Understanding the Lifetime Costs of Birth Injuries with Long-Term Effects

While some birth injuries only have short-term consequences, others can have long-term effects. In many cases, injuries resulting from oxygen deprivation, physical trauma during delivery, and other care-related issues will sadly have lifelong consequences. In these cases, it is especially important for parents to speak with a Florida birth injury lawyer about their legal rights.

When birth injuries have long-term effects, their lifetime costs can be substantial. As a result, when taking legal action, it is imperative that parents have a clear and comprehensive understanding of the costs they are entitled to recover. If your family has a birth injury claim, an experienced lawyer will be able to assist with calculating the damages that you should be seeking for your child’s diagnosis.

10 Common Costs Associated with Life-Altering Birth Injuries

While every family’s circumstances are unique, the following are examples of common costs associated with life-altering birth injuries:

1. Medical Costs

Medical conditions such as cerebral palsy, Erb’s palsy and cognitive disabilities linked to birth injuries can require a lifetime of treatment. While individual visits to the hospital or a doctor’s office can be incredibly expensive on their own, over the course of a child’s lifetime, the costs associated with treating these types of birth injury-related medical conditions can easily climb into the hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of dollars.

2. Therapy Costs

The lifetime costs of therapy for neuromuscular and cognitive disabilities caused by preventable birth injuries can be substantial as well. With conditions such as cerebral palsy and Erb’s palsy, children will typically need forms of ongoing therapy, including:

• Physical therapy
• Occupational therapy
• Speech therapy

As children begin to mature, if they are able to understand the implications of their diagnosis, they may benefit from receiving psychiatric therapy or psychological therapy as well. When you hire an experienced Florida birth injury lawyer to represent your family, your family’s lawyer will be able to assist with identifying all potential costs related to your child’s diagnosis and work with medical experts to document the long-term costs your family is entitled to recover.

3. Other Care-Related Expenses

Along with medical treatment and any necessary forms of therapy, preventable birth injuries can also lead to a variety of other care-related expenses. These include everything from the cost of prescription medications to the cost of powered wheelchairs. These are costs your family may be entitled to recover as well, and while they may be fairly modest in comparison to your family’s other costs, they can still amount to a significant financial burden over time.

4. Home and Vehicle Modifications

Modifying your family’s home and vehicles (or purchasing modified vehicles) can amount to a significant financial burden as well. If your child is limited in his or her physical abilities, or if your child will live his or her entire life in a wheelchair, this will necessitate changes to your home environment. Wheelchair ramps, lifts and other necessary modifications can be surprisingly expensive, and these are also costs that you may be able to recover by filing a claim to hold your family’s healthcare provider accountable.

5. Loss of Future Earning Capacity

Children who suffer disabling birth injuries will typically have limited options for seeking employment in adulthood—if they are eventually able to seek employment at all. If your child’s ability to earn a living has been compromised or eliminated due to medical malpractice, this is a significant financial loss that your family should seek to recover as well.

6. Permanent Scarring and Disfigurement

Life-altering birth injuries can have a variety of significant non-financial consequences. While these are not “costs” in the sense that they will have a direct impact on your family’s finances in the years to come, they are still serious consequences for which financial compensation is available in appropriate cases.

One example of a non-financial consequence often associated with traumatic birth injuries is permanent scarring or disfigurement. If your child has been permanently scarred or disfigured due to medical malpractice during labor or delivery, your family’s Florida birth injury lawyer will be able to assist with determining what constitutes “just” compensation under the law.

7. Physical Pain and Suffering

Trauma during labor and delivery can also cause significant pain and suffering, and scarring and disfiguring injuries can cause chronic pain and suffering as well. Here too, while these are not costs that will impact your family’s finances, they are still losses for which financial compensation may be available if your child’s birth injury is the result of medical malpractice.

8. Emotional Trauma

Emotional trauma is another type of non-financial loss for which parents can seek financial compensation in appropriate cases. Living with the life-altering consequences of a birth injury can cause severe emotional trauma in some cases. Once again, your family’s lawyer will be able to assist with identifying all recoverable losses in your family’s case and work with medical experts to secure the documentation needed to prove your family’s legal rights.

9. Loss of Companionship and Enjoyment of Life

Birth injuries that have long-term or permanent effects can also result in loss of companionship and enjoyment of life. If your child will be unable to make friends, pursue hobbies, and do all of the other things that are a normal part of life as both a child and an adult, these are also non-financial losses for which compensation may be available.

10. Loss of Consortium, Services, and Support

Finally, if your child’s birth injury will prevent him or her from having a romantic relationship with a partner in the future or impede his or her life in any other way, these factors will also impact the amount that your family can—and should—seek from the healthcare provider that is responsible. If you need to know more, we strongly recommend that you speak with an experienced Florida birth injury lawyer as soon as possible.

Discuss Your Family’s Legal Rights with an Experienced Florida Birth Injury Lawyer for Free

If you need to speak with a Florida birth injury lawyer about your family’s legal rights, we strongly encourage you to get in touch. To schedule a free consultation at Searcy Denney, please call 800-780-8607 or contact us online today.