Kansas Cerebral Palsy Lawyer

Cerebral palsy is a group of conditions that affects motor function, and it is one of the most common birth injuries. It may be due to inadequate care during pregnancy or trauma or other issues before or during birth. Often, the problem stems from a medical professional’s negligence during the birth. Children diagnosed with it may need special care and treatment for the rest of their lives, and some suffer intellectual disabilities in addition to the physical effects. People with very severe cases may have a significantly shortened life span.

If one of the happiest days of your life has been marred because your child suffered an injury, understanding whether negligence played a role is essential. If your child was diagnosed with cerebral palsy and you believe a doctor or other medical provider caused the injury, you may be able to get compensation to help you pay for your child’s care now and in the future. The complexity of these cases and the importance of winning compensation means that you should never attempt to file them on your own.  You need to have lawyers ready to advise you on the best way to proceed. A Kansas cerebral palsy lawyer from Palmer Law Group can help you once we learn the facts of your case.

Call (785) 233-1836 to schedule a free consultation with an experienced medical malpractice attorney. We have a long track record of achieving winning outcomes for clients.

Why Choose Us?

Compassionate and Experienced Representation

Our attorneys at Palmer Law Group understand the emotional pain, fear and confusion you feel when your child has been diagnosed with cerebral palsy. You are probably worried about what your child’s life will be like and how you will pay for the care they need. When you trust us with your claim, we will provide compassionate service to you while aggressively pursuing compensation from the liable doctor or other health care provider.

• We have won more than $100 million in settlements and verdicts for clients.
• Our team of lawyers has more than six decades of combined experience resolving injury claims.
• Our lawyers have been honored with numerous awards for legal excellence that you can read about on our accomplishments page.
• We  have been an established law firm in Kansas since 1980.
• Previous clients give us high marks for our legal support, as shown on our testimonials page.

We want to make meeting with us as easy as possible and not place any extra strain on your finances. To do this, we offer free, no-obligation consultations. We provide same-day phone meetings, in-office meetings, or we can travel to your location, based on your needs. With a dedicated team behind you, you have a good chance of getting the compensation your family deserves.

How a Cerebral Palsy Lawyer Can Help

We can help you by counseling you throughout the claim’s process, erasing your stress and confusion. We will begin by assessing your claim during a free consultation. This gives us a chance to understand what happened and start planning a strategy to help you get compensation. As we begin, we will ensure you know what your rights are under Kansas law.

One of our first tasks is to ensure that we can establish liability. This means proving that negligence occurred. The only way of doing so is by meeting a few crucial elements. The first of these is showing that the medical professional owed you and your child a duty of care. We then have to demonstrate that they breached that duty of care.

Proving a breach of duty is the most complex aspect; it requires showing that the medical professional did not offer the level of care that another competent and responsible provider would have offered in the same circumstances. To prove this, we will need to not only look at medical records and other evidence but also contact expert witnesses who have medical knowledge. They will be able to state whether the physician acted in a reasonable manner and maintained the expected standard of care.

We then need to show that the physician’s actions led to the injuries your child suffered and that it is possible to compensate for those losses. None of these steps are simple, and they all require experienced assistance.

Our team of cerebral palsy lawyers can also take care of the negotiations for you. Dealing with insurance companies can be highly stressful. Insurers have a goal of paying you as little as possible, and they will try all kinds of tactics to achieve this. They could bully you into accepting a low offer or even dropping your claims. With lawyers helping you, you will have the strong support you need to achieve fair compensation.

If negotiations are not working as well as they should be, or if there are disputes regarding who was at fault, we can file a lawsuit for you and take your case to court. We have decades of experience in litigation.

Our hardworking birth injury attorneys have over 30 years of experience getting positive financial outcomes for clients. You can rely on our Kansas cerebral palsy lawyers for honest and effective legal guidance.

Kansas Statute of Limitations

As with other personal injury claims, Kansas has a two-year statute of limitations for cerebral palsy claims. The clock begins running on the date of the injury or the date the injury was discovered. If you miss the deadline, you are no longer able to receive any compensation, so it is essential that you contact lawyers to help you. Our Kansas cerebral palsy lawyers can give you specific deadlines for your case.

Compensation in Cerebral Palsy Cases

Damages You Can Claim

How much compensation you may be able to get to care for your child’s needs now and in the future depends upon the losses you sustained and the damages you claim. For birth injury claims, you can file for economic and non-economic damages. Economic damages compensate you for financial losses. These include:

• Medical bills, including for doctors, rehabilitative therapy, and assistive devices
• Home modifications and adaptive equipment
• Long-term nursing care for your child.

