Birth injuries cause immense emotional distress for the entire family, and you can include these damages in your personal injury claim.
The birth of a child is supposed to be a joyous time for the entire family. When a healthcare professional acts negligently or makes a mistake that results in an injury to the child, it is devastating. Parents not only incur medical bills to pay for treatment, but they may also lose a portion of their income if they cannot return to work because they have to care for the child. Parents of injured children will also endure a great deal of emotional distress.
If your child has suffered a birth injury, you can include all of these damages in your claim, including emotional distress. Like other damages though, you must prove your emotional distress, and because it is not readily visible, that comes with challenges. Below are some of the elements you will have to prove.
Intense Emotional Suffering
Proving intense emotional suffering is essentially proving the degree of harm you suffered as a result of the injury. For example, the injuries your child sustained may have been so severe that they caused you to experience depression that impacted your relationship with your spouse or other children. This is intense emotional suffering, and you deserve compensation for it.
Prolonged Suffering
You do not have to suffer from emotional distress for a certain amount of time before you can claim damages for it. However, the longer the emotional distress is likely to remain with you, the more likely you will qualify for compensation.
Physical Symptoms of Emotional Distress
Stress places an enormous burden on a person’s physical health. It is not uncommon for people to experience extreme weight loss or develop an ulcer or other physical condition as a result of the emotional distress. If you have suffered from any of these conditions, it is easier for an insurance company or jury to see your injury. That can make it easier to claim damages for emotional distress.
Causation
You must not only prove that another person’s negligent actions caused your emotional distress, but you must also show the severity of the incident. For example, if your child was injured, but the injury was fairly minor, the insurance company or jury may challenge whether the incident was enough to trigger emotional distress.
Medical Documentation
Any time you are feeling emotional distress, it is important to speak to a doctor and tell them about your symptoms. A doctor will include these symptoms in your medical records, which will go a long way in proving your emotional distress damageslater on.
Our Birth Injury Lawyer in Cleveland Can Help You Claim Damages for Emotional Distress
If your child has suffered a birth injury, our Cleveland birth injury lawyer at The Eisen Law Firm can help you claim the full damages you deserve. Call us today at 216-687-0900 or fill out our online form to schedule a consultation.
