What Must Be Proven in a Birth Injury Case?

It is a frightening experience for any new parent to be informed that their newborn suffered a birth injury before or during delivery. Aside from the sudden notification that you, your loved one, or your child sustained an unexpected injury, you may not know how serious the injury is or what could have been done to prevent it.

When it comes to light that someone on your delivery team erred and caused you and your family harm, you have the right to seek compensation for your injuries. 

In doing so, you could receive a settlement if the other party who caused your injury agrees with or concedes your claim. If they do not, your ability to recover compensation depends on being able to prove you are legally entitled to receive it.

Elements of a Successful Birth Injury Case

The law requires an injured party (plaintiff), in any type of case, to prove specific facts, or elements, to prevail in court. The facts that you must prove in a Michigan birth injury lawsuit include the following:

Provider-Patient Relationship

First, the evidence must show that the medical provider was responsible for providing medical care to you or your loved one. This does not require you to have hired the person or actively sought care from them. 

For example, if a nurse in the delivery room failed to monitor your newborn’s vital signs during delivery, that nurse could be held responsible for the harm they caused to your baby.

Deficient Care

Next, once a provider is shown to have undertaken some aspect of your, your loved one or your baby’s care, that provider must give you reasonably competent medical care. What is considered deficient care depends on the circumstances, including their area of practice at the time of the injury, their specialty or board-certification, and the circumstances confronting the provider at the time of the injury.

Just because you, your loved one or your child suffered an injury during or after childbirth does not mean that the care provided was necessarily negligent. For example, if your doctor or nurse was confronted with two equally reasonable choices, and the choice they made resulted in an adverse outcome for you, you would not receive compensation.

Only where your medical provider made a decision or omission that no other similarly situated provider would have made (i.e., in breach of the applicable standard of care) will you be able to proceed with your claim.

Proof That Compensation Is Needed

Last, you must prove to the court of jury the extent of your harm by showing how much compensation you need to be made whole. 

This includes such things as the costs of medical treatment and care you have received, nursing and rehabilitative care, damages due to scarring,  the time from work you missed, etc., but also expenses and costs you will likely experience in the future. You can also pursue compensation for pain and suffering.

Proving Your Birth Injury Case With Help From a Michigan Lawyer

As someone injured in a birth injury accident, you bear the responsibility of proving these elements through evidence, documents, records, testimony, and affidavits. Gathering all of this material together to present in court can seem daunting. 

An experienced Michigan birth injury attorney can do much of this work for you while you recover physically and emotionally from your ordeal. The sooner you reach out to speak with a lawyer about your situation, the easier it often is for your lawyer to build your case.