Oakland Birth Injury Lawyers

If medical negligence harmed your child during or after the birthing process, an experienced Oakland birth injury lawyer from Cutter Law will provide you with caring and effective legal representation. You have the right to compensation due to medical malpractice. While no amount can ever truly compensate for the harm to your child, a knowledgeable birth injury lawyer will hold those who are responsible accountable.

Medical malpractice can put a newborn’s life and future health in jeopardy. Faith is put in the hands of medical professionals at some of the most critical points in our lives, only to result in disappointment. When medical negligence causes a child to suffer, the pain can devastate the entire family.

Those involved in the birthing process have a legal duty of care. Doctors have sworn an oath to medical ethics to “first do no harm.” The violation of that oath in the delivery room puts an innocent newborn at risk for adverse health afflictions that can last a lifetime.

Types of Birth Injuries

Birth injuries can occur at any time during the birthing process. Injuries suffered during labor, just prior to labor, or even after birth might be shocking to the parents. However, your medical professionals should be prepared for any complications. We expect and are legally entitled to medical professionals that perform to the level of their education and experience.

Birth injuries are mostly preventable. Just a few of the many possible birth injuries include:

Cerebral Palsy
Fractures
Erb’s Palsy
Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy
Umbilical cord issues not identified or treated
Shoulder Dystocia
Brachial plexus injury
Necrotizing Enterocolitis
Preeclampsia

The birth injury lawyers at Cutter Law P.C. help determine the cause of any malpractice and advise you of your rights. Oakland parents can access an experienced team that thoroughly investigates the causes of birth injuries to identify malpractice.

Birth Injury Risk Factors

Birth injuries may be related to fetal or maternal factors. A childbirth complication is defined as any abnormal obstetrical condition occurring from gestation to delivery and impacting the mother or baby adversely. These are ultimately the cause of all birth injuries. Complications can be benign in many circumstances, but others can be dangerous and even life-threatening.

Fetal and pregnancy-related factors can include:

Macrosomia – an estimated fetal weight over 4000g
Macrocephaly – an overly large head for a given age and gender
Very low birth weight and extreme prematurity
Fetal congenital anomalies
Abnormal fetal lie, malposition, malpresentation, or other abnormal presentations

Maternal risk factors can include:

Maternal diabetes
Maternal obesity
Small maternal stature
Primiparity – bearing a child for the first time
Use of vacuum or forceps
Labor that is prolonged or rapid
Dephalopelvic disproportion – the baby has trouble getting through the birth canal due to the mother’s pelvis being too small
Dystocia or difficult extraction

What to do if your child has a birth injury?

It’s the unthinkable and a situation that no parent ever imagines. What do you do if the unthinkable happens?

Birth injury is all too common in the United States, occurring in 7 of every 1,000 children. Many parents may feel lost and overwhelmed when they suspect a birth injury has happened. Questions as to the impact on their child’s life, the cost of treatments, and the need for ongoing support can be a few of many unknowns.

Your birth injury attorney from Cutter Law P.C. will investigate the cause of the birth injury and then hold those responsible accountable. Financial compensation cannot resolve the injustice to your baby. However, financial compensation can help in handling payments related to your baby’s injuries, especially in situations which require ongoing medical treatment and care.

It’s important to know that help is available from caring professionals and that options do exist. An experienced and caring legal representative is there to help during this confusing and painful time.

Compensation available for birth injuries

If the birth injury results from negligence or medical malpractice, you have a strong chance of winning compensation with the help of an experienced legal team by your side. A compensation claim will not only factor in the expenses already incurred but the expected costs to your family in the future.

Future costs following a birth injury include:

Medical care and treatment
In-home care
Medications
Equipment
Travel to medical appointments
Economic loss due to the inability of a parent to work while providing care

You’ve also suffered emotionally. Birth injury claimants may also seek compensation for the intangible costs of the emotional suffering experienced now and in the future by the family and child.

How can our Oakland birth injury lawyers help you?

Oakland families turn to Cutter Law P.C. for expert and caring advice and legal representation when a tragic incident, like a birth injury, happens. Our attorneys get families the help they need by getting to the cause of the matter and holding responsible those that have acted with negligence.

We help families who were looking forward to welcoming new babies, but are now dealing with a painful present. Foremost, they need to know what to do next. An accomplished attorney from Cutter Law P.C. establishes a roadmap that will start with an accurate diagnosis, care, and planning for the future. Our team will calculate the past, present, and future costs due to another’s negligence or malpractice and seek compensation.

