Is It a Birth Injury or Medical Malpractice?

Posted by Chell in Birth Injuries

It is difficult to draw the line between two branches from the same trunk—where does one start and where does the other begin?

Birth injury and medical malpractice are both subsets of a specific branch of the law that deals with situations wherein a person is suffering from consequences that were due to the negligence of another party. This branch of the law is called personal injury and, no, the injury does not need to be physical in order to be considered legitimate. The injury need only be harmful and debilitating to the point that compensation for the medical expenses (including a possible need for prolonged therapy) as well as the loss of wages during the time that the survivor was incapacitated.

However, the thing about the subsets of personal injury is that it is difficult to decide on what your case constitutes as. A medical malpractice attorney might say, as an example, that if your child was born with the movement disorder called cerebral palsy and say that the disorder was a direct result of the negligence of the practicing physician. Does the situation then constitute as medical malpractice or birth injury—and is there really a difference between the two?

It can be difficult to navigate through the process due to not only the legal procedures and necessities but also the medical knowledge that one would have in order to take a case like this to the table. The situation requires critical thought as well as thorough investigation, which one may not exactly be prepared to do, after being through an ordeal so difficult.