Statute of Limitations in New York Birth Injury Claims
The US, despite being one of the world’s most medically advanced and prosperous nations, has a troubling rate of serious and fatal injuries during childbirth. Injuries to an infant suffered during childbirth can have lifelong repercussions, limiting that child’s ability to move or think with normal abilities. Often, the degree of a child’s injuries is not immediately apparent to doctors and families. It may not be until years later that parents realize the full extent of harm done by an injury that occurred during childbirth. Read on to learn more about the complex legalities in birth injuries, particularly when accounting for statute of limitations for those claims.
Knowledgeable legal help in filing your New York birth injury lawsuit
It is for this reason that the statute of limitations for birth injuries is handled differently than for that of other medical malpractice claims. You can learn more about the New York birth injury statute of limitations below. Additionally, a seasoned New York birth injury attorney can help you to determine whether you’re able to file a claim based on a birth injury. In New York and the Hudson Valley, contact the Goshen birth injury attorneys Dupée & Monroe if you believe your child was harmed by medical malpractice during pregnancy, labor or delivery.
How the New York statute of limitations can affect your case
The legal term “statute of limitations” refers to the time limit to file a claim for damages after an injury occurs. Once the statute of limitations has run out, victims are legally barred from filing a lawsuit based on their injuries. In some cases, the date when the injury happened is obvious. For example, a court would likely use the date of a car accident as the starting point for the statute of limitations clock after an injury crash. However, not all injuries are obvious to victims on the date the injury occurs, including many medical malpractice claims. Likewise, if a victim is too young to understand that they’ve been injured and has both a need for and right to compensation, then the court will pause the statute of limitations and restart it only when the victim is old enough to sue.
Birth injuries are one example of a type of claim with a modified statute of limitations. In New York, adult medical malpractice victims have two years and six months to file a claim for damages after they realize that they’ve suffered an injury due to a doctor’s error. If these victims are under age 18, they have ten years from the date that they learn of an injury to file a lawsuit, up to two and a half years after turning 18. That said, parents may choose to take action on their child’s behalf sooner than ten years from their child’s birth.
Doctors and their insurers try to get birth injury claims dismissed
In cases where injuries are not immediately clear and developmental delays or physical effects take longer to manifest, a claim may be filed after the point that the statute of limitations would have expired, had the injury been immediately apparent. Victims who file claims based on these latent injuries may face attempts by doctors to dismiss these lawsuits, arguing that the victims should have known about the injury sooner, and that, since the statute of limitations has run, the claim is barred. These victims need representation from aggressive, determined, and knowledgeable New York birth injury attorneys—attorneys like the Orange County medical mistake lawyers Dupée & Monroe. They’ve been representing victims of medical errors for decades and are seasoned fighters for the rights of those with birth injuries. Contact New York birth injury lawyers Dupée & Monroe as soon as possible after learning of a birth injury to protect your rights to compensation.
Call Attorneys Dupée & Monroe for Help with a New York Birth Injury Claim
For compassionate and dedicated legal help after a New York birth injury, contact the Goshen law offices of Dupée & Monroe at 845-294-8900.
