About 10,000 babies are born with cerebral palsy each year in the United States. In the vast majority of these cases, the families don’t know where to start or how they will care for their children for the rest of their lives. All they have is a pit in their stomach and perhaps a gut feeling that something went wrong at the hospital where they received care.
With the fear of what’s next, accumulating medical bills, and the overwhelming possibility of filing a lawsuit against whoever didn’t live up to the medical standard of care, new parents can’t possibly know what to do next.
That’s where Miller Stern Lawyers, steps in to take the reins and lead you to the justice you deserve. So often, people fall for promises from legal firms who claim they can handle multiple areas of the law, including medical malpractice. These “one-stop shops” seem like the easiest option because they know how to do everything, or at least they say they do.
Miller Stern specializes in medical malpractice because it is such a complicated area of the law, especially when cases involve cerebral palsy. The lawyers at Miller Stern will work with you directly during every step of the process to make sure you receive the compensation you’re seeking and to ease the panic of the situation.
“The job really is to take away the burden from the mom and dad. They don’t know the first thing about filing a lawsuit or what medical malpractice is or what to expect, so the only thing their focus should be on is the health and safety of their child,” says Kevin Stern, Esq. with Miller Stern.
In addition to filing the case itself, your lawyer can evaluate your child, help coordinate the necessary care, and get your child in touch with the appropriate physicians. The costs of that medical care can sometimes add up to millions of dollars, which makes it even more important that you have qualified representation that can win that compensation back for you in court.
Medical malpractice cases involving cerebral palsy do not resolve quickly. There are several different steps and legal hoops to jump through on the way to a verdict. To start the case, your lawyer will need detailed information about what happened, dates of when the care was received, and information about the doctors, nurses, and hospitals involved. He or she will also need your medical records to review and give to a medical expert to certify the case. In Maryland, the case must be filed in the Health Claims Arbitration Office first, along with a Certificate of Merit and Claim Form.
“No other area of the law requires you to go through this gatekeeper, this additional step. Normally, if you get into a car accident or you have a dispute with your landlord, you just file your case. You prepare a complaint, file the case in court, and then life goes on,” Stern says. “In medical malpractice, you can’t do that. If you were to do that, your case would get dismissed in a matter of seconds.”
Once the case goes through health claims, it can be transferred into the courts through a process called waiver. At this point, your side will need to prove four things.
- Did the medical provider have a duty to live up to the medical standard of care? (The answer is, of course, yes.)
- Was that standard of care breached by an act of negligence?
- Did that negligence cause an injury to the patient?
- Were there any monetary damages incurred from the injury?
All four of these elements must be proven to have a successful medical malpractice case. If the defense can refute any of the four, the case could be in jeopardy.
This all might sound complicated, but having a lawyer who specializes in medical malpractice makes the process so much easier. Remember that filing correctly can take a long time to resolve, but filing incorrectly can make the case last only a matter of minutes.
Whenever Miller Stern takes a medical malpractice case, the outcome is contingency-based, which means the client only pays a percentage of the compensation when they win the case. This should give you the confidence to pursue the justice you deserve with a team of lawyers who is ready to represent you with every effort they have.
Miller Stern Lawyers, have helped clients receive millions of dollars in verdicts and settlements. If you believe you have a medical malpractice case, don’t hesitate to call 410-LAW-FIRM or visit millersternlawyers.com today.