We listen first and then act. In the midst of this painful and confusing time, you can rest assured that a professional is acting on your behalf.

Who is held liable for birth trauma in Oakland?

The responsible parties for birth trauma suffered by Oakland families can include medical doctors and nurses, health care facilities, anesthesiologists, and others who have provided health care services.

Hospitals

Whether private or public entities, hospitals can be held directly liable for their negligence and the negligence of their employees. The medical staff can consist of licensed physicians, nurses, physicians assistants, and nurse practitioners. When hiring medical staff, hospitals are required to make reasonable inquiries into an applicant’s education, licensing, and training. A failure in hiring can open the hospital to liability, if a staff member’s negligent care harms a patient.

A court may find a hospital negligent if it does not have a adequate staff in case of emergencies, and fails to maintain quality care as a result. If the staff fails to follow orders for patient care, the hospital is liable. Additionally, if hospital staff finds a private physician’s treatment plan to be inadequate but fails to make a reasonable inquiry, the hospital could also be held liable.

$23.5 Million

Settlement won for government fraud in a whistleblower case against one of the world’s largest medical device manufacturers

$240 Million

Settlement in a nationwide defective medical device case involving defective pacemakers and cardiac defibrillators against Boston Scientific and Guidant

When should I file a birth injury lawsuit in Oakland?

California parents have until their child is eight years old to file a lawsuit under the California statute of limitations. Some exemptions to these rules do exist in the case of filing an action against a California hospital that is part of a public health district or is a county hospital. For those institutions, the statute of limitations can be shorter.

Parents should always consult with an experienced lawyer as soon as a birth-related injury is suspected. Getting a head start on the legal process can help families receive financial compensation as soon as possible.

What are the steps for filing a birth injury lawsuit?

A free consultation with Cutter Law P.C. experts is the very first step to filing your lawsuit. Your legal team will first build a case against those responsible for the medical malpractice and then work toward financial compensation.

Typically, both parties will attempt to mediate the situation and come to a settlement. In cases where a settlement cannot be reached, the case will go to trial.

Your attorney will start with a demand letter asking the responsible party for compensation based on the current facts of the case and the expectations for future care. If the responsible party rejects the demand letter, your attorney will start building a case to file a lawsuit.

We will build your case by examining how the injury might have been prevented, what caused the injury, and who is responsible for the injury. These facts will establish the strength and value of the case.

Your attorney will then file the lawsuit, move to the discovery phase (gathering more evidence), and attempt to negotiate a settlement. As previously mentioned, an inability to reach a settlement will lead to a trial.

What are settlement amounts?

Birth injury lawsuits factor in costs of care both incurred and expected. Additionally, the economic strain of parents unable to work and other expenses are included. Emotional pain is another component when determining the settlement amount.

Oakland parents often see settlements in the millions of dollars depending on the severity of the injury and expected costs. Your Cutter Law P.C. lawyer will work to maximize the amount of your settlement or award.

It was unthinkable. The negligence of another has caused harm to your newborn child, turning a moment of joy into pain. What lies ahead needn’t be navigated alone. Compensation can help with what lies ahead.

If you suspect your child has suffered due to medical malpractice, you should contact an experienced law firm as soon as possible to learn about your legal rights. Contact the legal team at Cutter Law now for a free case evaluation by filling out the contact form.

Testimonials

This is a family owned business and extremely friendly. The whole crew is very profession and reputable. They are highly knowledgeable in their trade and bring a top level of expertise to any inquiry. I would highly recommend this Law firm. These are wonderful people and they will help you get the justice you deserve.

The staff are professional, responsive, and passionate about their clients. Highly recommend this law firm.

There's this thing about lawyers ... they often forget the first word in their title, Counselor at Law. Well, Margo Cutter practices the full spectrum of her profession. Though she has not represented me in litigation, I have benefited from her kind support and sound counsel regarding a traumatic injury I sustained due the negligence of others and the subsequent unbearable pursuit for justice. Thank you, Margo.

Their people were professional, thorough, and expressed true consideration in their deliverance. I highly recommend them to anyone.

CL took on my personal injury injury case without me needing to put in a retainer fee all while making sure I was prepared and on time for my court dates. You can always try submitting a case evaluation to see if they are the right attorneys for you before committing.

Our Office Location

Oakland Office
Cutter Law P.C.
1999 Harrison Street Suite 1400
Oakland, CA 94612