Rhode Island Birth Injury Lawyer

Compassionate Attorney Helping Families Seek Compensation for Health Care Negligence

The birth of a child is usually one of life’s most joyful events. In some cases, however, the momentous occasion of a child’s birth is marred by an unexpected birth injury. When a child suffers an injury at birth, it can impair the child’s ability to lead a normal life and often results in a need for lifelong care and treatment. Birth injuries can be both emotionally and financially devastating for the parents of the injured child. If your child suffered a birth injury, it is essential to engage an assertive medical malpractice attorney to assist you in pursuing all of the compensation that you may be able to recover. Attorney David Tapalian is a Rhode Island birth injury lawyer who will fight on your behalf to seek damages that will allow you to begin to repair the harm caused by your child’s birth injury.

Common Causes of Birth Injuries

There are certain critical moments during a child’s birth, at which a medical professional’s failure to provide adequate care can cause irreparable harm. Birth injuries commonly arise due to delays or a failure to notice concerning symptoms during labor and delivery. For example, a doctor may fail to induce labor at an appropriate time or fail to order an expectant mother to undergo a C-section, resulting in a difficult delivery and physical trauma. In some cases, a birth injury will be caused by a doctor’s failure to notice symptoms of preeclampsia, fetal distress, or issues with the placenta, which can result in hemorrhaging and oxygen deprivation. Common birth injuries include cerebral palsy, brain damage, respiratory distress, Erb’s palsy, and dislocated shoulders and fractures.

Proving Liability for a Birth Injury

If your child suffered a birth injury, you can seek damages from anyone whose negligence contributed to your child’s harm. In many cases, a birth injury attorney in Rhode Island will help a family sue the doctor who provided care prior to delivery and the doctor who delivered the child. In most Rhode Island medical malpractice cases arising out of a birth injury, the parents of the injured child will allege that the defendant’s negligence caused the child’s harm. To prove negligence, you must show that the defendant breached the applicable standard of care, which is what a competent doctor practicing in the same area of medicine and the same community would have done when faced with a similar situation. You must also prove that the breach caused your child’s harm.

Cases arising out of birth injuries are complicated and often require extensive discovery to obtain evidence to support the argument that the defendant breached the standard of care. Multiple medical experts will need to testify in most cases to establish both the manner in which the defendant’s behavior failed to meet the standard of care and thereby caused the child’s injury and how the child’s life will be affected by the injury. An experienced Rhode Island birth injury attorney can assist you in navigating the legal complexities of your case.

Recoverable Damages Following a Birth Injury

There are a variety of damages that may be awarded in a birth injury case. First, the parents of the injured child may be able to recover the cost of any past and future care and medical treatment that the child is reasonably expected to need. Damages may also be awarded to compensate for the child’s future loss of earnings and the pain, suffering, and emotional trauma caused by the injury. The statute of limitations in a Rhode Island medical malpractice case is three years after the child reaches the age of majority. Thus, if the parents do not pursue a claim on behalf of the child, the child has until their 21st birthday to file a malpractice claim.

Retain a Skilled Medical Malpractice Attorney

Birth injuries can result in lifelong detriments and usually are entirely avoidable. If your child suffered a birth injury, it is vital to retain an attorney to assist you in pursuing damages from the parties responsible for your child’s harm. David Tapalian is a proficient birth injury lawyer in Rhode Island who will work diligently to help you recover any compensation that you may be owed. Attorney Tapalian’s main office is in Providence, Rhode Island, and he is available for consultations by appointment at his second office in Seekonk, Massachusetts. You can contact Mr. Tapalian through the online form or at 401-552-5000 to set up a meeting to discuss your case.