It is important to keep legal matters in mind after birth injury malpractice. But you should also recognize the effects of the injury as this influences the care and attention the child and family will need. Birth injuries are caused due to the negligence of healthcare providers present during childbirth. While it’s the child who sustained the injury, its impacts can be long-term and felt by everyone in the family. Below are the long-term effects of birth injuries on the child’s family.
Emotional Damages
Doctors and nurses are among the professionals that people trust. However, when a doctor’s negligence led to your child sustaining severe injuries such as cerebral palsy, you are left with emotional trauma as the parent or the child’s family. The situation worsens when you have to deal with the emotionally draining birth injury lawsuits, especially if the defendant fails to acknowledge the mistakes and the related impacts. As a family, you will find it hard to trust medical practitioners even in situations where their services are needed.
The emotional damage could be detrimental if the injuries sustained by the child led to permanent disability. As a family, you are forced to live with the fear, regret, and mistrust caused by the negligence of medical professionals. The child’s mother is left to live with stress which could lead to mental health conditions such as depression if psychiatric help is not provided.
Financial Impacts
When you get injured and require long-term medical care, you or your family should be ready to spend considerably. This is the same when your child is injured during birth and requires long-term treatment and medical care. It can be stressful for the parent and the entire family. Severe birth injuries such as cerebral palsy dictate that constant medical checkups and treatment be provided as soon as the injuries sustained have been ascertained.
The financial burden is long-term and must be carried by the family for as long as the child survives. Without a financial plan or insurance, the family is compelled to look for loans and other financial aids, which are risky in the long run. The family needs to look for legal help and work with a birth injury lawyer to help address the financial effects and file compensation claims.
Social and Behavioral Impacts
Community expectations can have both positive and negative long-term effects on the child’s family. If the child’s injuries led to permanent disability, the child and the family members would experience cases of discrimination and stigma. Families with children who have cerebral palsy are often isolated and discriminated against in the community. Without effective advocacy and awareness on birth injuries, the social and behavioral impacts can take a toll on the child’s and family’s wellbeing.
When it comes to birth injuries, the focus is mostly on legal matters and how fast the case can be settled. There are, however, several long-term impacts that both the child and the family have to experience, as stated above. Both short-term and long-term effects must be addressed, especially if the child sustained severe injuries that led to permanent disability such as cerebral palsy.
