Your attorney will help you figure out what you need to establish this relationship.
Define the Standard of Care
The “standard of care” refers to the level of skill, knowledge, and care that any properly trained healthcare provider in a similar situation would have given you and your child. Typically, this can be shown with help from an expert witness—usually another doctor who can attest to the actions that any reasonable medical care provider would’ve taken if they were on your care team. This can help you show that your medical care team breached the standard of care you should have received.
Prove a Connection Between Negligence and the Injury
With your attorney’s help and the testimony of an expert witness, you should be able to prove a connection between the doctor’s negligence and the birth injury. This is ultimately what the court is looking for, and by proving a connection between the medical care provider’s actions and your child’s injury, you’ll show that malpractice occurred.
Schedule a Consultation Today
Medical malpractice cases can be stressful for families who just want to make sure their child is recovering as well as possible. That’s why working with an experienced Pennsylvania birth injury attorney is so important. Your attorney can help you navigate the legal process and help you hold the medical care team accountable for their actions.
At Latona Law, our team is here to help. Contact us today to schedule a free consultation.