Three Reasons to File a Birth Injury Lawsuit in Colorado
The birth of a child should be filled with joy and hope. When medical negligence causes a devastating birth injury, families are often left facing unimaginable emotional challenges. Conditions such as cerebral palsy, brachial plexus injuries, or oxygen deprivation can lead to lifelong medical needs.
A birth injury lawsuit can help you to secure the compensation you need to meet your child’s needs, but there are additional benefits as well. By demanding justice, you are helping to ensure that other children will be spared the adverse effects of careless medical errors.
The Denver birth injury attorneys at Leventhal Puga Braley P.C. have decades of experience holding doctors, nurses, and hospitals accountable for the catastrophic consequences of medical malpractice in birth injury cases.
Compensation: Providing for a Lifetime of Care
One of the most pressing reasons for families to pursue a birth injury lawsuit is to obtain the financial resources needed to care for their child. Birth injuries often result in lifelong disabilities that require extensive treatment and round-the-clock support. The cost of this care can reach millions of dollars over the course of a child’s lifetime.
The True Cost of a Birth Injury
- Medical Expenses: Hospital stays, surgeries, medications, and specialist visits can be overwhelming even in the short term. Long-term care may include physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, and regular consultations with pediatric neurologists and rehabilitation experts.
- Assistive Technology and Modifications: Children with cerebral palsy or brachial plexus injuries may require wheelchairs, orthotic devices, or home modifications such as ramps, lifts, and accessible bathrooms.
- Lost Income and Earning Capacity: Parents often reduce work hours or leave jobs to care for their child. As the child grows, their own ability to earn a living may be severely limited.
- Emotional and Non-Economic Damages: Families are entitled to seek damages for pain, suffering, and loss of quality of life.
Justice: Holding Hospitals and Providers Accountable
The medical profession has a duty to provide care that aligns with accepted standards. When hospitals, doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals fail to meet these standards, children and families suffer life-changing consequences.
Common Forms of Negligence in Birth Injury Cases
When medical mistakes cause permanent injury, the hospital or provider must be held accountable. A lawsuit ensures that their conduct is examined under the law. In these cases, it’s essential to hold hospitals accountable for poor decisions and failures that should never have occurred.
- Failure to Monitor Fetal Distress: Neglecting to recognize or respond to signs of oxygen deprivation during labor can result in brain damage and cerebral palsy.
- Improper Use of Forceps or Vacuum Extractors: Incorrect use of delivery tools can cause nerve damage, skull fractures, or brachial plexus injuries.
- Delayed Emergency C-Section: Failing to act quickly when complications arise can lead to irreversible harm.
- Medication Errors: Administering the wrong medication or dosage during labor and delivery can cause devastating outcomes.
Hospitals may try to shield staff or downplay mistakes, but litigation brings transparency. A successful claim can provide families with a sense of closure, knowing they stood up for their child and demanded justice in the face of negligence.
Prevention: Protecting Other Children from Harm
The third reason to pursue a birth injury lawsuit is prevention. By holding hospitals and medical staff accountable in court, families can help prevent hospital negligence from reoccurring.
Preventing another family from enduring the same suffering is a powerful motivator for many parents. Lawsuits send a clear message: negligent care will not be tolerated, and safety must always come first.
How Lawsuits Bring Change
- Improved Protocols: Hospitals may update training, staffing, and monitoring procedures after facing liability for a birth injury.
- Better Supervision: Litigation pressures medical institutions to improve oversight of junior doctors, nurses, and residents.
- The Standard of Care: When medical providers know they may be held accountable, they are more likely to follow proper procedures and double-check critical decisions.
The Long-Term Impact of Birth Injuries
The conditions most often associated with preventable medical negligence have profound, lifelong consequences:
- Cerebral Palsy: Often caused by oxygen deprivation during delivery, cerebral palsy can lead to motor impairment, seizures, and cognitive challenges that require lifelong care.
- Brachial Plexus Injuries (Erb’s Palsy): Caused by nerve damage during delivery, these injuries can limit mobility, cause weakness, or result in permanent paralysis of the arm.
- Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy (HIE): Oxygen deprivation can cause brain injuries leading to developmental delays, epilepsy, or permanent disability.
These conditions often require a lifetime of medical support, therapies, and adaptive living needs. Filing a birth injury lawsuit can help families secure resources needed to support your child.
Reasons to Choose Our Firm
Our attorneys at Leventhal Puga Braley P.C., are recognized as leaders in the field of catastrophic injury litigation, and we have secured record-setting verdicts and settlements for our clients. Jim Puga, Molly Greenblatt, and Nathaniel Deakins won one of the largest medical malpractice jury verdicts in the history of Colorado, over $67 million, on behalf of a child with brain damage.
When you work with our firm, you gain more than a lawyer; you gain a dedicated advocate who will fight tirelessly to achieve justice and secure the compensation your family deserves.
Key Takeaways
- Compensation for birth injury is essential to cover lifelong medical expenses, adaptive needs, and lost income.
- A lawsuit provides justice by holding negligent providers and hospitals accountable for preventable harm.
- Litigation promotes prevention, forcing hospitals to improve safety protocols and reduce the risk of future negligence.
- Colorado law provides avenues for families to recover damages, particularly in catastrophic injury cases.
- Working with an experienced birth injury attorney can make all the difference in achieving fair and just court outcomes.
Speak With a Trusted Birth Injury Lawyer in Denver
If your child suffered a birth injury due to medical malpractice, you don’t have to face this battle on your own. The experienced litigators at Leventhal Puga Braley P.C. have the resources and determination to investigate your case, hold negligent providers accountable, and fight for the future your child deserves.
Call us today at (303) 759-9945 in Colorado or (877) 433-3906 nationwide to schedule a consultation at no charge.
Let us help you take the first step toward securing justice, accountability, and a safer future for other families.