law content 1/11/2020
The American legal system is complicated because we demand so much of it. As lawyers, we are well aware of the criticisms that have been made about the American legal system. Critics complain that it is inefficient, too expensive, and too slow.
What the critics often fail to realize, or admit, is that the American legal system recognizes and balances many valuable rights. It would be easy and efficient to administer a legal system if we could simply ignore the pesky rights of citizens or disregard the complex interests of those who come to the courts for justice. There are a few cases that we could not decide in a minute or two if all we had to do was listen to a soundbite by a newscaster. It is easy to make a court decision seem ridiculous or unfair just by leaving out most of the details.
The cases that make their way to the courts of this state are complicated. Important and serious rights are involved, and important public interests have to be balanced. It is the genius of the American common law system that our law is flexible to adapt to new circumstances as they arise. American law changes every day. Under the American system of justice, we start with broad principles found in our Constitution. Our legislative bodies, Congress, our state legislatures, and our city and county governments enact laws. Those laws are interpreted by courts. At the state level, those courts consist of judges who are also elected officials.
Our legislative bodies also create administrative agencies that are empowered to issue regulations. Those regulations must also be interpreted, and it is the job of the courts to interpret those regulations to carry out the goals of the legislature and the administrative agency, as well as to protect the public interest.
American law also relies heavily on principles that we inherited from England and have adopted and adapted to our own needs. These principles are called “common law.” Although most common law principles have now been codified by legislation, those principles are still subject to interpretation and development by decisions of courts. When appellate courts make decisions that clarify or change the law, those decisions are published.
Of course, American law is complicated. American law is complicated because American society is complicated. There are numerous important public issues, and there are legitimate interests on every side of those issues, and fair consideration must be given to all of those interests.
In the 21st century, lawyers keep up with the constantly changing legal environment by means of computer-assisted legal research. It takes years of training and experience to get comfortable researching and applying the law to new fact situations.
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PERSONAL INJURY 101
Mention an auto accident or a slip & fall incident and many people think of an attorney chasing an ambulance. The sad fact is this is exactly what the insurance companies want you to think of.
Insurance companies want you to either:
(1) do nothing regarding your accident, or
(2) handle the claim yourself.
In such cases, the insurance company wins big because it is not required to pay you full value for your loss. A quick lesson in insurance economics. When you purchase insurance you pay a premium. The insurance company uses underwriting data to determine the premium. The underwriting data factors in the number of accidents, the type of injuries, and the value of the injuries and damages that can be expected. The data is reliable because it includes accident statistics from your area and from the entire state. It covers many years and is capable of picking up trends. Most importantly, it assumes that full value will be paid on each and every claim and that after all the money changes hands, there will still be money left over for the insurance company (i.e net profit). Now, if the insurance company can convince you to accept less than full value on your claim, they realize a windfall. And when they realize this windfall, where do you think the money goes? [On a related note it is interesting to observe that annually many of the largest jury verdicts are awarded against insurance companies for dealing in bad faith with their policyholders.]
Once you are injured you need the assistance of a skilled personal injury attorney. The attorney can navigate you through the confusing maze of medical coverage, PIP reimbursements, general damages, and case investigation. If done timely and properly your case is strengthened and your chances of receiving a full recovery are greatly improved. If done poorly or untimely, your chances of receiving a full recovery all but disappear. Timely legal representation sends a strong message to the insurance claims adjuster: “I will not allow you to ignore my rights and I will demand that you fully compensate me for my injuries and damages.”
LAND USE 101
One of the most complex and least-understood areas of law is land use. Politicians are still tinkering with the land-use system. As a general observation, leaders from one party answer to interest groups that want to stop nearly all growth, while leaders of the other party answer to interest groups and individual property owners who want to open up the system and permit unrestricted growth. The best system is most likely somewhere in the middle. In such a system, each application would be weighed on its own merit, and decisions of the public body would have to account for private property rights as well as public safety.
The framework of land use is somewhat simple. Within the state, each county and city operates under a Comprehensive Plan. These Plans establish generalized aspirational goals as determined by that jurisdiction. Next are the zoning districts. Zoning districts attempt to cluster like and complementary uses within a specified area (i.e. industrial uses in the industrial zone, residential uses in the residential zone). Within each zoning district, there exists a list of allowed uses. Generally speaking, if what you want to do with your property is listed as an allowed use within your particular zone, you can proceed without further process. If what you want to do is not listed as an allowed use, you may be able to obtain approval nevertheless if the use can qualify as a conditional use. These are uses that require you to first meet certain conditions before you will be granted a permit to do what you want to do. If you are required to apply for a conditional use, be prepared for a fight. Most land use applications that are contested involve conditional uses. This is because the decision to approve or not approve a conditional use involves a considerable amount of discretion on the part of the local jurisdiction. If your neighbor or a local watchdog organization wants to cause you grief, they need to look no further than your conditional use application. The conditional use process provides ample opportunity for challenge, delay, and increased costs.
So what do you do if the applicable zoning does not allow you to do what you want to do (either as a permitted use or conditional use)? Give up or seek an amendment to the Comprehensive Plan and the Zoning Ordinance. This process is time-consuming and expensive. Again, expect opponents to challenge your every move and force delay and increased costs.
Should you prevail at the local level you are still not out of the woods. Your opponents may file an appeal of your local approval with the Land Use Board of Appeals. They have the power to approve, reverse, or remand the local decision.
One absolute with regard to land use is that you should retain a land-use attorney to assist you through the process. Significant rights can be lost if you move forward without first having determined all of your options. Understand that while most local planning staffs try very hard to process your application in a timely manner, they do not represent you and they cannot give you legal advice.
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1. How do I know if I need an attorney?
If you have been injured due to the actions of another person, you need to speak to an experienced personal injury attorney in order to determine if your claim is worth pursuing.
2. How much will it cost me to meet with an attorney?
Nothing. There is no charge for your initial personal injury consultation with Our Law Firm.
