Acworth Birth Injury Attorneys

Georgia law allows birth injury victims and their families to pursue compensation to help them navigate the devastating effects such injuries cause. However, to secure this compensation, you need a seasoned advocate on your side.

At Kaufman Injury Law, our Acworth birth injury attorneys have a proven track record of success in fighting for the futures of our clients — and we can fight for you.

What Is a Birth Injury?

Birth injuries occur during labor and delivery and are often serious, but not always. Birthing subjects babies to all manner of extreme forces and pressures, making mild injuries that heal quickly not uncommon.

More severe injuries, however, happen all too frequently, such as:

• Hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) 
• Erb’s palsy
• Brachial palsy
• Brain damage
• Cerebral palsy
• Ruptured blood vessels in the eyes
• Bruising caused by birth canal travel or rough handling
• Caput succedaneum, or swelling at the scalp 
• Facial paralysis
• Fractures 
• Cephalohematoma 

When a birth injury heals quickly and without residual effects, children can typically expect to lead a relatively normal life. When healing takes months or years, however, the child can struggle in many areas, including employment, education, and personal relationships. Common joys in life, such as going to the movies or fishing at Lake Acworth, become challenging or impossible.

At Kaufman Injury Law, we understand the medical costs and financial impacts that go along with birth injuries. That is why our team of injury attorneys aggressively seeks the maximum payout for our clients. 

Accountability for Birth Injuries in Georgia

Liability for any medical procedure or treatment resulting in injury arises if the medical professional:

• Had a duty of care toward the patient
• Breached this duty of care
• Caused injury to the patient because of the breach
• Caused compensable damages

Duty is established by the doctor-patient relationship and encompasses all members of a labor and delivery team. 

A breach of this duty refers to substandard treatment. In birth injury cases, this breach may involve:

• Fetal monitoring errors
• Improper C-section procedure
• Failure to diagnose or treat a developing injury
• Forceps or vacuum errors
• Delayed delivery
• Anesthesia administration errors
• Birth trauma

Other causes of birth injuries may not be related to licensed medical professionals. For example, defective medical tools and products, such as drug products, can easily lead to a birth injury. When they do, the case would be a product liability case instead of a case of medical malpractice. 

Who Is Liable for an Acworth Birth Injury?

The following licensed medical professionals may be held liable for birth injuries, depending on the circumstances: 

• Obstetricians
• Anesthesiologists
• Physician’s assistants
• Nurse practitioners
• Nurses
• Midwives
• Doolas
• Pharmacists

The employers of these professionals may also be held liable for their medical malpractice. Under the doctrine of vicarious liability, employers are liable for employee negligence. Hospitals and birthing centers alike can be responsible for damages claims even when not negligent themselves. 

Drugmakers, medical device makers, and the makers of other related products and equipment may also be held accountable if their products are defective and cause injury. 

Motorists as well may face accountability for a birth injury. For example, suppose that a driver causes an emergency vehicle en route to a hospital with a pregnant woman to crash on Highway 78. In that case, the driver can be held liable for resulting birth injuries.

Ultimately, determining who is liable in birth injury cases is often a complicated and meticulous process. Our attorneys are experienced in these matters and well-prepared to identify all responsible parties in your case.

Compensation Available in Birth Injury Cases

Justice is dispensed through damages in birth injury cases. Damages address specific compensable losses in injury cases, including:

• Lost present and future earning
• Current and future medical bills
• Pain and suffering
• Loss of enjoyment of life
• Disfigurement
• Emotional distress
• Wrongful death damages

We perform detailed investigations and calculations to determine the precise amount of damages you are owed. No valid compensation is left out of our equations.  

What Comes Next After an Acworth Birth Injury

If your child has been injured during birth and has received initial medical treatment to address the harm, you may want your next focus to be compensation for the current and future losses caused by the injury. 

Schedule a Free Consultation and Case Review

When it’s time to focus on compensation, attending a free consultation with a lawyer should be your first step. You need answers, evaluations, and predictions that you can rely on. Our birth injury lawyers can provide you with this key information. 

Once you become a client of Kaufman Injury Law, you can expect our team to handle every step of the process, including negotiating with insurance companies and representing you in court if necessary.

Preserve Paperwork and Documents

Gathering and safeguarding all paperwork, documents, and forms in your child’s case can lead to a better and faster resolution to your case. With your medical records, medical bills, communications between you and your child’s healthcare provider, and other documents at the ready, your lawyer can build a stronger case on your behalf.

Document Your Family’s Struggles

The negative impact of a birth injury on families is indisputable. However, the unique details of your case are important to establish losses — especially non-economic losses. Keeping a journal or diary of your child’s and family’s struggles provides a strong source of evidence for these cases. 

Things you should consider documenting include:

• Expenses as a result of the birth injury
• Special feeding, dressing, and bathing procedures due to the injury
• Medical travel 
• Episodes of pain and suffering

Essentially, you should seek to document as many of the setbacks and losses caused by the birth injury as possible, along with how your family must cope. The more specific your documentation, the better. 

Georgia’s Statute of Limitations for Injury Cases

There is a two-year statute of limitations for birth injury cases when the parents are the plaintiffs. However, when the injured infant is the plaintiff, the statute of limitations is tolled until their fifth birthday, after which they have two years. 

The statute of limitations is also tolled when the discovery of an injury cannot reasonably occur until months or years after the birth. When a case involves delayed discovery, the statute of limitations may be tolled for up to five years. 

Once a statute of limitations has run, the right to compensation disappears unless an exception to the statute of limitations can be found, such as fraud. For example, if a doctor causes a birth injury and then fraudulently conceals it from the parent, the statute of limitations may be tolled.

Whatever the circumstances of the birth injury, you deserve answers, which you can get from a free consultation. You may have a valid case even if the statute of limitations has elapsed.

If the statute of limitations is still in play, don’t delay pursuing compensation, even if there is much time on the clock. The longer you wait to take action, the more likely problems with evidence will arise, such as witness recall errors, problems locating witnesses, and destruction of evidence per hospital policies. Once you hire Kaufman Injury Law, we immediately get to work on locating and preserving valuable evidence for your claim.  

Call Kaufman Injury Law for Skilled Legal Help Today

Nearly five decades ago, Kaufman Injury Law opened its doors to injury victims in Georgia. Since then, we have helped thousands get the justice they need and deserve. Let our seasoned Acworth birth injury attorneys fight for your family’s future. Call for a free consultation to learn how we can help you today.