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If your child was diagnosed with cerebral palsy, and if you suspect medical negligence, contact a qualified New Mexico cerebral palsy lawyer to help you understand your legal rights. 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 You 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 makes sure 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 a Good New Mexico Cerebral Palsy Lawyer Can Help
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 other reasons you can’t even imagine right now.
There are several ways in which 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
Along with all of these practical ways the right lawyer will help you and your family, they will give you peace of mind.
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, but what they have in common is complexity.
One law you must understand is the statute of limitations, which puts a time limit on when you can file your 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 extend that limit to your child’s ninth birthday.[1]
In New Mexico, you must also go before a medical review committee before being allowed to file.[2] This is to deter frivolous lawsuits.
Your lawyer will be able to help you by finding 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.
Disability Rights in New Mexico
In New Mexico, you can ensure your child has equal opportunity and access and appropriate education by referring to federal laws.
Laws like the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act ensure your child an education equivalent to what other children receive, to the fullest possible extent.[3]
If your child’s school is not providing needed services and technologies or is not following the individualized education plan, your lawyer will help you change that.
New Mexico Cerebral Palsy Lawyers Win Cases
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.[4]
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.
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.[5]
Finding a 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.
Get Matched with a Leading Birth Injury Attorney in Your Area
Get Help NowReferences
- Medical liability/Malpractice statutes of limitation. (2014, March 20). Legislative News, Studies and Analysis | National Conference of State Legislatures.
Retrieved from: https://www.ncsl.org/research/financial-services-and-commerce/medical-liability-malpractice-statutes-of-limitation.aspx - Medical liability/Malpractice merit affidavits and expert witnesses. (2014, June 24). Legislative News, Studies and Analysis | National Conference of State Legislatures.
Retrieved from: https://www.ncsl.org/research/financial-services-and-commerce/medical-liability-malpractice-merit-affidavits-and-expert-witnesses.aspx - Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). (n.d.). Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. U.S. Department of Education.
Retrieved from: https://sites.ed.gov/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