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Birth Injury Lawyers

Birth injury lawyers should be consulted when parents feel that a mother, baby, or both have suffered injury during a birth due to medical negligence during the delivery.

Many parents find themselves faced with birth injuries and are unable to get the answers to the questions from the medical field that they need.

That is where good compensation solicitors come in. They are there to help parents and be on their side to ensure that if a family should be awarded any sort of compensation, it is done on a timely basis and handled correctly.

birth injury lawyers and claiming compensation

The Clinical Negligence Scheme for Trusts (CNST) which began in 1995, was set up to better help the National Health Service (NHS) manage medical negligence.

Birth injuries are considered medical negligence and fall in to a category of compensation claims known as professional negligence. A doctor, midwife, hospital or other medical personnel may be responsible for birth injuries.

The CNST is a voluntary service that obstetricians, medical personnel, and hospitals can join. If you feel you have suffered a birth injury due to negligence in any NHS hospital in England, you may find yourself having to hire a birth injury lawyer to represent you and speak to the CNST on your behalf.

Members of the CNST pay membership fees. The size of their fee depends upon their risk standards (high or low) and the amount, if any, of negligent claims they have incurred.

While birth injury lawyers will work with the CNST to recover compensation for a family that has experienced birth injuries, it is the NHS Litigation Authority that will ultimately deal with the claim and pay fees and costs.

Because members of the CNST must go through a rigorous evaluation and can receive grades from level one to level three, which is the highest, it is important that you ask your obstetrician (or member) what level they are qualified at.

Birth injuries can affect not only the baby, but also the mother during any delivery. They can be caused by misuse of medical equipment such as forceps, medical inefficiencies, and other avoidable medical procedures.

A mother may have injuries such as vaginal tearing or incorrect suturing after an episiotomy and even infection may occur. Babies may suffer all sorts of birth injuries including cerebral palsy, facial palsy, umbilical cord complications, ruptured placenta, skin irritations, bone fractures, and even brain trauma along with many other conditions that may be considered a birth injury.

baby birth injury and claiming compensation

To ensure you are safe if you have suffered a birth injury, it is best to hire a firm of birth injury lawyers who are experienced and have worked with both the CNST and the NHS in a successful manner on behalf of their clients.

Be sure to ask any compensation solicitor or lawyer you contact if they have experience in dealing with these kind of cases.

A good firm of birth injury lawyers will have a group of solicitors and assistants to help them gather all the facts about your case and ask the right questions of the right people. They will understand the medical jargon that perhaps you will not.

They should also be a member of the Solicitors Regulation Authority, which is a branch of the Law Society. You should ask your compensation solicitor for past case references and success rates they have had in dealing with birth injury cases.

Most solicitors will offer a no-fee, no win situation where if they don’t win any compensation for your birth injury, you don’t have to pay them.

Lastly, any legal help that you hire should understand your situation in a professional yet caring manner and will be able to speak to you honestly about your situation and how they plan to handle your case.

No one wants to find themselves in the position of having to hire birth injury lawyers, however, if you find you are in such a dilemma, following the above tips to hire the right one could make a large difference in whether you are represented wisely and win your claim for compensation.