3. If you take my case, how are you paid?
If we determine that your personal injury claim has merit and should proceed, we will present a written contingency fee agreement. Under this arrangement, if we secure a recovery for you we are paid a percentage of the recovery – if we do not secure a recovery you pay no attorney fees.
4. If I am injured in an accident, should I speak with the insurance representative when he/she calls me a few days later?
No. Do not speak with the insurance representative for the other party. That person has financial interests that are opposite to yours and will attempt to solicit statements from you that could compromise your claim. Don’t be fooled by the fact that she/he may seen friendly and pleasant.
5. Do you help with medical bills and other issues related to the accident?
Yes. Our staff coordinates all aspects of your claim. This includes communications with medical providers and bill collectors. We also work with your insurance carrier on PIP issues and work to obtain temporary income replacement should you be unable to continue working.
6. How soon should I retain an attorney?
ASAP. At Our Law Firm, we spring into action as soon as you retain us. We quickly gather evidence before it is lost or destroyed and we put the insurance adjuster on notice that he/she will have to deal fairly and be prepared to pay you full value for your loss.
7. Why should I hire your Law Firm to represent me?
We have some of the most skilled trial attorneys in the area. We have tried death cases, fender benders, and everything in-between. We have a solid and professional reputation with judges, other attorneys, insurance adjusters, and law enforcement agencies. Our experience means that you will receive full value for your loss.
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Are You Aware of the Legal Ramifications and Signs of Common Birth Injuries?
Has your child been afflicted with Cerebral Palsy after a difficult labor and delivery at a hospital? If so, then you and your family have the right to recover appropriate legal damages from those who caused this tragedy, with the help of an experienced birth injury attorney who specializes in Cerebral Palsy cases.
All licensed medical professionals are subject to the Texas laws of medical malpractice and medical negligence. In Texas, medical malpractice is a general term describing any type of medical injury a patient sustains. Birth injuries are one of several types of medical malpractice. They cover injuries or negligent behavior toward both expectant mothers and their babies. Birth injuries are usually caused by obstetricians, delivery teams, nurses, hospitals, and intake personnel, but may also include midwives and other birthing professionals.
Birth “defect” cases can affect an entire family. But those who are harmed the most are the mother and/or the child. Sometimes a single negligent act may cause a birth injury. This is one of a large list of reasons why birth injury cases are inherently complex and require highly experienced birth injury attorneys (along with an experienced team of investigators) to properly sort through medical records and all other forensic evidence, and then identify the negligent parties responsible for injuries sustained by the child: leading up to, including, and after, the birth..
Birth injury cases generally fall into two types. A doctor, nurse, or other medical professional fails to properly diagnose or provide adequate treatment to an expecting mother, fetus, or newborn baby, resulting in harm to the mother or child. The other occurs when a doctor, nurse, or other medical professional or health institution acts outside accepted professional treatment norms which, either negligently or recklessly, results in harm to the mother or child.
The second type of birth injury case usually surrounds injuries occurring at or around the time of birth: to include labor, delivery, or immediately following the child’s birth. Most birth injuries affecting the newborn fall into this type of case. It can include subsequent diagnoses of, to cerebral palsy or other brain injuries, disfigurement, and other neurological injuries.
Often, birth injuries are suspected or identified by medical professionals at the time of birth, but this information is not always shared with the new parents in a timely fashion. Medical personnel fearfully wait to disclose this information usually out of embarrassment or the fear of a lawsuit. This withholding of vital information can delay diagnosis until the child is old enough for parents to more easily detect that something is wrong when developmental challenges become more evident in the child: even if sometimes, the injury heals itself. Sadly, with Cerebral Palsy, then never do.
Do you suspect a possible birth injury occurred during pregnancy, or labor, delivery, or the birth of your child? In many instances, birth injuries are preventable and are caused by the negligence of your doctor or a member of the delivery team. Though these injuries are most-often preventable or more easily treated with timely diagnosis when they occur, they can be life-altering (or life-threatening): not only for you, but your child and devastate your entire family.
Our Law Firm has seen many cases where the afflicted family did not want to sue or litigate against their doctor. Not wanting to litigate a claim did not mean that the family didn’t seek compensation – they preferred a mediated settlement and apologies from the parties responsible for the birth injuries and cerebral palsy. Our birth injury attorneys and medical support team pride themselves on providing a variety of options for you and your family. One of these options will certainly be comfortable, and appropriate for you to pursue.
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Cerebral palsy is the name given to a variety of conditions that affect the muscular and neurological systems of a person. It is not a specific birth injury but is the result of a brain injury that can occur during fetal development until a child has turned two years old. The brain injury happens in or near a specific part of the brain and can affect muscle coordination, body movement, neurological signals, and posture, all in different degrees of severity.
Cerebral Palsy and the Four Types of the Disease
Cerebral Palsy (CP) is the name given to a variety of conditions that affect the muscular and neurological systems of a person. It is not a specific birth injury but is the result of a brain injury that can occur during fetal development until a child has turned two years old.
It is actually an umbrella term used to describe a group of conditions affecting the coordination of muscles, bodily movement, and posture. Cerebral palsy is often caused by a brain injury that typically occurs anytime beginning the second trimester of pregnancy through two years of age. Injuries leading to cerebral palsy are to a very specific area of the brain.
Symptoms of cerebral palsy can be seen within months of the initial injury, but may sometimes not appear or be diagnosed until a child has turned one or two. Cerebral palsy is treatable, but it is not curable. As a result, a child suffering from cerebral palsy will require life-long care, accommodation, and therapy. If medical malpractice caused your child’s cerebral palsy, the medical bills, both past and future, and other incurred damages, could be compensated for through a medical malpractice lawsuit. Our cerebral palsy attorneys can assist you in holding a negligent medical professional accountable for their actions.
The four types of cerebral palsy are identified by the area of the brain that has been injured.
