If you or your child sustained an injury during childbirth, a Columbia birth injury lawyer at Rikard & Protopapas may assist you in seeking financial compensation. The compensation you receive may be an important part of healing and your child’s future. Contact us today to discuss your case.
Understanding Birth Injuries
A birth injury is harm to the mother or child that occurs during childbirth. It is different from a birth defect, which is a physical abnormality that is present at birth. A birth injury is a physical injury in childbirth. Birth injuries may result from medical negligence.
Investigating birth injuries
The hospital isn’t likely to admit that it made a mistake. If your child experienced trauma during birth, needed therapy or resuscitation, or was admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit, these are warning signs that errors may have been made. Proving a case requires expensive documentation of what occurred. Our lawyers thoroughly investigate, working with medical experts to identify and prove any negligence by a medical professional that caused the birth injury.
Birth Injury Cases We Handle
Cerebral palsy
Cerebral palsy impacts muscle control and movement. Oxygen deprivation, trauma during birth and failure to respond to signs of fetal distress may all be potential causes. Our lawyers for cerebral palsy can investigate the actions and inaction of care providers and how they may have caused physical harm.
Eclampsia misdiagnosis and failure to diagnose
Eclampsia is the onset of high blood pressure and seizures during pregnancy. Failing to diagnose eclampsia, or misdiagnosing the condition, may harm both the mother and child. Care providers may fail to recognize signs and symptoms. They may misinterpret test results. Eclampsia may be fatal.
Preeclampsia misdiagnosis and failure to diagnose
Preeclampsia may damage organs, including the liver and kidneys. It involves high blood pressure. Medical providers may inadequately monitor the pregnancy, delaying treatment or resulting in improper treatment. Medical personnel may be dismissive of complaints and symptoms even when there is a medical emergency. Failing to treat the patient may result in maternal death.
Spinal cord injuries and paralysis
Overstretching during delivery may cause a spinal cord injury, resulting in paralysis. Damage may be permanent and even fatal.
Perinatal asphyxia
When a newborn is deprived of oxygen before, during, or after birth, they may suffer from brain damage or death. Appropriate monitoring and response to warning signs may prevent perinatal asphyxia.
Other birth injuries
If you or your child have suffered from other birth injuries, and they are the result of medical negligence, you may have a claim for financial compensation. Contact us to discuss your situation and whether you may seek a monetary payment.
Lawyers for Birth Injury in Columbia, SC
At Rikard & Protopapas, we are proud to be leaders in medical negligence litigation, including advocating for victims of birth injury. Often, injuries during childbirth are the result of medical negligence – doing what a reasonable healthcare professional would not have done, or failing to do what a reasonable professional should have done.
Victims of birth injury resulting from professional medical negligence may claim financial compensation. The Rikard & Protopapas team of personal injury lawyers represents victims and families in Columbia, SC and the surrounding regions. We thoroughly investigate and prepare the complex factual and scientific evidence needed to succeed in a birth injury claim.
Call or message us for a no-cost, no-obligation consultation, and start your case.
Compensation for Birth Injury
A claim for birth injury is based on a failure to provide adequate medical care. To qualify for monetary compensation, the claimant must prove the following:
- The prevailing standard of medical care: The care that should have been provided had healthcare professionals had adequate training, skill, and attention to services.
- Breach of the standard of medical care: The actions of medical professionals that failed to live up to standards of adequate care. This is called negligence.
- Injury: The victim suffered injury because of medical negligence. Negligence must be the direct cause of the harm that occurred.
- Damages: Losses and harm that the victim has endured. An infant may claim the cost of future medical care needs, personal care, other financial losses, and non-economic suffering.
Damages may include present losses – like immediate medical care, as well as future damages – like medical care that an infant is likely to need throughout their lifetime. Because victims of birth injury are infants, their lives may be impacted in a drastic way from the very outset. Damages are often high to reflect the loss that has occurred.
Our lawyers work to claim the compensation that you may deserve under South Carolina law. We understand the types of damages and the limitations that may apply in medical negligence cases. We prepare a strategy to best pursue your rights and compensation.
Why Choose Our Experienced Team?
More than 1,600 clients have trusted the team of Rikard & Protopapas to represent their legal interests. We have a strong focus on medical negligence claims including birth injuries. We handle cases in Columbia, SC, and in the surrounding regions.
Our team files cases in Richland County, Lexington County, Sumter County, Orangeburg, and other courts around South Carolina for birth injury claims. Each case receives a personalized case strategy. With hundreds of satisfied clients, we’re proud of the legal representation that we provide for families suffering from birth injuries. With ten attorneys and a full support staff, we have the resources and skills to meet your needs.
Contact Us Now to Speak to a Birth Injury Lawyer in Columbia
The sooner you contact us, the sooner we can start working on your case. Deadlines apply, and we want to work quickly to preserve evidence.
Consultations are always free. It doesn’t cost you anything to have an initial consultation with our legal team. We offer contingency fees and other types of fee agreements to meet your needs.
For a consultation with a Columbia birth injury lawyer, and to start your case, contact Rikard & Protopapas. We are taking new claims. Meet in our offices, in the hospital, virtually, or another place that is convenient for you. Call or message us today.