North Carolina Cerebral Palsy Lawyer

Fact Checked

A North Carolina cerebral palsy lawyer is a legal expert with experience helping disabled children and can assist you if your child developed CP after medical negligence. The right lawyer has the expertise to guide your legal decisions. Further, a qualified attorney can help you understand your rights if your child has faced discrimination.

Why You Need a North Carolina Cerebral Palsy Lawyer

A diagnosis for a baby with cerebral palsy can be devastating. Your family faces many challenges, including choosing and paying for treatments.

You may suspect that your doctor, midwife, or nurse was negligent in some way in your child’s diagnosis, but you don’t know what to do about it. This is the number one reason you may need to hire a North Carolina cerebral palsy lawyer.

Medical negligence is dangerous, and those responsible must be held accountable. Filing a medical malpractice lawsuit is complicated, and proving negligence is more challenging. The right lawyer is what you need during this time to help represent you and file that lawsuit.

Even if you ultimately decide not to file a lawsuit over negligence, you still may need a lawyer to help your family.

Having a good lawyer, someone whose expertise and judgment you trust, is essential. You will likely have a need in the future for this lawyer, so finding one early will make sense in the long run.

Later, your legal needs may include fighting discrimination, fighting schools for special education services, and drafting legal documents for your child’s care.

How a North Carolina Cerebral Palsy Lawyer Can Help You Now and in the Future

Choose the right lawyer, and you will have an ally for many years. Having a knowledgeable lawyer in your corner to provide advice and guidance will take a significant weight off your shoulders. They will help you make the best choices for your child’s ongoing care and future.

One of the most critical ways a North Carolina cerebral palsy lawyer will help you is by giving you a strong chance of winning a medical malpractice lawsuit.

This is important because a win means holding those responsible accountable and also recovering damages. Monetary damages will help you provide your child with the best possible care and could help for many years.

As your child grows older, you may face discrimination. You may have to fight for your child’s right to government assistance and benefits. You may have to go up against your public schools to ensure an appropriate education.

A good lawyer will be able to help you in all of these fights and give you a better chance of success.

Your lawyer will also help with other, more minor battles, like deciding how to provide ongoing care for your child, making financial decisions, setting up trusts, and drafting necessary documents, such as a living will.

Medical Malpractice in North Carolina

Make the most of your lawyer’s expertise and judgment by learning a little bit about the medical malpractice laws in North Carolina. A basic understanding will help you make better choices for your child.

The statute of limitations in the state, for instance, will determine when it’s too late to file a lawsuit. You have three years from when the negligence occurred or one year from when you realized it happened.[1]

The laws in the state also make it especially difficult to prove medical negligence in cases of pregnancy care. You have a very high burden of proof, which emphasizes the need for an excellent lawyer to take your side.

North Carolina also caps the amount of non-economic damages you can recover in a lawsuit to about $500,000, depending on inflation.[2]

Lawyers of a woman severely harmed by negligence are taking her case to the state Supreme Court to challenge that cap.

Disability Rights

You also may have to take legal action on behalf of your child over discrimination or denial of rights. Your child is protected under federal laws like the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act.[3][4]

These acts ensure access, opportunity, and free and appropriate education, but sometimes you have to fight for your child’s legal rights.

State laws that protect your child’s rights include the Persons with Disabilities Protection Act. It provides disabled access to public transportation, public spaces, hotels, stores, and other facilities.[5]

Your lawyer will know what to do if any federal or state law is being violated to restrict your child’s rights, opportunities, and access.

Helping North Carolina Residents with Cerebral Palsy

Lawyers throughout the state have been helping children and adults with cerebral palsy and other disabilities for years. They help families file and win medical malpractice lawsuits, fight discrimination, ensure access and opportunities, and recover damages that provide treatment and lifelong care.

Children with cerebral palsy face many challenges. Even as they grow into adults, achieving independence can be a struggle.

A lot depends on getting a job and earning a living. For the most severely disabled, many situations are difficult or impossible. Being able to get and keep a job is essential.

When Walmart recently made a move to change store greeter jobs to require that these workers be able to do more physical tasks, many disabled people faced losing those jobs.[6] Many of these people were born with cerebral palsy.

In North Carolina, cerebral palsy lawyers worked to protect this vulnerable population. Individuals and the community took action, too, including starting petitions to help people keep their jobs.

How to Find Your North Carolina Cerebral Palsy Lawyer

The best lawyer to help you and your child will be caring and dedicated to fighting for the rights of vulnerable disabled people.

A general lawyer will not be adequate; you need a lawyer specializing in medical malpractice or disability rights for children suffering from birth injuries.

Try contacting the state bar association to find someone with the right area of specialty.

Also, try other parents you know from support groups or local organizations that support or advocate for the disabled population in your community. These people are most likely to be able to make qualified recommendations.