Spastic Cerebral Palsy accounts for approximately 70% of all cerebral palsy cases, making it the most commonly diagnosed form of cerebral palsy. Spastic cerebral palsy occurs because of an injury to the brains’ motor cortex. As a result, muscle movements can be stiff, spastic, or uncontrollable. Those that suffer from spastic cerebral palsy have tight, non-flexible muscles. Spastic CP is known by other names depending on the area of the body affected by the injury.
Spastic diplegia occurs when the lower half of the body, typically the legs and abdominal muscles, have been affected by cerebral palsy. Symptoms of spastic diplegia can be seen in a “scissor walk,” where spastic diplegics walk on their toes because of the hyper-tightness of the muscles in their lower body. While their upper body muscles are not affected, nearsightedness can be a common symptom as well. Spastic diplegia is the most common form of spastic cerebral palsy.
Spastic hemiplegia occurs when only one half of the body is affected by cerebral palsy and is caused when a brain injury or nerve damage affects only that side of the body. Of those that suffer spastic cerebral palsy, those that have spastic hemiplegia are often the best able to walk.
Spastic quadriplegia occurs when all parts of the body are affected by cerebral palsy, from both the top and bottom halves of the body, as well as both sides. It is the most severe form of spastic cerebral palsy. Children that suffer from spastic quadriplegia often cannot move or walk because of the inflexibility of their muscles throughout their bodies. Body tremors, either partial or full, can also occur in those with spastic quadriplegia.
These types of cerebral palsy are correlated to the specific location of the brain that is injured during its development. This brain injury may have been caused by a number of factors. In about a third of the reported cases, this specific injury is sustained during the birth of the child. In many instances, the mistake or negligence of a doctor, obstetrician, nurse, or other medical professional may have caused the brain injuries resulting in cerebral palsy.
A diagnosis of cerebral palsy requires a lifetime of therapy, treatments, and accommodations for your child and your family. These costs can spiral into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, even for mild forms of CP. Few families can handle these continuous and burdensome costs associated with treatments, even those families with excellent health insurance. And many parents wonder whether their child’s CP was preventable.
The answer can be complex; but often, a subsequent investigation by your attorney reveals that the affliction was indeed preventable. A total review of your pregnancy, labor, delivery, and birth by an experienced birth injury malpractice attorney is essential to determine whether CP could have been preventable and whether it can be attributed to medical malpractice. At the very minimum, your family deserves answers and options after a Cerebral Palsy diagnosis. Our birth injury attorneys and our medical-legal support team can help you to learn more about your family’s options after a Cerebral Palsy diagnosis, and help you receive the most appropriate damage compensation available to you.
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Problems during Delivery That, if not Treated Properly, Might Suggest Malpractice
During delivery, your baby may have been abnormally positioned. Abnormal positions cause a vaginal delivery to be difficult and dangerous, often leading to a birth injury to both the mother and child.
The baby might have been abnormally large and/or the birth canal was too small for the baby to pass through normally, yet the doctor insisted on performing a traditional delivery anyway rather than the recommended delivery method of Cesarean Section (C Section). In cases where the baby is too large to pass through the canal, instrumentation and complicated maneuvers are used, often to the detriment of mother and child if an obstetrician chooses to avoid the less-dangerous C-Section.
The doctor may have used instrumentation such as forceps, a pressurized vacuum, or other instrumentation that forcibly pull the baby through the birth canal and risk significant injury to both the mother and child, often in the form of head or brain injuries or brachial plexus injury to the baby.
Cerebral Palsy Symptoms at the Time of the Birth:
The baby shows symptoms of asphyxia (no oxygen in the blood): is pale in color, listless- weakly breathing or not breathing at all, and has a dangerously slow heart rate. The baby might also show symptoms of hypoxia (too little oxygen in the blood) and present with bluish skin color, weak or no breath, slow heart rate.
The baby may have low APGAR scores (Appearance, Pulse, Grimace, Activity, Respiration) or the doctor may not even have performed an APGAR scoring). These scores are often significant evidence of injury to the child. Scoring takes place one minute after birth; a score of less than 5 strongly indicates the baby needs medical attention. Scores less than 4, at later intervals could suggest long-term neurological damage and a heightened risk for cerebral palsy.
One reason a delivery team might not perform an APGAR is because they may suspect a brain defect, but – as we have already mentioned – they loathe to place themselves into an admission of possible negligence at the time of your baby’s birth.
Our Texas birth injury attorneys and medical investigative team prides themselves on providing a variety of options for you and your family. at our Texas Law Office we empathize with the struggles your family must deal with in the wake of medical malpractice that may have been performed on the mother or the child. Contact us for a free consultation. Find out how we can help you and your family win your legal rights and the compensation that will not only compensate you, but also make certain this doesn’t happen to some other unsuspecting mother and her innocent child.
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Cerebral Palsy Symptoms after the Birth of the Child:
The baby has no interest or little interest in feeding or exhibits problems with the instinctual feeding mechanics (suckling, grappling). The baby is lethargic, sluggish, or exhibits asymmetrical movements in the face, arms, or legs.
After the birth, the baby shows signs, symptoms, or is diagnosed with neurological seizures. Symptoms of newborn seizures include repetitive movements, prolonged or continuous sucking, drooling, or sticking the tongue out, rapid eye movements, long pauses in breathing, and rapid muscle jerks.
These are a few of the major warning signs that a CP injury may have occurred during pregnancy, or labor, childbirth, or in rare cases, even after the birth of your child. This list is not conclusive, but it is a general overview of clues that might suggest birth defects: possibly as the result of malpractice. A full review of your specific situation is critical to determining whether a birth injury is due to medical malpractice or even worse, outright medical negligence.
Our advice to parents is to trust your instincts. If something doesn’t seem right with your child or the way the medical staff is treating you or your child, start asking questions, immediately! Request your medical records from your prenatal doctor and all records from the hospital or birthing center where the child was born. And regardless of what the staff or administrators at the birth hospital might tell you, seek a second medical opinion, preferably with a doctor who does not use the hospital where the birth took place.
