Putting Our Knowledge And Experience To Work
Ohio and Kentucky Pediatric Malpractice Attorneys
Being a parent to a young child can be an incredible experience. For one, you can see the world through their bright, hopeful eyes and experience everything for the first time through them. On the other hand, becoming a parent can also be extremely stressful and nerve-racking. You are now responsible for a new human that didn’t come with an instruction manual, and the idea of that alone can be terrifying.
We try to protect our children and loved ones from harm, but what happens when the harm comes from someone trusted to heal? Doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals treat all of our common injuries, and we trust them to treat our children’s injuries, too. It seems unreasonable to be wary of medical providers, but unfortunately, medical malpractice is not uncommon. Physicians are human beings who make mistakes like the rest of us, but their mistakes often have much more severe and sometimes deadly consequences.
If your child was harmed due to a medical error from a healthcare provider, you may have a pediatric malpractice suit on your hands. A pediatric malpractice lawsuit may seem overwhelming and complicated, but our Ohio and Kentucky malpractice lawyers at TLF: The Medical Injury Law Firm are ready to stand by your side every step of the way. Contact our pediatric malpractice attorneys toll-free at 800-698-4054 or schedule an appointment online today.
Medical Malpractice Attorney for Children
When a pediatric patient is injured due to medical malpractice, they cannot do anything to get justice for themselves, as minors cannot pursue legal action against those who harm them. As a parent or guardian, however, you can pursue legal action against the negligent party on behalf of your child through a pediatric malpractice lawsuit.
The capable attorneys at TLF: The Medical Injury Law Firm have extensive experience with medical malpractice lawsuits of all kinds. Our law firm has been helping injured victims all over northern Kentucky and southwest Ohio for more than 50 years. At TLF, we understand the overwhelming consequences of a child’s injury caused by a healthcare provider. We also know that you may feel helpless after a devastating injury to your child. When you trust the skilled attorneys at TLF for your medical negligence and malpractice claims, we will fight to recover the maximum amount of compensation possible for your child’s pediatric injury.
What is Pediatric Malpractice?
Physicians are supposed to help heal us, but their mistakes can cause lasting damage. Unlike other physician specialties, pediatrician and obstetrician malpractice victims are children. Children can’t always communicate properly what’s happening to them, and common illnesses and injuries often present differently in children than they do in adults. This is why pediatricians play such an important role in caring for your child. It is up to pediatricians to draw conclusions from patient history, medical records, and nonverbal clues to help diagnose your child. When pediatricians fail to diagnose or treat a child properly, pediatric malpractice lawsuits may occur.
Unfortunately, pediatric malpractice involving mistakes like delays in diagnosis or misdiagnosis can cause permanent injuries to your child. Most claims (49%) involve neonates (children under one month old), according to a 2013 study in Pediatrics. The remainder of the claims involved children older than one month. These claims were split pretty evenly between children 1 to 12 months old and children over a year old.
What are the Common Causes of Pediatric Malpractice?
Pediatricians, like other physicians, have a duty to provide the best care possible to their young patients. Like medical malpractice, most cases of pediatric malpractice stem from provider negligence and a breach of duty. An otherwise healthy baby can be destined for a lifetime of medical issues due to the negligence or carelessness of an obstetrician.
Pediatric malpractice claims involving neonates usually stem from birth injuries caused by obstetrical treatment. Common birth injuries like cerebral palsy, brachial plexus injuries, shoulder dystocia and hypoxic brain injuries can leave your child with physical and cognitive defects for the rest of their life. In children over a year old, the most common cause of patient injury are misdiagnosis or delay in diagnosis. As previously mentioned, children cannot communicate their symptoms the same way adults can. This, combined with the fact that many illnesses present differently in children, can cause pediatricians to miss or overlook illnesses.
Getting a prompt diagnosis and proper treatment can be the difference between life and death for infants and young children. Take appendicitis as an example. Acute appendicitis can result in a burst appendix and cause a severe infection called peritonitis. In severe appendicitis cases, the patient can go septic and die without timely treatment. In children 2-12 years old, the misdiagnosis rate ranges between 28-57%. In children under 2, the misdiagnosis rate for appendicitis is nearly 100%.
Medication errors, which account for more than five percent of pediatric malpractice cases, can result in the patient receiving the wrong drug and can further delay proper treatment and cause more injuries. Things like poor documentation can also lead to pediatric malpractice, such as ordering medications that may cause an allergic reaction or react adversely to other medications. Failure to analyze a patient’s medical history, misreading radiologic tests, surgical errors, and providing harmful and unnecessary care are also common causes of pediatric malpractice claims.
How Common are Pediatrician Errors?
