The Role Of The Lawyer In Birth Injury Litigation

It is a big step for a parent to ring for that initial discussion regarding their child’s claim. There are occasions when events around birth can explain their child’s cerebral palsy. In most cases, cerebral palsy is caused by unidentifiable events occurring well before birth. There are certain pointers which enable us to focus our investigations:

The baby was born at full term and all seemed well until the very end of labour.

The baby was particularly unwell in the neo-natal period particularly with evidence of fitting.

Funding is a concern for most families, but probably should not be. Legal Aid is available and is assessed on the child’s means, not the parents’.

The litigation process begins with collating medical records and obtaining independent expert medical opinion. The obstetric notes are examined by an obstetrician and a midwife. To bring a successful claim it is not sufficient to show simply that wrong decisions were taken. We need to show that no responsible obstetrician/midwife would have taken the decisions that were taken. If we can identify substandard care we then need to establish the link with cerebral palsy

Once the reports are available the family will meet with the experts and our barrister. If we agree that the case is strong enough, court proceedings then start.

If liability is established there is still much to do to calculate the award. The modern approach is to use a lump sum for capital costs. Ongoing future costs are often met by annual payments.

Published 04/01/2007.