If you are not satisfied by that second opinion, or if that second medical opinion confirms your suspicions of malpractice-related birth defects in your infant, then call the Cerebral Palsy malpractice lawyers at our Texas Law Office and have our independent medical experts review everything you’ve collected. Our staff can begin asking those questions that must be asked and get answers. We have more than 30 years of experience working with parents and families affected by birth-related medical malpractice. If nothing else, you and your family deserve answers.
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The Difficulty of Determining if Birth Injury Has Occurred and Identifying the Liable Defendants
Because birth injury cases are legally complex, a highly experienced birth injury attorney, birth injury medical experts, and a full support team are essential to your case’s success. This team works together with one goal in mind: to provide your family with answers, and if the facts support a claim, a full array of effective options for the injuries you, your child, and your family have sustained: and must endure every day.
Birth injury claims and cases are filed as medical malpractice and/or medical negligence. This means that birth injury legal cases have many procedural nuances that your legal team must successfully negotiate, or the court could dismiss your case forever. In a birth injury case, your attorney must show that a doctor was negligent in the diagnosis, treatments, or actions. In addition, nurses, pharmacists, hospitals, clinics, and anyone else who worked in a health-related capacity might have been negligent in the care of the mother or her child. And if their negligence resulted in an injury to you or your child they must be held legally liable. However, determining who held the “smoking gun” requires expert legal investigators, third-party expert doctors, and possibly even other medical professionals to identify with certainty, just whose negligence led to this disaster.
As you can imagine, assessing negligence can be very difficult, and just as tough to prove. The medical community is very reluctant to point fingers and declare anyone liable for their actions. The medical community also likes to hide behind its science, declaring there is no definitive answer to prove a doctor or some other healthcare professional caused injury or harm. But good investigative evidence almost always unmasks this defense as weak and without basis in fact.
It’s also difficult to prove what happened during the pregnancy, labor, and birth of the child. But our medical experts are very gifted at reviewing and interpreting medical records of the mother and child as well as any notes, admissions, or statements made by medical staff or delivery team: whether they’re formal (on-the-record) or informal (off-the-record). And since it is a felony in Texas to alter medical records, unless the defendants have broken this law (which comes with very serious consequences), the records that back up your claim DO exist and our investigators will find them.
The longer a doctor or medical professional waits to diagnose an injury or determine its extent which led to the harm done, the less likely that the evidence of malpractice will exist. This is why it’s so very important to retain an attorney who specializes in birth injury malpractice as soon as possible. Parents and their legal investigative team must act quickly to preserve as much evidence as possible. Proactive measures such as personal pregnancy journals leading up to birth are a great way to refresh your memory about the nine months prior to the birth of your child. Plus, such journals also serve as a record of what is usually a very memorable time in the lives of both parents and their child: once he or she is old enough to appreciate the experience their parents lovingly share.
Here’s why keeping your own records is so important. As soon as questions are asked about your pregnancy, the labor stage, the delivery, and the birth of your child, medical professionals overreact and alert their insurance companies to a possible future lawsuit, even if nothing was inappropriate or wrong. Then the medical malpractice insurance company launches its own investigation, gathering all evidence, from the tiniest details to the largest actions – all with a single goal: to show that any injuries or resulting harm sustained by you or your child were NOT the results of medical malpractice or medical negligence by any professional involved at any point through your pregnancy, labor, or delivery.
Our Texas birth injury attorneys and medical investigative team prides themselves on providing a variety of options for you and your family. at our Texas Law Office we empathize with the struggles your family must deal with in the wake of medical malpractice that may have been performed on the mother or the child. Contact us for a free consultation. Find out how we can help you and your family win your legal rights and the compensation that will not only compensate you, but also make certain this doesn’t happen to some other unsuspecting mother and her innocent child.
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Medical Malpractice Insurers, and the Doctors they Cover, Work against Your Claim or Case from the Moment They Know Something is Wrong
Medical malpractice insurance companies take in millions of dollars each year to protect doctors from mistakes, negligence, and recklessness. A single error on the part of the doctor may cause a doctor to lose his medical license and causes the insurance company to lose the money that the doctor paid for his or her premiums. So the insurance company – and the excellent defense attorneys who represent them – twist the facts to suit their purposes as they build a case against you with one goal: to not pay you a single dime for any medical bills, adaptive equipment, physical therapy, and other basic needs for your child, and your family as a result of Cerebral Palsy medical malpractice.
But that’s just one series of challenges. Another surrounds the fact that Texas has recently enacted tort reform measures that make medical malpractice cases harder to prove. But even if you and your birth injury attorney prove your case, your monetary recovery amounts are capped: in most cases at $250,000 from any single malpractice defendant, no matter whether a jury believes the amount should be much higher based on the facts of your case. Regardless of whether the court believes you and your family deserve compensation for pain and suffering, disfigurement of you or your child, or emotional turmoil brought on in your family as a result of these injuries, the state decides how much you will receive: not the jury.
However, this is where investigation can come in handy. As often as not, medical malpractice can be the product of several instances of negligence by more than one healthcare professional. So if – for example – our investigation reveals four liable defendants, each might be forced to pay the full capped amount ($250,000) which produces a total damage recovery of $1 million.
This is why you must have an experienced and shrewd birth injury malpractice attorney who can properly investigate, then prove your case against a powerful partnership of medical professionals and their insurance company following a preventable birth injury brought on by medical malpractice.
The Statute of Limitations for Malpractice in Texas
The statute of limitations for a Texas malpractice lawsuit is two years from the date of occurrence. Once the statute of limitations has run its course, your cause has expired and you can no longer bring your claim against the defendant, regardless of how strong your case might be. More specifically, Texas “discovery rules” state that the two years does not begin until the time that a reasonably prudent person would have known that they had a cause of action. While this period can be extended in certain situations if gross negligence can be proven, or if criminal charges have been filed against a liable party, a Cerebral Palsy victim’s family most often only has two years to seek legal action against a liable negligent medical defendant. While this may sound like a long time, it really isn’t all that long when a thorough investigation must be conducted.
