Palmer Law Group’s HIE Attorney Stands Up for Parents

Pursuing maximum compensation for negligent injuries during childbirth

Hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy is a life-threatening form of brain damage caused by a lack of oxygen or blood flow to the brain. It can happen before birth, during delivery or shortly after birth, leading to a permanent alteration of how the brain functions. Children with HIE may experience developmental and cognitive problems, cerebral palsy, epilepsy and other issues and may require ongoing and expensive medical treatment. If your child’s HIE was caused by the negligence of a doctor, nurse, hospital or other health care provider, you could have a claim for compensation.

At the Palmer Law Group, our experienced medical malpractice attorneys  have achieved numerous positive outcomes in birth injury cases. If your child has suffered because of a medical professional’s negligent or wrongful actions, we can help you understand your rights and file a claim.

Why Choose Us?

We Offer Tenacious Representation

At Palmer Law Group, our team of lawyers has over 60 years of combined legal experience. Our dedication to clients and our strong representation have allowed us to recover more than $100 million in settlements and jury awards. When you choose our team, you are choosing lawyers who will never hesitate to litigate your case in court.

Because we understand that you are under a lot of financial and emotional stress when dealing with an HIE injury, our medical malpractice lawyers do everything possible to make the process easier. That means you don’t have to pay legal fees unless we win. To further help, we provide a free consultation with one of our dedicated lawyers.

Contact Palmer Law Group to schedule a free, no-obligation consultation with our Kansas hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy lawyers. 

How Medical Negligence Can Result in HIE

The incidence rate of HIE injuries ranges from one to eight babies in every 1,000 births. Unfortunately, HIE has a strong connection with medical malpractice. Potential HIE causes can be either perinatal, meaning they occurred around the time of birth, or postnatal, which means they occurred after the birth.

Perinatal causes include birth asphyxia, which is one of the most common causes of HIE. It can occur during a long and difficult labor, when there are umbilical cord problems, and as a result of maternal issues during delivery. Postnatal causes are rarer and can include respiratory failure and cardiac arrest.

When medical professionals don’t provide adequate care to both the mother and the baby, it can lead to injuries as serious as HIE. Improper monitoring of the baby’s heart rate and other vital signs, as well as the failure to perform a timely C-section, can lead to these injuries. The problem can also arise if the doctors do not use delivery assistance tools correctly or if they fail to recognize and treat maternal health issues throughout the pregnancy and during active labor.

Negligence isn’t always the cause of HIE, but it often is. By hiring Kansas birth injury lawyers, you can get an idea of whether you have a claim or not.

Our team of birth injury lawyers is available 24/7 to answer your questions and concerns.

How Our Kansas HIE Lawyers Can Help

Understanding the Claims Process

There are many ways our team at Palmer Law Group can help you when your child has experienced hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy because of the negligent actions or inactions of a medical practitioner.

If you hire our team, we will begin by assessing whether you have a claim. This is an important step that allows us to establish the strategy we will use to prove that your family deserves compensation. This will then lead us to investigate the evidence to establish negligence. We will review medical records, examine the background of the at-fault doctor, interview eyewitnesses, and consult with witnesses who are medical professionals familiar with how HIE can happen during childbirth and steps that should have been taken to prevent it.

Establishing that negligence occurred requires a few elements. First, we must show that the liable person had a duty of care toward the mother and baby. That means demonstrating that there was a patient-physician relationship. After that, we must show that the medical professional breached their duty of care. To do so, it’s necessary to establish a standard of care. The standard of care is typically based on what another skilled and competent medical professional would have done in the same circumstances.

Then, we have to show that the breach of duty led to the birth injuries your child suffered. This is one of the most difficult parts of the process because it requires intimate knowledge of medical procedures. That is why we rely on knowledgeable witnesses to provide their testimony. The last element we have to meet to file a personal injury claim after a birth injury is showing that the injuries led to losses for which you can be compensated.

We will also handle all claims paperwork and communications with insurers. We will not allow insurers to try to take advantage of you with unfair and low-ball offers. This is a common strategy that insurers employ, preying on your distress and desire to move on. They may also try to bully you, threatening to withhold any settlement if you do not accept a low offer. We will fight on your behalf to help you get fair compensation.

Our team of birth injury lawyers works to negotiate a settlement that satisfactorily pays for your damages. While the majority of claims can be resolved through settlement, we always thoroughly prepare as if we are going to court. When insurers see that we believe we have a strong case that will succeed at trial, they often choose to save time and expense by providing a fair offer. If that doesn’t happen, however, we will be ready to represent you in court. Our years of litigation experience make us a team you can count on.

When you allow a Kansas hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy lawyer from Palmer Law Group to take on your case, you can trust that you are in good legal hands. We will closely guide you through all the steps in the birth injury claims process. You will never be treated as a number or left wondering what happens next.

Statutes of Limitations for Kansas Birth Injury Claims

Kansas requires that you file a personal injury claim — and this includes birth injury — within two years of the moment when the injuries occurred. If you miss this deadline, you will not have a chance to recover damages, so it is vital that you hire a birth injury lawyer as quickly as possible. There may be exceptions to this time frame, but never assume you have extra time without first consulting with a personal injury lawyer who has experience in birth injury claims.