With injuries as serious as cerebral palsy, it is common for economic damages to also cover future medical care. We can help you calculate these expenses to get the coverage you need for your child. There are no caps on the economic damages you can claim.

Non-economic damages are subjective and are meant to compensate you and your child for pain and suffering as well as loss of quality of life. The severity of the condition will affect the amount of non-economic damages you can claim. Remember that Kansas does have some limitations on the amount you can recover for non-economic losses. With our guidance, you will know what you can claim.

In instances when the physician’s actions were particularly egregious or malicious, the court can also grant punitive damages. These are meant to punish the person at fault, and they are rarely awarded. If we think that you are entitled to them, however, we can seek punitive damages.

What you may be able to get will depend on the individual circumstances of your case. It can be complicated to arrive at a claim value in cases of birth injuries. Both current and future costs related to your child’s injuries must be factored into the claim, and it can be difficult to determine what care may be needed in a lifetime. We understand the complexities of determining adequate compensation in these cases and will consult with life-care planning professionals, medical experts and other knowledgeable individuals to arrive at a figure that will fairly pay you for the losses you and your child have suffered.

Cerebral Palsy Lawyers Answer FAQs

Cerebral palsy is a complex condition and one that can cause lasting damage. To help inform you about the cerebral palsy claim process, here are answers to questions we commonly hear.

What causes cerebral palsy?

According to the National Institutes of Health, cerebral palsy is caused by damage or abnormal development in the parts of the brain that control movement. One common cause is a lack of oxygen for the baby during delivery. Umbilical cord issues, trauma to the baby’s head during labor and delivery, uterine rupture, infections while in the womb and other problems during birth can also cause it.

What are symptoms of cerebral palsy?

The Mayo Clinic website says that symptoms of cerebral palsy include difficulty with movement and muscle coordination, problems speaking and eating, developmental delays, seizures and other issues. You may notice that your child is very irritable most of the time or that they do not react to people around them. In some instances, the baby can also have a “floppy” appearance. This means their muscles might not have the normal definition.

How will you determine that the doctor caused my child’s cerebral palsy?

We will examine your medical records and those of your child to discover if errors may have been made before, during or after birth that could have caused injuries. We may also retain medical malpractice expert witnesses to assess the evidence and testify on your behalf. Not all medical errors are malpractice.  Sometimes mistakes are out of a doctor’s control. The key to a successful claim will be proving that negligence caused your child’s cerebral palsy and not a reasonable mistake.

How do you prove negligence?

To prove negligence we must show that the medical professional owed you and your child a duty of care and they breached it. That will require solid evidence and, usually, the assistance of expert medical witnesses who can offer corroborating testimony. We will need to show that the person acted in a way that other competent professionals would not have, and this led to the injuries.

The next step is to establish that the medical professional’s actions or inactions caused the injuries that your child is suffering and that your family can receive compensation for them.

Will my medical malpractice claim go to trial?

The majority of medical malpractice cases are settled outside of trial through negotiations between lawyers and insurers. Sometimes cases go to court but settle during trial; in other situations, they go all the way to a jury verdict. When we handle your case, we will work to get the best possible outcome based on the factors in your matter. We will never shy away from taking your case to court if that is the best option for your child and for you.

For answers regarding your specific case, contact our firm directly to speak with an experienced cerebral palsy lawyer.

Reach Out to a Knowledgeable Cerebral Palsy Attorney for Help

Welcoming a new child should be a time of great joy. If a medical error has harmed your child, then that joy can quickly turn to anger and sadness. You may not know what your next steps should be or how you will manage the expenses associated with serious birth injuries like cerebral palsy. There is help out there.

At Palmer Law Group, we offer the support and guidance you need during this devastating moment. We treat all of our clients with compassion and respect, ensuring that they feel at ease when speaking with us. To make communications even easier, know you can always reach us, no matter what time of the day it is.

Our law firm can seek compensation from the party who caused your child’s injuries, which can help relieve the financial stress you may be  facing. Our knowledge of Kansas law as well as our dedication to advocating for you in front of insurers and in court can help you obtain the compensation you and your child deserve.

Call us today at (785) 233-1836 to schedule a free consultation with an empathetic cerebral palsy attorney in Kansas.

Attorney LJ Leatherman

LJ Leatherman passionately believes in fair and dedicated representation for individuals who have been affected by automobile negligence, electrical injuries, firearm litigation, wrongful death, and third-party claims against insurance companies and all other areas of personal injury litigation. [Read More]