Some birth injury malpractice investigations can take more than a year, depending on the circumstances A perfect example if the differences in this discovery rule would be to compare an auto accident and a malpractice investigation into a birth injury. Even subtle injuries incurred in an auto accident usually don’t take very long to identify if someone’s negligence led to them occurring to you or a member of your family. So the discovery process usually begins relatively quickly.
But on the other hand, imagine that your baby suffers from complications of Cerebral Palsy after a birth injury. Then, three or four years after this malpractice clear and unambiguous symptoms of CP begin to appear If this was the case, your family could rightfully file a malpractice claim against all medical professionals who are found to be liable after your attorney conducts his investigation, even though the standard two-year window had expired. The idea behind this is that the plaintiff-family did not know that they had a case until years later: which would extend the statute of limitations.
In cases where the defendant deliberately concealed their involvement or culpability in causing your baby’s birth defect, the statute may be extended to allow the family to pursue civil action against the defendant. In some situations, as we have mentioned, this concealment may be criminal (such as the altering of medical records that prove defendant guilt). Or the concealment may have been part of a larger criminal enterprise that could have involved hospital administrators. When this happens, the defendant may also be subject to criminal charges in addition to civil charges. And when a defendant must answer criminal charges as well, it invariably strengthens your civil case, even if the defendant is ultimately exonerated in criminal court.
One consistent problem we find in such situations is altered documents, usually excellent Xerox copies of original forms that have been “doctored.” It takes a very clever forensic document expert to spot the one or two pieces of paper buried under a mountain of forms; just like you see on CSI. But the truth of the matter is that the document expert spent hours for his fifteen seconds on the show. Detecting altered documents is very difficult, extremely tedious and time-consuming; with a lot of dead-end trails leading to nowhere. And if medical records have been “doctored,” as we have mentioned that is a felony in Texas which brings criminal charges and serious penalties against the employee who is charged for the offense, as well as the facility in-general through the legal notion of “respondent superior,” which is Latin for “the employer is just as liable for the offenses of his employee, especially if the employee confesses that he was told to alter medical records.
There are a few other exceptions to the two-year statute of limitations. And we find that they can apply to a higher percentage of wrongful death assisted care center claims and cases than other personal injury civil actions. So when you are interviewing prospective Texas Cerebral Palsy malpractice injury attorneys, be certain to save a few minutes to visit about this matter and find out if any of these exceptions might apply to your insurance claim or legal case.
Our Texas birth injury attorneys and medical investigative team prides themselves on providing a variety of options for you and your family. at our Texas Law Office we empathize with the struggles your family must deal with in the wake of medical malpractice that may have been performed on the mother or the child. Contact us for a free consultation. Find out how we can help you and your family win your legal rights and the compensation that will not only compensate you, but also make certain this doesn’t happen to some other unsuspecting mother and her innocent child.
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An Experienced Malpractice Attorney Gives You the Best Chance at Receiving Fair Compensation for your Child’s CP Injury
Our Texas birth injury attorneys and medical support team pride themselves on providing a variety of options for you and your family. Our clients are family at our Law Firm and we empathize with the struggles your family must deal with when trying to make the best decision for your child and your family.
If your claim is just, we will fight for your right at fair compensation that will see your family through the many years of responsibility that you have for your child, and relieve you of the heavy burden of paying for the excellent aftercare that your child will need for the rest of his or her life.
Birth injury cases are extremely complicated, as you now know. And executing the right strategy (and tactics) that produce fair compensation through either effective settlement negotiations, or a trial if the defendants make it necessary, must be done with both skill and aplomb. Once you retain our Law Firm, we will provide the following services:
Conduct an in-depth investigation to determine the cause of your child’s Cerebral Palsy. This includes asset checks of all defendants to make certain they can pay damages.
Gather evidence, including witness statements, photographs, forensic tests, and all medical records that we will need in order to prove your claims.
Respond to and send discovery requests.
Manage ALL the paperwork and phone calls related to your claims.
Use our stellar reputation to pressure the defendants into settlement.
Act as mediators for our clients’ cases if they choose that option.
File lawsuits and argue them aggressively to prove your damage case in front of a jury.
Fairly and accurately calculate all damages resulting from the birth injury malpractice and demand fair compensation for you.
If you believe that your child is suffering from a type of cerebral palsy due to the negligence of a medical professional, contact our local cerebral palsy attorney to help you seek justice that will help you get your child the kind of care they need and deserve. Approximately one-third of cerebral palsy cases are caused by the mistakes or negligence of a medical professional.
By retaining us to help you seek necessary compensation, we’ll pore over all medical records regarding your pregnancy, labor, delivery, and birth in order to ascertain if your child’s cerebral palsy was preventable. With connections to competent, highly-knowledge medical experts that can also review your medical records, we can work to get the questions you have answered so that you can know whether or not medical malpractice resulted in your child’s cerebral palsy.
Contact us for a free consultation and find out how we can help you and your family fight for your legal rights. We’ll answer your questions and provide you with your possible legal options.
With over 30 years of experience in defending our clients’ rights, our Law Firm is ready to come alongside you so that you can effectively seek compensation for your child’s injury in order for you to be able to provide proper, long-lasting health care that your son or daughter deserves in the wake of the medical malpractice that made them that way.
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Birth Injuries are Tragic. If Negligence has Played a Part, You and Your Family May Deserve Compensation
Birth Injuries represent a significant problem within the medical community. But over the years, we’ve found that many mothers are told that their child’s birth injuries or defects were simply unavoidable or that they are even normal. Or worse, they weren’t told anything at all and discovered this terrible condition months or even years later.
Our birth injury attorneys have represented medical malpractice victims for the past 30 years and the following information is shared directly from our attorneys’ experience with similar cases. If you suspect that your child was injured or suffered a major affliction due to the malpractice of a medical professional, we hope this information may help you better determine if such a birth injury has occurred. Malpractice affects the entire medical profession. And yet, when injuries occur to expectant mothers and their baby due to negligence of an obstetrician or delivery nurse, they are in fact, birth injuries and are subject to the civil laws that govern them.
