Home » Birth Injury » Pennsylvania Birth Injury Lawyer
Medical errors can make the first weeks or years of a child’s life full of doctor’s visits and medical exams. Some birth injuries are permanent, causing your child to need lifelong medical support. Luckily, you don’t need to bear the burden of someone else’s error alone.
In Pennsylvania, you have the right to pursue legal action against medical providers if their mistakes harmed your child during birth. A Pennsylvania birth injury lawyer from our team is ready to work with you today. Give TopDog Law Personal Injury Lawyers a call at (844) 456-9275 for a free consultation.
It costs absolutely nothing to see if you have a case
In Pennsylvania, you can pursue legal action against a physician or hospital without hiring a lawyer. However, you may find it difficult to manage the legal process on your own. After all, there are many steps involved when building a claim or lawsuit. You may not want to gather evidence, handle negotiations, or interpret laws by yourself.
Doctors and hospitals typically carry medical malpractice insurance. These insurance providers are prepared to play hardball, so they don’t have to give you the compensation you deserve. Without the support of a lawyer, you could be strongarmed by an aggressive insurer.
TopDog Law Personal Injury Lawyers exists because of these challenges. We’re here to support families as they fight for justice for their injured children. A Pennsylvania birth injury lawyer from our team can stand up to those responsible for your child’s injuries.
We provide our clients with the following services:
Our Pennsylvania Attorney, James Helm, Will Advocate for You
James Helm leads our firm. He holds a Master of Business Administration and a Juris Doctorate from Rutgers University. Attorney Helm fights for the underdog. He empathizes with each client he works with, and he knows how to seek the settlement you deserve.
At TopDog Law Personal Injury Lawyers, you can expect our team to stand by your side until your case is closed. After working with James, former clients say:
Treating a birth injury like cerebral palsy isn’t cheap, particularly if your medical insurer isn’t providing adequate coverage. We recognize that you might be in a difficult financial position. For this reason, we offer our legal services on a contingency-fee basis. This means that:
We can discuss our payment plan in-depth during a free case review. We won’t proceed until you’re comfortable with our financial arrangements.
In a Pennsylvania birth injury case, you can qualify for a range of damages, including the following:
These damages differ depending on the context of your case. As your legal team, we can determine which damages you qualify for.
Every birth injury case is different, meaning the amount of compensation you receive depends on your case’s details. Generally, these factors may impact how much you and your family receive in compensation:
At TopDog Law Personal Injury Lawyers, we understand that our clients like to know what they could receive in compensation. We can discuss the possible settlement amount associated with your unique case after you’ve joined our team as a client.
Wrongful death cases are uniquely challenging, particularly when they involve birth injuries. First, if you lost your child, we extend our deepest condolences. We’re prepared to treat your case with care, compassion, and patience.
Second, we recognize that compensation does not make up for what your family is going through. However, we can hold the medical system that wronged you accountable by fighting for the following wrongful death damages:
In Pennsylvania, wrongful death cases are uniquely complex. They often require two types of legal actions: wrongful death lawsuits and survival actions. Our team can explain how each type of lawsuit applies to your unique case.
Birth injuries fall into the category of law known as medical malpractice. This means the Pennsylvania medical malpractice statute of limitations, 42 Pa. C.S.A. § 5524(4), impacts them. The existence of this law means you typically have two years from the incident of medical malpractice to file a lawsuit. This deadline only begins counting down once you’ve discovered that your child was injured.
Many medical malpractice cases are settled outside of court. However, you shouldn’t miss your opportunity to file a lawsuit. Lawsuits are useful legal tools and can be used as bargaining chips during settlement negotiations. Other benefits of starting your case early include the following:
Some birth injuries are unavoidable. However, if your child was injured because of a medical professional’s negligence, you could have a case against the hospital, doctor, or nurse responsible for delivery.
Sometimes the signs of a birth injury are
evident immediately after birth. If you
notice any of the below signs, it is best to
be precautionary and reach out to an
attorney as soon as possible.
Some birth injuries are unavoidable. However, if your child was injured because of a medical professional’s negligence, you could have a case against the hospital, doctor, or nurse responsible for delivery.
These are only a few examples of how negligence can play a role in your case. What’s important, though, is that you hire a lawyer who can prove that medical malpractice occurred. To verify the existence of medical malpractice, the following must be true:
If you believe your doctor could have prevented your child’s injuries but didn’t, you could take legal action. Our Pennsylvania birth injury lawyer can assess your case.
If you suspect negligence played a role in your child’s injury, our team can help. We can determine if you should pursue a lawsuit or seek the money you need through an insurance claim. Once we understand the details of your case, a Pennsylvania birth injury lawyer from our firm can begin an investigation, gathering evidence like:
In a legal context, a birth injury refers to child health conditions caused by medical negligence during the birthing process. These cases focus on medical professionals making preventable mistakes that seriously or permanently impact a child’s life. By pursuing compensation, you can ensure your child’s ongoing medical expenses are covered.
Common types of birth injuries include:
Various risk factors can increase the risk of a birth injury, including the following:
A prolonged birth
High infant birth weight
The use of devices like a vacuum or forceps during birth.
The baby moves buttocks first rather than headfirst through the birth canal
Premature birth or low birth weight
When a child experiences brain damage during birth, doctors often bar the parents from immediately holding the child. Then, they’ll take the child to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) to use cooling therapy. This therapeutic process reduces the baby’s body temperature and lowers the risk of permanent brain injury. Therefore, if you couldn’t hold your child after birth, it’s possible a birth injury took place.
Given the variety of birth injury types, it may otherwise be difficult to determine if your child was injured without speaking with your doctor. However, some potentially long-term conditions like Erb’s and cerebral palsy are relatively easy to spot. Both these injuries lead to motor control reduction, causing symptoms like:
If your child is exhibiting any of these symptoms or otherwise appears injured, a Pennsylvania birth injury attorney from our team can undergo an investigation on your behalf. Remember, many birth injuries don’t manifest until weeks, months, or even years after medical malpractice occurred.
TopDog Law Personal Injury Lawyers is currently accepting Pennsylvania birth injury clients. Contact our offices today for a free case review to learn about your options and next steps – we can support clients in either English or Spanish.
In your time of greatest need, we’re here to fight for the case outcome you deserve. Get started by calling us today at (844) 456-9275.
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IDENTIFICATION REQUIRED BY MRPC RULE 7.2(d): Attorney Rick Houghton is responsible for the content of TopDog Law's Michigan legal advertisements. He can be contacted at (855) 921-1478.