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Call a Nebraska cerebral palsy lawyer if your child has disabilities due to medical negligence. Cerebral palsy is a common neurological condition affecting motor control and movement, but in some cases, it’s preventable. An experienced lawyer can also help you if your child has faced discrimination because of disabilities.
What Causes Cerebral Palsy?
The primary underlying cause of cerebral palsy is brain damage. An infant can suffer brain damage from many causes, especially complications of pregnancy, labor, and delivery.
Another possible cause of cerebral palsy is negligence. If a doctor or other healthcare provider makes a preventable mistake that leads to a baby developing cerebral palsy, it can be considered negligence and malpractice.
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Get Help NowDo I Need a Nebraska Cerebral Palsy Lawyer?
There are many reasons to need a lawyer when you have a child with disabilities. Finding the right Nebraska cerebral palsy lawyer is integral to providing your child’s ongoing care and support.
Finding a lawyer as soon as possible will save you stress and time later. There are time limits on legal actions, and the laws and processes can be complicated to navigate without a legal professional.
Some of the reasons you may need a cerebral palsy lawyer include taking legal action to get justice and recover damages for medical malpractice. This ensures opportunities and access later and ensures your child gets appropriate special education services.
Additionally, you could need a lawyer for other things, such as setting up trusts and managing any settlements you receive.
How Can a Nebraska Cerebral Palsy Lawyer Help My Child?
One of the most critical ways a lawyer can help is by ensuring you can file a lawsuit for medical malpractice with the best chance of success.
These lawsuits are essential for holding medical professionals responsible for the harm they cause by negligent actions. They are also crucial in recovering damages to help pay the costs of care for your child.
Negligence is not uncommon, and there is every possibility that your child’s disabilities would not exist if it weren’t for a medical mistake.
A good lawyer can help you determine if negligence occurred, help you file a medical malpractice lawsuit, investigate and work with experts to make your case and give you a better chance of winning.
A Nebraska cerebral palsy lawyer can also help your child as they grow. Laws protect children with disabilities and ensure access to special educational services, but schools sometimes fail to provide them.
A lawyer can help you face your schools and other organizations and ensure your child gets services, adaptive technologies, access, and opportunity.
How to Find the Right Cerebral Palsy Lawyer
For your child with cerebral palsy and disabilities, you need a lawyer with real expertise and experience with state medical malpractice laws.
Don’t settle for anything less than a lawyer who specializes in medical malpractice cases and one who can show you a proven track record of successful cerebral palsy lawsuits in Nebraska.
You may want to ask around with people you know in similar situations. Other parents with disabled children and community groups that work with families like yours can help guide you in the direction of a good lawyer.
You can also turn to the state bar association to find a lawyer in good standing and with the right expertise.
Medical Malpractice Laws in Nebraska
Medical malpractice laws vary by state, and you need a basic understanding of those in Nebraska to help make better decisions. Your lawyer can guide you, but you should also know some of the major laws that impact how and if you can seek justice for your child.
Statute of Limitations
The statute of limitations, for instance, can limit when you file a lawsuit. For medical malpractice in Nebraska, you have just two years from the time of the negligence or one year from when you discovered it to file a lawsuit.
Exceptions to the statute of limitations can be made for minors. The time limit begins when they turn 21.[1]
Damages Cap
Nebraska also has a law that impacts how much you can seek damages in a lawsuit. The state has capped total costs, economic and non-economic, at $2.25 million.[2]
Medical Review Panel
Further, you will need to rely on your lawyer to help you get past the state’s medical review panel before you can file a lawsuit.
The medical review panel requires you to present evidence and expert medical testimony. The panel will decide your case has merit to allow you to proceed with a lawsuit.[3]
Disability Rights in Nebraska
There are state laws that protect the rights of disabled people, but for a child, the federal laws are most important. For instance, your child is entitled to a free and appropriate education under the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act.[4]
If your child is not provided every opportunity at school, you may need a lawyer to force the school to act.
Cerebral Palsy and Disability Cases in Nebraska
There are plenty of examples of Nebraska cerebral palsy lawyers succeeding in winning justice and compensation for their clients.
In one unfortunate case, a baby born in 2010 at Methodist Women’s Hospital suffered severe brain damage after staff made several mistakes.
The midwife and doctor providing care failed to manage the baby’s difficulty breathing and misused forceps, among other errors. A jury in their malpractice suit awarded the parents of the baby $11.5 million.[5]
If your child was born and diagnosed with cerebral palsy, you might have a valid medical malpractice case. Mistakes happen all too often, and it is essential to hold medical professionals responsible for them.
You can rely on a Nebraska cerebral palsy lawyer to help make your case, advise you in making decisions, and give you the best chance of helping your child by recovering damages to pay for care, treatment, and lifelong support.
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Get Help NowReferences
- Nebraska Legislature. (n.d.). Nebraska Revised Statute 44-2828.
Retrieved from: https://nebraskalegislature.gov/laws/statutes.php?statute=44-2828 - Morton, H. (2021, July 13). Medical Liability/Medical Malpractice Laws. National Conference of State Legislatures.
Retrieved from: https://www.ncsl.org/financial-services/medical-liability-medical-malpractice-laws - Nebraska Legislature. (n.d.). Nebraska Revised Statute 44-2841.
Retrieved from: https://nebraskalegislature.gov/laws/statutes.php?statute=44-2841 - U.S. Department of Education. (n.d.). About IDEA.
Retrieved from: https://sites.ed.gov/idea/https://sites.ed.gov/idea/about-idea/ - Hubbard, R. (2019, October 16). Jury Awards $11.5 Million to Omaha Couple in Medical Malpractice Lawsuit over Child’s Birth. Omaha World-Herald.
Retrieved from: https://www.omaha.com/livewellnebraska/jury-awards-million-to-omaha-couple-in-medical-malpractice-lawsuit/article_e0dc28e6-9b05-11e6-aeb1-0325d33f0cf9.html