Birth injury medical malpractice cases usually fall within one of two specific categories:
A doctor, nurse, or other medical professional fails to properly diagnose or provide adequate treatment to an expecting mother, fetus, or newborn baby, resulting in harm to the mother or child. Some birth injury cases fall into this type of case, including harms suffered while a baby is in utero or failure to properly treat injuries after birth of the child.
A doctor, nurse, medical professional, or health institution acts outside the accepted professional medical norms, either negligently or recklessly, resulting in harm to the mother or child.
Most birth injury cases fall into the latter category: including injuries at and around the time of birth to both the mother and child. Such injuries include – but are not limited to – cerebral palsy, brachial plexus injuries, shoulder dystocia, brain injuries, disfigurement, and other neurological, skeletal, and muscular injuries.
Our Texas birth injury attorneys and medical investigative team prides themselves on providing a variety of options for you and your family. at our Texas Law Office we empathize with the struggles your family must deal with in the wake of medical malpractice that may have been performed on the mother or the child. Contact us for a free consultation. Find out how we can help you and your family win your legal rights and the compensation that will not only compensate you, but also make certain this doesn’t happen to some other unsuspecting mother and her innocent child.
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The Fallout from a Birth Injury is both Tragic and Expensive
Often (but not always), birth injuries are suspected or identified by medical personnel at the time of birth. But this information is only disclosed to the new parents roughly 50 percent of the time. Instead, medical professionals wait to diagnose a mother or child with birth injuries until the child is old enough to indicate something wrong with proper development or wait to see if the injuries heal themselves. This may be appropriate under some circumstances. But other times the delay in diagnosis or treatment may be a sign of obstetrician (OB) medical malpractice. And as often-as-not, this obstetrician or some other negligent birthing healthcare provider is “covering their tracks” by keeping their mouth shut. They fear that after the birth of your child they may have caused preventable, serious, life-altering injuries. Our medical investigative team can review the hospital’s records and consult the highest medical experts to determine whether the doctor or some other licensed healthcare professional was negligent or reckless with your child’s health and well-being.
All licensed medical professionals are subject to the Texas laws of medical malpractice and medical negligence. In Texas, medical malpractice is a general term describing any type of medical injury a patient sustains. Birth injuries are one of several types of medical malpractice. They cover injuries or negligent behavior toward both expectant mothers and their babies. Birth injuries are usually caused by obstetricians, delivery teams, nurses, hospitals, and intake personnel, but may also include midwives and other birthing professionals.
The fact that there are so many potential defendants in a birth injury case is one of a large list of reasons why birth injury cases are inherently complex and require highly experienced birth injury attorneys (along with an exemplary investigative team) to properly sort through medical records and all other forensic evidence to identify the negligent parties responsible for injuries sustained by mother and child: leading up to, including and after the birth.
Delay of a diagnosis may be a sign of obstetrician (OB) medical malpractice or other birth professional medical malpractice: especially if the involved medical professionals were aware of this condition. This is a perfect example of “justice delayed being justice denied.” But even more reprehensible is the additional fact that, had the news of this condition been known sooner than later by the parents, it may have been possible to begin productive treatment and avoid long-term disability to the child. We find this terribly offensive to everyone in the affected family.
Do you suspect a possible birth injury occurred during pregnancy, or labor, delivery, or the birth of your child? In many instances, birth injuries are preventable and are caused by the negligence of your doctor or delivery team. Though these injuries are usually preventable or more easily treated with timely diagnosis, when they occur, they can be life-altering (or life-threatening): not only for the parents but also to the child: and devastating to your entire family.
Our Law Firm has seen many cases where the afflicted family did not want to sue or litigate against their doctor. Not wanting to litigate a claim did not mean that the family didn’t seek compensation – they preferred a mediated settlement and apologies with the parties responsible for the birth injuries and cerebral palsy. Our Texas birth injury lawyers and medical support team pride themselves on providing a variety of options for you and your family. One will certainly be comfortable, and appropriate for you to pursue.
In many cases, the doctor responsible may have been a family friend or the aggrieved family was part of a small community and wasn’t comfortable pursuing a lawsuit – even if the family still needed and wanted answers and some level of compensation for their child’s injuries and resulting long-term care. We empathize with the struggles a family has when caught between the rock of community and the hard place of trying to make the best decision for their child. And under these circumstances, we agree with clients who prefer discretion as well as a quiet, firm resolve in securing rightful compensation in a dignified manner.
Our Texas birth injury attorneys and medical investigative team prides themselves on providing a variety of options for you and your family. at our Texas Law Office we empathize with the struggles your family must deal with in the wake of medical malpractice that may have been performed on the mother or the child. Contact us for a free consultation. Find out how we can help you and your family win your legal rights and the compensation that will not only compensate you, but also make certain this doesn’t happen to some other unsuspecting mother and her innocent child.
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Some General Examples of Birth Injury Cases
We at our Texas Law Office frequently hear the same questions from concerned parents time and again: how can we tell if there is a birth injury? How can we tell if our child’s injury is a normal injury or abnormal? How can we tell if these injuries are the result of medical malpractice?
Our answer: it’s very difficult to answer these questions without reviewing all the medical records, transcripts, and witness accounts. Each birth is special and very different from other experiences. Babies are born with soft, flexible bones and travel through a tight birth canal. Minor injuries are to be expected in the birthing process, especially for vaginal birth and deliveries. But there’s a difference between commonly anticipated birth “anomalies” that heal quickly and pose no threat to the newborn as it begins a hoped-for long and happy life.
But during pregnancy, your obstetrician (OB), birthing consultant, or other medical professional might not adequately track, treat, or warn you of developing or existing medical conditions and their effect on your child, including hypertension, preeclampsia, diabetes, prolonged nausea and vomiting leading to malnutrition, or other long-term, treatable maternal conditions.