In a 2010 survey, 54% of surveyed pediatricians reported that they made diagnostic errors at least once a month. 45% of pediatricians self-reported that their diagnostic errors harmed one to two pediatric patients a year. These diagnosis errors include patient assessment issues such as diagnosing and treating the wrong illness or missed and delayed medical diagnoses, all of which can have long-term consequences.
Elements of Pediatric Malpractice Cases
To prove a pediatric malpractice case, you and your legal team must demonstrate all of the following elements:
- The medical provider had a duty of care to the pediatric patient
- The medical provider breached the duty of care
- The breach of care caused harm to the pediatric patient that resulted in an injury
- The injury resulted in damages (financial losses)
When pediatricians and other medical professionals breach their duty of care, the child is the one who suffers. Most of these issues are preventable. If your child was harmed or sustained a serious injury due to medical malpractice, contact TLF: The Medical Injury Law Firm today. We provide effective representation no matter how complicated the case may be.
What Damages are Available in Pediatric Malpractice Claims?
Malpractice lawsuits involving child patients often have extensive damages due to the long-term consequences of the injury. Younger patients are more likely to have life-long issues and are often robbed of the ability to provide for themselves in the future. In many of these cases, parents have to give up their careers to stay home and care for their injured child.
At TLF, our Cincinnati and Covington personal injury attorneys fight for the maximum amount of compensation available. Our lawyers have extensive experience with medical malpractice claims, so you can trust us to get the job done. At TLF, our experienced attorneys commonly recover compensation for:
- Medical costs, including present and future medical expenses
- Funeral expenses in a wrongful death case
- Loss of future income potential
- In-home care
- Medical equipment and devices
- Pain and suffering
- Mental anguish
- Permanent disability and disfigurement
- And more
What’s the Average Settlement for a Pediatric Malpractice Claim?
Putting a specific number on a lawsuit, especially those involving children, can be difficult. Judges, juries, and insurance companies are just some of the contributing factors in settlements for malpractice cases. In most cases, younger victims with more severe injuries often have a higher indemnity payment (often called compensation). Most medical malpractice cases also settle outside of court, so many of the specific details of the case are not public record. In many states, including Ohio, there are caps or limitations imposed by law on how much money you can receive from a medical malpractice lawsuit. Our Kentucky and Ohio medical malpractice attorneys will cover the caps for these two states below.
What is the Ohio Malpractice Compensation Cap?
Ohio law sets a limit on the amount that can be paid to successful plaintiffs in a medical malpractice case. Even if a jury determines the physician, medical provider or hospital was negligent and liable for the medical malpractice, the Ohio malpractice cap limits the amount of non-economic damages that can be awarded. This limit is $250,000 or 3 times the amount of economic damages. In cases of permanent or catastrophic injuries, the limit is $500,000. It is important to remember, however, that this cap only applies to non-economic damages, which are damages that are not directly tied to a dollar amount, such as pain and suffering.
What is the Kentucky Malpractice Compensation Cap?
Kentucky law does not set a cap on the compensation that can be recovered in medical malpractice lawsuits. This means there is no limit to the non-economic damages you can pursue on behalf of your injured child.
Settlement Versus Jury Award
Court proceedings delve into every detail of a case and can take up a considerable amount of time. Fortunately, many pediatric claims settle before ever going before a judge and jury. However, the team of attorneys at TLF prepare every case as if it is going to trial. If the negligent parties refuse to settle for what your pediatric malpractice lawsuit is worth, the Ohio and Kentucky injury attorneys at TLF are ready to fight for what your child deserves in court.
Cincinnati & Covington Pediatric Malpractice Lawyers
We know that as parents, you want to do everything possible to protect your child. This can mean putting your entire life on hold to care for them full-time after an injury.. Pediatric malpractice lawsuits can be complex, but the attorneys at TLF: The Medical Injury Law Firm are prepared to guide you through the entire process.
Our skilled Kentucky and Ohio medical injury lawyers have decades of experience handling medical malpractice lawsuits, including those involving child injuries, which means we know what it takes to pursue claims aggressively for our clients for the harm caused by a negligent medical staff. Our firm has medical consultants on staff, allowing us a degree of medical expertise that most law firms in the area cannot provide. With our vast legal and medical resources, we will thoroughly investigate your case and work to obtain compensation for all current and future losses you and your family may experience.
Begin your attorney-client relationship today and get started on your case with legal advice from a qualified pediatric malpractice lawyer. Call our Cincinnati office at (513) 651-4130 or our Covington office at (859) 578-9130 for a free consultation. You can also reach us toll-free at (800) 698-4054 or via our online intake form.
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You Pay No Fees Unless We Win!
We are happy to offer a free consultation to evaluate your case. If you hire us as your legal counsel, we will represent you on a contingency-fee basis. You will pay no attorneys’ fees unless we recover financial damages.