via nicubunu.photo, flickr.com
Approximately 28,000 babies suffer from a birth injury in the U.S. each year. These problems can range from minimal bruising all the way to serious conditions that will make it impossible for your child to live a normal life. If your newborn was born with a birth injury or defect, it is important to ensure that you take the proper steps to take care of the entire family‘s emotional needs. Additionally, you will need to take legal action to receive financial assistance to help your baby get the necessary medical care.
Tips for Dealing with a Birth Injury
1) Dealing with Legal Aspects of the Injury – If your child has sustained a birth injury that will require medical attention, you should consider hiring an attorney, such as New York’s Bottar Leone if you are in the Empire State, immediately. After all, most doctors and hospitals are not going to simply offer to take care of everything, so legal action will most likely be necessary. Keep in mind that you will need to file a lawsuit quickly in order to ensure that you remain in compliance with your state’s statute of limitations.
2) Relieving Family Stress – Having a sick or injured baby is one of the most stressful situations that a family can go through. Therefore, you will need to make sure that every family member has the opportunity to discuss their feelings regarding the injury. Signing up for family counseling is definitely a good idea, and you should also consider looking for a local support group.
3) Filing for FMLA – The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA) gives parents the opportunity to take unpaid time off of work to deal with a serious medical condition without losing their job. To take advantage of this program, you should let your employer know about the situation, and they will be required by law to send you FMLA paperwork. Make sure that you fill it out promptly so that you remove the stress of worrying about losing your job.
4) Dealing with Medical Expenses – Aside from filing a lawsuit against the responsible doctor or medical facility, you can also launch a fundraising campaign to help you take care of your living and medical expenses while you are waiting for your case to be settled. Keep in mind that malpractice lawsuits can take up to three years to settle, so you will definitely need to find an alternative method to keep everything moving forward in the interim.
5) Getting Assistance for Your Other Children – If you have any other children, it will be important to take care of their emotional needs during this process. Therapy and group counseling is always a good option, but you should also make sure to split your time between your injured newborn and your other kids so that they can discuss their feelings and concerns with you as needed.
The most vital first step to take after any birth injury is to gather documentation about everything. This will make it much easier to file a lawsuit, and it will also ensure that you are fully informed about the entire process.
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