Did this happen in your case? Or did they not take steps to prevent harm to you and your child while it was in-utero? Do you even know, or even know enough to know? The “medical veil of secrecy” is very hard to penetrate at times: especially if anything goes wrong, including any medicine or drug side effects and their effect on your baby This is often seen in patients who take medication (prescribed or otherwise) for depression, asthma, other conditions requiring prescription medication, other drugs, or general decreased bodily functions such as poor kidney function, weakened hearts and other conditions.
During labor, did the medical staff and delivery team at the hospital or birthing center delay hooking the birth mother up to fetal monitors? Or did the medical staff or delivery team disregard data from the fetal monitors that may have showed fetal distress, or did that data reveal an abnormally high or low heart rate that went untreated? Or was it even taken into account during delivery?
Was an epidural inappropriately, negligently, or recklessly administered, resulting in harm to the mother or newborn child? Such a form of injury to the child is often evident with decreased breathing at the time of birth, or failure of the lungs to inflate properly.
These are a few of the numerous issues that an experienced birthing attorney with our Law Firm can investigate to give you the answers you must have when you suspect that a birthing injury occurred; regardless of whether it occurred last week or several years ago that you now might begin to suspect.
Our Texas birth injury attorneys and medical investigative team prides themselves on providing a variety of options for you and your family. at our Texas Law Office we empathize with the struggles your family must deal with in the wake of medical malpractice that may have been performed on the mother or the child. Contact us for a free consultation. Find out how we can help you and your family win your legal rights and the compensation that will not only compensate you, but also make certain this doesn’t happen to some other unsuspecting mother and her innocent child.
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Problems During Delivery That – if not Treated Properly – Might Also be Malpractice
The baby may have been abnormally positioned. Abnormal positions cause a vaginal delivery to be difficult and dangerous, often leading to a birth injury to both the mother and child.
The baby might have been abnormally large and/or the birth canal was too small for the baby to pass through normally, yet the doctor performed a vaginal delivery anyway rather than the traditionally accepted delivery method of Cesarean section (C section). In cases where the baby is too large to pass through the canal, instrumentation and complicated maneuvers are used, often to the detriment of mother and child.
The doctor may have used instrumentation such as forceps, a pressurized vacuum, or other instrumentation that forcibly pull the baby through the birth canal and risk significant injury to both the mother and child, often in the form of head or brain injuries or brachial plexus injury.
At the time of birth your baby may have shown symptoms of asphyxia (no oxygen in the blood): or hypoxia (too little oxygen in the blood). Or your baby may have shown low APGAR scores, or the doctor did not even perform one. These scores are often significant evidence of injury to the child. Scoring takes place one minute after birth; a score of less than 5 strongly indicates the baby needs medical attention. Scores less than 4, at later intervals could suggest long-term neurological damage and a heightened risk for cerebral palsy.
Or Later – Once Your Baby is Home – You Began to “Notice Things” That Just Aren’t Right
Maybe your newborn shows no interest or little interest in feeding or exhibits problems with the instinctual feeding mechanics (suckling, grappling). The baby is lethargic, sluggish, or exhibits asymmetrical movements in the face, arms, or legs.
Maybe your baby has what appears to be neurological seizures. Symptoms of newborn seizures include repetitive movements, prolonged or continuous sucking, drooling, or sticking the tongue out, rapid eye movements, long pauses in breathing, and rapid muscle jerks.
These are just a few warning signs that an injury may have occurred during pregnancy, labor, childbirth, or after the birth of your child. This general overview might suggest birth defects: possibly as the result of malpractice. A full review of your specific situation is critical to determining whether a birth injury is due to medical malpractice or medical negligence.
Our advice to parents is, if something doesn’t seem right with your child or the way the medical staff is treating you or your child, start asking questions. And if the answers you are given seem incomplete or confusing (doctors and administrators love to communicate with parents like you in “med-speak” because if is purposefully evasive), seek a second, trustworthy, medical opinion as quickly as you can, or call us at our Texas Law Office.
If you are not satisfied by that second opinion, or if that second medical opinion confirms your suspicions of malpractice-related birth defects in your infant, then call our birth injury malpractice lawyers so our independent medical experts can review all the information you’ve collected in addition to all that is available: that we know how to ask for and get from this hospital or healthcare provider who appears to be stonewalling you. We have more than 30 years of experience working with parents and families affected by medical malpractice. If nothing else, you and your family deserve answers.
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Neurological Disorders
Cerebral palsy (CP) is an umbrella term used to describe a group of conditions affecting the coordination of muscles, bodily movement and posture. Cerebral palsy is often caused by a brain injury that typically occurs anytime beginning the second trimester of pregnancy through two years of age. Injuries leading to cerebral palsy are to a very specific area of the brain.
Signs of cerebral palsy generally occur by the first year of the child’s life, though there may be early hints of the condition beginning at the time of birth, including low APGAR scores, presence of seizures, and uneven or asymmetrical movements. All forms of cerebral palsy can be managed to some extent with continuous therapy. However, cerebral palsy is incurable.
There are four major types of cerebral palsy, Spastic, Ataxic, Dyskinetic, and Mixed-symptom CP. But sometimes CP can be misdiagnosed as Erb’s palsy, other kinds of brain damage, retardation, or some other form of disfigurement. Sometimes you’ll hear a doctor use the general term of “developmental delays” as a mask for something more serious as this healthcare provider tries to soothe your suspicions. But the fact remains that CP and many of these other neurological conditions can be prevented. Your local Texas birth injury attorney can help you determine if any neurological disorders in your infant or very small child may have their roots in doctor or some other healthcare professional’s negligent malpractice.
A diagnosis of cerebral palsy (and extreme cases of any neurological disorder) requires a lifetime of therapy, treatments, and accommodations for your child and your family. These costs can be horribly high, even for mild forms of CP. Few families can handle the costs associated with treatments, even those families with excellent health insurance. And many parents wonder whether their child’s CP was preventable.
Your family deserves answers and options after a cerebral palsy diagnosis. Our Texas birth injury attorneys can help you to learn more about your family’s options after a cerebral palsy diagnosis, and help you receive the most appropriate damage compensation available to you.
