How Long Do Birth Injury Claims Take to Settle?

By Your Health Magazine

Birth injury cases are often complicated, and settlement times vary based on several factors. These cases involve a lot of emotional and financial investment, and understanding what makes them last can help families prepare themselves. Below are key factors that can relate to the length of time to resolve a birth injury.

Severity of the Injury

The severity of a birth injury significantly influences settlement time limits. Severe cases, like permanent brain damage, require extensive evaluations to ascertain long-term consequences, such as care costs over a lifetime or disability. The evaluation of severe injuries can take much longer, usually many months or even years, because medical professionals will be trying to assess the child’s condition and progress before giving hope or making any prognosis.

For instance, a child who has a brain injury that has resulted in cerebral palsy, often due to birth injury, may no longer demonstrate the full extent or severity of that injury once they have further developed. Injuries that are not as serious, such as a fracture or a temporary injury to a nerve, would seem to present with immediate effects that would allow for less difficulty or more straightforward or immediate resolution.

In general, the more seriously injured a child is, the more time will pass to gather information and determine a settlement amount that accurately sexualizes the full damages, so seriousness becomes an essential factor.

Access to Medical Evidence

Medical evidence is crucial to the newborn injury claims process, and all cases will likely experience delays in proceedings due to access to medical evidence. It takes time to obtain delivery, prenatal, and post-delivery records if healthcare professionals are reluctant to respond or records are not in order.

Second, it’s taking time for a professional such as an obstetrician or pediatric neurologist to review the material to determine if there was negligence. If the records are in question or incomplete, other records might have to be obtained, or subpoenas might have to be issued, further delaying the time frame.

If complex medical issues in the case must be analyzed, such as reading fetal monitoring strips or medication logs, this could again extend the timeline. It can often take months to build a case to have evidence that supports a viable case, and without having proper, reliable records of a mother and a newborn soon after they have been delivered, it is often delayed.

Determining Liability

Determining who caused the injury is one of the most important things, as liability can move a case forward quickly or extend the case timeline. If the fault is apparent (the doctor ignored the signs the infant was in distress), the claim may resolve more quickly.

The claim may take longer if there is more than one liable party (doctors, nurses, hospital staff). In every case, part of the parties’ due diligence includes investigation of the facts, expert opinions, and depositions, which add time to the process. In complex cases, the defendants will deny fault, and those denials must be rebutted with thorough investigations. This will immediately delay the claim resolution for many months.

This is especially true if the defense argued that the injury occurred by no fault of the provider (they may argue there was no mistake or that any injuries were preventable), and if that is or was the case, it could result in a lengthier process.

In general terms, when liability is uncertain, negotiating for an early settlement may not work, and the claim may move forward to trial. Determining liability will always involve inquiry and strategy, and the more complex the liability of the fault, the more complex the settlement process and time to resolution.

Delays in the Court System

When settlements are unsuccessful, cases will turn towards litigation and a trial where the court system inefficiencies can generally create considerably lengthy delays. Busy dockets in busy courts take many months or years, which can postpone the actual trial of a case.

The pre-trial period, which involves discovery, motions, and hearings, could make the overall process last even longer due to each party exchanging evidence and modifying the case’s arguments. Medical records may be significant for birth injury cases, and any expert witness to testify will take significant time on the pre-trial timeline.

Even outside the pre-trial period, if there is a verdict or the losing party appeals, that could extend the overall timeliness of the case, which can sometimes take several years. The timelines in the court system will be, per the judge, set in places outside the party’s control in settlement discussions or negotiations outside of court.

Families pursuing litigation should be prepared for these timelines caused by the procedure, as what could have been a resolved case from a settlement could quickly become a case that lasts several years, which changes the timeframe of completing the claim.

Age of the Child

The age of the child, when the claim is presented, impacts the length of settlement time. With newborn children, the full extent of an injury may not be known right away, and expert analysis may need to delay an assessment as the expert waits for the child to develop.

With toddlers or prior, they may have a more developed prognosis, creating a quicker damage assessment. Courts or attorneys in a case may differ in waiting for an executive settlement, only to wait for more information about the long-term impacts of an injury, such as loss of mobility or cognition.

Children must fully demonstrate their skills over time, and the amount of time will always vary and be part of the settling procedure so that the compensation is related to future needs. This period may take years in infant cases, but the claims with older children may move quicker due to certainty. The child age aspect will determine how quickly we may understand and have a reliable review of the impact of the injury on the child’s future and timeframe, and therefore, settle.

Complexity of Damages

When assessing damages arising from a birth injury, there may be immediate, and there may also be future costs. In more complex scenarios, where injuries may have lifelong implications, it may be necessary to estimate future costs.

This may require complex modeling that entails consultations with economists and medical professionals to estimate costs for the child’s lifetime horizon. This type of modeling can take months to complete, especially if the defense debates the numbers.

For example, estimating the number of therapy sessions will be necessary to calculate future medical expenses. This involves speculation and is bound to be an area of disagreement for both parties. Consequently, damages can take some time before settlement.

An agreement may come expediently in less complex cases, where damages are limited to short-term care or similar expenses. More complex cases, where damages overlap with a child’s life, will take considerable time to settle. This complexity ensures that settlements are as close to reality as possible, but this will also take considerable time while the parties grapple with the numbers.

Attorney Experience

The experience of the claimant’s attorney can significantly influence the time it takes to settle your case. An experienced birth injury attorney can gather facts, respond to defense positions, and negotiate with the insurance company much faster than an inexperienced attorney. Seasoned birth injury lawyers know medical details and the legal timelines and are less likely to be negligent and allow timelines to slip.

On the other hand, an inexperienced lawyer will not value the complexity of the case and will be unable to seize opportunities to propel the case more rapidly or negotiate wrongly. For example, a highly qualified attorney can obtain the evidence of a mandatory expert witness at a snap of the fingers.

In contrast, a poor attorney may have to wait a very long to obtain the same testimony. The defense will also try to take advantage of opportunities to delay a case if the plaintiff’s lawyer appears disorganized and will take advantage of that disorganization to keep the case dragging along.

Endnote

The timeline for birth injury claims varies based on medical, legal, and procedural factors. Serious injuries, disputed liability, or court system delays can delay a case for years. On the other hand, a clear liability case or a skilled attorney may allow the case to settle as fast as possible. Families are advised to work hand-in-hand with an experienced attorney who can guide them through their case in a reasonable timeframe.