What Happens in a Medical Legal Review?

The fact that a physician or another medical professional may have previously explained the cause of your child’s condition does not eliminate the need for a thorough Medical Legal Review. You may have been informed, for instance, that the cause was genetic, congenital, or just something your child was unexplainably born with. A physician may tell you that the cause of your child’s condition was due to something you ate or drank, or something you did or failed to do during pregnancy.

Do not be deterred. The question always remains whether the medical standard of care has been complied with in treating both you and your child, and whether any substandard medical care is responsible for your child’s injury. Always listen to the doctors, of course, to attempt to learn the actual cause of your child’s condition. Then obtain a second opinion – a legal opinion – from Stern Law, PLLC at (800) 462-5772.

[videosingle id=”28924″ width=”95%” height=”400″ /]

What Is A Medical Legal Review? from The CP Lawyer | Stern Law, PLLC on Vimeo.

What is the Medical Legal Review process?

It takes a series of complicated questions to begin to analyze the cause of your child’s condition. During a medical legal review, our medical-legal team consisting of doctors, nurses, and lawyers will thoroughly examine the events that led to your child’s injury – whether it occurred before, during or after delivery – to see whether the standard of medical care was followed.

With decades of experience and quite literally thousands of cases reviewed, our experienced professionals recognize where gaps may have occurred in care that may determine whether your child has been harmed by sub-standard or negligent care, and ultimately, who or what is responsible for your child’s injury.

As part of the review, we will seek answers, for example, to the following questions:

• Did your child suffer any injury before, during, or even after birth?
• Did the doctors or nurses fail to order, or fail to interpret any specific tests or studies during pregnancy or during labor?
• Did the doctors or nurses fail to notice changes in your baby’s heart rate during labor, based upon the fetal heart monitor?
• Did the doctors or nurses fail to perform an emergency cesarean section (or e c-section) when they knew or should have known that your baby was in fetal distress?
• Did the doctors or nurses fail to deliver your baby in a timely manner?
• Was there any meconium (fecal material) when your water broke, indicating possible fetal distress?
• Did you develop an infection that placed your baby at risk, such as German measles, Toxoplasmosis, Rubella, or a urinary tract infection?
• Did a doctor withhold medication and disregard the infection?
• Was your blood evaluated for Rh incompatibility?
• Was your baby delivered with forceps or with a vacuum extraction device?
• Was your baby injured by the forceps or vacuum extractor?
• Was your baby stuck in the birth canal, and did this go on for very long?
• Did the placenta rupture?
• Did you have preeclampsia/hypertension during the pregnancy or labor that was treated inappropriately?
• After your water broke, did it take more than 24 hours to deliver your baby, increasing the risk for infection?
• Did you have a fever that was 100.4°F or greater during the pregnancy, or during labor?
• If your baby was born prematurely, were drugs used to stop premature labor or to advance the growth of your baby’s lungs?
• At birth, did your baby have jaundice?
• At birth, did your baby cry on their own?
• At birth, did your baby require resuscitation or assistance with breathing?
• Was your baby admitted to a neonatal intensive care unit?

If the answer is “yes” to any of these questions, it is possible Stern Law, PLLC will determine that your child’s cerebral palsy, or any other neurological complication, may have been avoidable with different care. If the medical staff failed in any way, you and your child may be entitled to Lifetime Benefits.

If you suspect that your child sustained birth injuries due to medical negligence, it’s crucial to consider the full range and scope of your legal rights, responsibilities, and options. While there are numerous attorneys who are capable of filing birth injury cases, few may truly understand the complexities and challenges associated with these types of matters.

With more than 30 years of birth injury litigation experience, our firms understands how difficult it is to care for a child who has been harmed at the hands of negligent doctors and other medical professionals. The path to justice for your child begins with a full medical legal review. To schedule a free evaluation, please call Stern Law, PLLC at (800) 462-5772.