If an error by a doctor, nurse, or midwife injured your child, our Tucson personal injury lawyers can help protect your family’s legal rights. Call the Mercaldo Law Firm at (520) 624-1400 today for a free consultation.
The aftermath of a birth injury can be devastating for the newborn, the family, and their loved ones. The cost of long-term care for a child with Erb’s palsy or cerebral palsy has been estimated at more than a million dollars over a lifetime. Unexpected expenses abound, including costs of medications, rehabilitation, therapy, special schooling, and assistive devices.
While nothing erases a birth injury, call a Tucson birth injury lawyer at the Mercaldo Law Firm for the experienced legal representation your case deserves.
Why Choose The Mercaldo Law Firm for a Tucson Birth Injury Case?
At the Mercaldo Law Firm, founding attorney Ron Mercaldo has more than 40 years of experience successfully representing Arizona families in birth injury cases that result from medical negligence.
The Attorneys with the Mercaldo Law Firm are some of Arizona and San Diego’s top litigation lawyers. We work hard with an investigation of medical errors as well as negotiation with and litigation against insurance companies in courts of law. The record of jury verdicts, totaling millions of dollars for our clients, is well known throughout the state.
We urge you to contact the Mercaldo Law Firm if you suspect that medical negligence led to your child’s birth injury or wrongful death in Tucson of a mother or child.
Your initial consultation is free of charge, and can be conducted at our law office, your home or your child’s hospital room.
Understanding the Consequences of Tucson Birth Injuries
The Attorneys with the Mercaldo Law Firm advocate aggressively for the rights of infants and children victimized by medical negligence with birth injury conditions such as:
- Brain damage from reduced blood flow or oxygen deprivation
- Hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE)
- Erb’s Palsy
- Cerebral palsy
- Brachial plexus injury
- Developmental delay
- Death of mother or child during delivery
A medical malpractice lawsuit alleging birth injury, brain injury, failure to diagnose, surgical error or medication error is an enormous undertaking. If the Mercaldo Law Firm accepts your case, we will demonstrate our wealth of investigative resources, legal skills, medical information, and courtroom abilities to confront physicians, nurses, hospital administrations, and their legal team with the facts of your case.
Proving Liability in a Tucson Birth Injury Case
All doctors and medical providers have a legal duty of care to their patients. In birth injury cases, the medical provider owed a duty of care to both the laboring mother and the unborn child. Proving that medical malpractice occurred in a birth injury claim requires evidence of the following:
- The medical provider owed a legal duty of care to the patient because a doctor/patient relationship was established
- The duty of care required the medical provider to treat the injury victim at the medical community’s accepted care standard
- They violated this duty of care
- The violation of duty caused the birth injury
- The child and their family suffered damages from the injury
Damages in birth injury cases in Tucson and elsewhere range from a few extra days of hospital care and additional medical tests to lifelong disability from a brain injury, nerve damage, or cerebral palsy.
What Damages Are Recoverable In a Tucson Birth Injury Claim?
A birth injury can change a child’s life and impact their family’s future. While nothing can erase a child’s injury or restore them to the health they would otherwise have enjoyed, a successful claim brings the family a sense of justice and financial accountability. It also opens doors to the best medical care. Common damages recovered in birth injury claims in Tucson and elsewhere include the following:
- Reimbursement for medical expenses
- Anticipated future medical expenses to care for birth-injury-related care
- Additional compensation for expenses like physical and occupational therapy, special education needs, and adaptive equipment
- A parent’s lost income
- Compensation for the child’s pain, suffering, and diminished quality of life
- Compensation for the parents’ emotional pain and anguish
When a medical provider’s negligence caused the birth injury, they are liable for the family’s damages through a claim against their medical malpractice insurance.
How Does a Tucson Birth Injury Lawyer Help My Case?
Proving that a child’s adverse medical outcome directly resulted from a preventable birth injury takes an experienced investigation and access to renowned medical experts and other resources. A Tucson birth injury lawyer does the following:
- Investigates all aspects of your case to determine the cause of the injury and the negligence responsible for the injury
- Pinpoints the liable party, which may be the attending physician, the care team, or the medical facility
- Documents compelling evidence of liability and determines the appropriate medical malpractice insurer with which to file a claim
- Carefully calculates the full lifelong damages of the birth injury by consulting with medical experts and occupational therapists
- Sends their findings to the appropriate medical malpractice insurance company in an evidence-backed demand package
- Negotiates with the insurer to seek the maximum compensation available to your family
Most Arizona birth injury claims end with a settlement from the insurance company, but your attorney from The Mercaldo Law Firm prepares your case as though for trial throughout the process to make a well-executed court case should the insurer fail to offer an ample settlement for your family’s losses.
How Long Do I Have to File a Birth Injury Claim In Tucson?
A birth-injured child’s parents have up to two years after the birth injury occurred to file a claim. If the injury wasn’t discovered until sometime later, the parents have up to two years from the date of the discovery, or when they should reasonably have discovered the injury, to file a compensation claim.
Contact The Mercaldo Law Firm
Call (520) 624-1400 or contact us online today to schedule a free consultation with our Tucson birth injury lawyers.Your initial consultation is free of charge! We will promptly return messages left after hours the following business day. Evening appointments are available upon request.