There is great need to exercise caution in a world where there are so many lawyers or law firms claiming to be the best at what they do. Getting justice for your child when you have a pediatric injury claim is not as hard as you may think. You only need to know where to start your search and know what you are really looking for.
Pediatric injury attorneys are related to the category of personal injury legal services known as medical malpractice law. They are referred to as “trial lawyers” (even though most claims are settled outside of court). Read this to know more about trial lawyers.
Pediatric Injury Claims
This category of attorneys’ advocate for children of all ages (babies to teenagers) who have been victims of personal injury, life-altering/life-threatening harm or premature death as a result of substandard care or the actions and inactions of medical practitioners.
Your chosen solicitor will interview you in order to evaluate your claim. What these lawyers do is to identify avoidable healthcare mistakes made by those working in the medical field. If your child is suffering due to such medical errors, you can get justice by hiring a pediatric injury attorney to handle the case. Examples of the cases that these attorneys can handle include the following:
- Poor treatment
- Substandard care
- Wrong diagnosis
- Anesthesia-related injuries
- Birth injuries
- Malpractices
- Surgery cases
What You Should Look Out For
During your search, you can consider the following criteria:
- Success Rate/Reputation: You should go for an attorney that has a high success rate, especially those with a commendable track record of getting high verdicts and huge compensations in favor of their clients. Also, the reputation of your chosen solicitor must be clean.
- Qualifications: The lawyer’s qualifications are very important. He or she must be qualified to practice the profession in your jurisdiction. In some jurisdictions, a professional must have passed the written ethics examination. Your preference should be the one who takes CLE (Continuing Legal Education) classes for the sake of keeping abreast of the recent changes in medical malpractice law.
- Intelligence: A good pediatric injury attorney will be able to discover avoidable acts of negligence no matter how complex the case may be. With the facts you will present, he or she can deduce just how solid your claim is. The lawyer should have sound knowledge about pediatric care and the processes involved.
- Sincerity: Your advocate should be able to determine the feasibility of pursuing the case and tell you whether or not to drop your claim. Sincerity is important so that you would not have to waste time and money. You may be determined to pursue the case, so you will need to good guidance in knowing if your resolve is right. However, you can try other options if you feel the lawyer’s reasons for backing out of the case are not satisfactory.
- Professionalism/Care: Your solicitor should be reassuring and sympathetic to the plight of your child. The case should be treated by the lawyer with the same level of seriousness and determination as he or she would treat a personal case. This attribute is noticeable just by simple observation. Absolute professionalism is required from such lawyers (not that it isn’t required from those in other fields).
- Communication: The law firm should provide good means of communication in terms of convenience and reliability. Having a customer service unit is a plus. Apart from that, availability for regular meeting is also an issue.
- Proximity: The closer the firm is to your residence, the better. You do not want to be driving for an hour just to see your representative. What if there is an emergency situation that requires you to set up a quick meeting?
Learn more here: https://www.forbes.com/sites/financialfinesse/2011/10/05/how-to-find-a-good-lawyer-when-you-really-need-one/
Final Words…
As mentioned earlier, it is not difficult to get the right lawyer to handle your case. You can obtain information about potential hires online or through recommendations from others. Many of these firms have websites where you can learn enough about them and get their contact details.
Contact the attorney or firm to schedule a meeting and go prepared. You can have some interview questions in mind before getting to the venue so that you can see just how worthy your potential hire is.