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Bodily Injuries to Your Newborn Might be Just as Dangerous, and Expensive
Some birth injuries might be skeletal and be caused by improper positioning of the fetus in the birth canal, or improper use of forceps or other delivery tools. Or there might have been damage to nerves in the baby’s limbs due to an unusually “rough” birth. Sometimes Erb’s palsy is caused by pulling the head away from the neck, a clear mistake on the part of the delivering doctor that usually involves forceps.
After a devastating diagnosis or risky delivery situation, you need answers and options following shoulder dystocia at the birth of your child. Our experienced birth defect attorneys can give you the answers and options your family needs as you choose your compensation strategy for medical bills, adaptive technology, and other immediate and long-term needs for your child. This will likely include long and costly physical therapy bills your family will incur as a result of a preventable Erb’s palsy, shoulder dystocia or brachial plexus injury. Our birth injury attorneys, investigators and medical experts stand ready to help you every step of the way.
Head and Brain Injuries that May Occur During a Difficult Delivery
Head injuries are a typical occurrence in the birth and delivery process. Swelling and bruising of the scalp and forehead are common minor injuries, the direct result of traveling through a tight birth canal. Newborns may also exhibit a pointed head due to the soft cranial skull bone surrounding the brain. And even though most of the time, these conditions are temporary and return to normal within a few days of the birth, because the skull is soft and flexible, brain injuries are quite possible: sometimes with traumatic results.
Overzealous use of forceps, improper canal pressure, and the baby becoming stuck in the birth canal can lead to blood clots and hemorrhages in the brain, hypoxia (lack of oxygen) leading to brain damage, skull fractures, and other serious brain-related injuries. Though many of these injuries may be preventable, improper diagnosis or treatment of these injuries could have serious effects on the life and abilities of your child. Because of this, these injuries may be a form of birth injury medical malpractice.
One of the most common symptoms of brain injury is asymmetrical (uneven) body movement in your newborn child. Mothers will notice that one side of the face or the body does not respond or match the movements of the other side. This is described as a droopy smile or uncontrolled reflex movements rather than symmetrical (even and coordinated) body or facial movements. The affected side may be more sluggish to respond or does not respond at all in many forms of brain injuries. Correct and timely diagnoses are important while the child is developing so that treatments and therapies can begin as early as possible: which will hopefully minimize any effects from the brain injury.
If your child exhibits any or all of these types of injuries, or others and you suspect your child may display symptoms of possible birth injury, contact our Texas birth injury attorneys immediately. Our Law Firm retains highly-skilled medical experts to determine whether a doctor, nurse, or medical professional was a fault for these injuries and resulting conditions. If this is so, your family and child are entitled to legal compensation for these injuries that can only be won by specialized medical malpractice attorneys.
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The Difficulty of Determining if Birth Injury Has Occurred and Identifying the Liable Defendants
As you can imagine, assessing negligence can be very difficult, and just as tough to prove. The medical community is very reluctant to be forthcoming when the words “malpractice” are used The medical community also likes to hide behind its science, declaring there is no definitive answer to prove a doctor or some other healthcare professional caused injury or harm.
It’s also difficult to prove what happened during the pregnancy, labor, and birth of the child. But our medical experts are very gifted at reviewing and interpreting medical records of the mother and child as well as any notes, admissions, or statements made by medical staff or delivery team: whether they’re formal (on-the-record) or informal (off-the-record). The longer a doctor or medical professional waits to diagnose an injury or determine its extent which led to the harm done, the less likely that the evidence of malpractice will exist. This is why it’s so very important to retain an attorney who specializes in birth injury malpractice as soon as possible. Parents and their legal investigative team must act quickly to preserve as much evidence as possible. Proactive measures such as pregnancy journals are a great way to refresh your memory about the nine months prior to the birth of the child. Plus, such journals also serve as a record of what is usually a very memorable time in the lives of both parents and their child: once he or she is old enough to appreciate the experience.
As soon as you start asking questions about your pregnancy, labor, delivery, and birth of your child, medical professionals “raise the drawbridge” and alert their insurance companies to a possible future lawsuit. Then the insurance company launches its own investigation, gathering all evidence, with a single goal: to show that any injuries or resulting harms sustained by you or your child were NOT the result of malpractice or negligence by any medical professional involved at any stage of your pregnancy, labor, or delivery.
Medical Malpractice Insurers, and Work against Your Claim or Case from the Moment They Know Something is Wrong
Medical malpractice insurance companies take in millions of dollars each year to protect doctors from mistakes, negligence, and recklessness. A single error by a doctor may cause him or her to lose his or her license to practice medicine and causes the insurance company to lose the money that the doctor paid for his or her premiums. So the insurance company – and the excellent defense attorneys who represent them – twist the true facts to build a case against you so they don’t have to pay a single dime for any medical bills, adaptive equipment, physical therapy, and other basic needs for your child, and your family due to your child’s malpractice injury.
But that’s just one challenge. Texas enacted tort reform measures that make medical malpractice cases harder to prove. So even if you and your birth injury attorney prove your case, damage recovery amounts are capped: in most cases at $250,000 from any single malpractice defendant, even if a jury believes the amount should be much higher based on the facts of your case. However, this is where investigation can come in handy. Many times medical malpractice can be found in several instances of negligence by more than one healthcare professional. So if – for example – our investigation reveals multiple liable defendants, each might be forced to pay the full capped amount ($250,000) which produces a much more reflective total damage recovery.
This is why you must have an experienced and wise birth injury malpractice attorney who can properly investigate, then prove your case against a powerful partnership of medical professionals and their insurance company following a preventable birth injury that is caused by malpractice.
Our Texas birth injury attorneys and medical investigative team prides themselves on providing a variety of options for you and your family. at our Texas Law Office we empathize with the struggles your family must deal with in the wake of medical malpractice that may have been performed on the mother or the child. Contact us for a free consultation. Find out how we can help you and your family win your legal rights and the compensation that will not only compensate you, but also make certain this doesn’t happen to some other unsuspecting mother and her innocent child.
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