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Contact a qualified New Mexico cerebral palsy lawyer if your child was diagnosed with cerebral palsy. A lawyer with the right expertise can give you a promising chance of winning a medical malpractice case. An experienced attorney can also help disabled children who have been discriminated against.
Why Do I Need a New Mexico Cerebral Palsy Lawyer?
If your child was a victim of medical negligence, you need a lawyer to help you stay informed of your rights. They can explain the laws regarding malpractice and disabilities and guide your decisions as you figure out what to do next.
A diagnosis of cerebral palsy is shocking, and you may not know what actions to take. If you suspect malpractice, you will need a lawyer with the right experience to file a lawsuit for you.
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Get Help NowIn the future, as your child goes to school and grows older, you may also need a lawyer. Your child may face discrimination, denial of special education services, or denial of government benefits.
Some laws protect disabled children, but a lawyer ensures schools and other organizations follow the laws. You may also need a lawyer to draft legal documents, set up trusts, and make financial decisions.
How Can a New Mexico Cerebral Palsy Lawyer Help My Family?
Your most immediate need is for a lawyer to file a medical malpractice lawsuit to fight for justice and compensation for your child. You may also need a lawyer for several reasons you can’t imagine right now.
Finding a good lawyer now will help you and your family both in the short term and in years to come:
- Filing a medical malpractice lawsuit
- Finding evidence that malpractice occurred
- Facing high-powered insurance company legal teams
- Negotiating settlement amounts for your child
- Forcing schools to provide adequate educational services
- Ensuring access and opportunity for your child
- Drafting legal documents
- Handling finances and making financial decisions
- Setting up a trust or conservatorship for your child
- Fighting against loss of government or insurance benefits
A lawyer will provide the expertise and advice to make decisions more comfortable and help you feel better about providing for your child.
New Mexico Medical Malpractice Laws
Malpractice laws are different in every state. They can be difficult to understand and interpret if you are not a lawyer.
Statute of Limitations
One law you must understand is the statute of limitations, which limits the time you can file a lawsuit.
In most malpractice cases in New Mexico, you have just three years from when the negligence occurred to file. But in the case of a birth injury, you can potentially extend that limit to one year from your child’s 18th birthday.[1]
Medical Review Committee
In New Mexico, you must also go before a medical review committee before being allowed to file. This is to deter frivolous lawsuits.[2]
Your lawyer can help you find a qualified medical expert, and the information needed to show your case has merit and that malpractice likely occurred. This will get you through the review process so you can file.
How Much Compensation Can I Get for Cerebral Palsy?
The value of a cerebral palsy lawsuit in New Mexico depends on individual factors of the case and the state’s law capping damages amounts.
New Mexico caps noneconomic damages from independent practices at $750,000. The limit for damages from hospitals is $5 million. Both amounts are adjusted annually for inflation.[3] Your lawyer can explain how this law might affect your compensation expectations.
Disability Rights in New Mexico
In New Mexico, you can refer to federal laws to ensure your child has equal opportunity, access, and appropriate education.
Laws like the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act ensure your child an education equivalent to what other children receive, to the fullest extent.[4]
If your child’s school does not provide needed services and technologies or does not follow the individualized education plan, your lawyer will help you change that.
New Mexico Cerebral Palsy Lawyers Advocate for Families
These lawyers are working hard every day for their clients to win justice for children who suffered because of the mistakes made by trusted medical professionals. In one of these cases, lawyers are fighting for a child born in 2012.
The child experienced a brain hemorrhage when the delivering doctor misused a vacuum extractor during delivery. The little girl is now disabled and has been diagnosed with cerebral palsy and epilepsy.[5]
In another case that has ended in an award for the family, another child was born with severe brain damage and is now severely disabled and living with cerebral palsy.
The family’s lawyer successfully argued that the doctor delivering the boy was negligent.
The doctor failed to adequately monitor the mother during her pregnancy, even though she had several risk factors for complications.
The baby was large and got stuck in the birth canal. He was deprived of oxygen for ten minutes and was then violently torn out with the use of a vacuum extractor.
Both the mother and baby were injured. The jury awarded the family more than $70 million.[6]
How to Find a New Mexico Cerebral Palsy Lawyer
To find a New Mexico cerebral palsy lawyer who can provide a big win like this, you need to search for a specialist. Birth injury and medical malpractice cases are complicated and unique. Choose a lawyer who can show previous in successfully handling birth injury cases.
Local groups that work with disabled children, parents of children with cerebral palsy in your community, and the state’s bar association are all good resources for finding the right lawyer.
If your child is disabled and was diagnosed with cerebral palsy after a difficult birth, you may have a strong case for medical malpractice.
Find a qualified New Mexico cerebral palsy lawyer to help make your case, prove malpractice, and guide you to a win for justice and compensation in a settlement or jury trial.
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Get Help NowReferences
- Casetext. (2024). N.M. Stat. § 41-5-13.
Retrieved from: https://casetext.com/statute/new-mexico-statutes-1978/chapter-41-torts/article-5-medical-malpractice-act/section-41-5-13-limitations - New Mexico Medical Society. (n.d.). NM Medical Review Commission.
Retrieved from: https://www.nmms.org/nm-medical-review-commission/ - 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 - U.S. Department of Education. (n.d.). About IDEA.
Retrieved from: https://sites.ed.gov/idea/about-idea/ - Kellogg, J. (2017, September 5). Couple Claim Medical Negligence in Delivery of Daughter. Farmington Daily Times.
Retrieved from: https://www.daily-times.com/story/news/local/farmington/2017/09/05/couple-claim-medical-negligence-delivery-daughter/631214001/ - Stelnicki, T. (2018, August 24). Santa Fe Jury Awards $73.2M in Delivery That Left Infant Disabled. Santa Fe New Mexican.
Retrieved from: https://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/santa-fe-jury-awards-m-in-delivery-that-left-infant/article_90275cd1-7a37-5b46-b232-20c0989668a5.html