Organ Damage
Organ damage during the process of childbirth can have devastating results. In many instances, the kidneys or the heart of a newborn may be seriously harmed as the result of medical malpractice. At Lebowitz & Mzhen Personal Injury Lawyers, our compassionate birth injury lawyers have over twenty years of experience helping Baltimore families understand their legal rights and options. We understand that a health care professional’s bad choices or carelessness can have tragic and often permanent consequences, and we are ready to assert your right to the compensation that you deserve.
Holding a Health Care Professional Accountable for Organ DamageOrgan damage may take place in many ways when a child is born. Some examples include surgical mistakes, infections, faulty incisions, and the use of certain drugs that have been prescribed by a doctor. If the harm could have been avoided had the physician or other health care professional acted with the appropriate care, the parents of the injured child may wish to consider bringing a malpractice claim.
Medical malpractice may be broadly defined as negligence by a health care provider that results in harm to the patient. To establish a claim based on a birth injury, the child’s family usually must show the following elements:
- The health care provider owed the child a duty of care;
- The health care provider breached the duty of care;
- The breach directly caused the child’s harm; and
- Quantifiable damages were incurred as a result.
Expert testimony plays a critical role in proving the elements of a medical malpractice claim. For example, a health care provider in the same specialty as the defendant probably would need to identify what procedures and precautions should have been taken by the ordinary health care provider in the defendant’s specialty and geographic area, considering what the defendant knew about the patient. The expert then could discuss how the defendant fell short of this standard and how the breach led to the child’s injuries.
In the state of Maryland, it is be possible to seek both economic and non-economic damages for harm suffered as a result of medical malpractice. Economic damages typically include relatively objective costs, such as hospital bills, therapy expenses, and the costs of future treatment. Non-economic damages include more intangible forms of harm, like pain and suffering, disfigurement, and loss of enjoyment of life. Unfortunately, the state of Maryland has capped the non-economic damages available to a victim of medical malpractice. Non-economic damages include damages for the injury itself and the associated pain and suffering. In Maryland, however, there is no cap on damages for economic losses, such as the cost of past, present and future medical care, physical and occupational therapy, medicine, and the lost employment opportunities due to the physical and/or cognitive injuries suffered by a baby.
In some extreme situations, the family of an injured child may be able to pursue punitive damages if the health care provider acted willfully or wantonly. A medical malpractice attorney can develop a strategy to help a family pursue all of the damages that may be appropriate.
Consult a Baltimore Lawyer for Your Medical Malpractice ClaimAt Lebowitz & Mzhen Personal Injury Lawyers, our medical malpractice attorneys have guided residents of Baltimore and the surrounding communities through many, many medical malpractice cases, including those arising from organ damage. We believe that negligent health care professionals should be held liable for the harm that they cause. Our sensitive staff knows that these situations are deeply stressful, and we aim to make the process as seamless as possible. We proudly serve clients throughout Maryland and in Washington, D.C. For more information, call us toll-free at (800) 654-1949 or at (410) 654-3600. Alternatively, you can contact us online to set up a free consultation.