Birth Injury Case - 14 years later

[Redemptionman]

Thanks @Redemptionman , I totally agree. So, I am hoping I can get our Pedeatrician at that time who examined my boy right after birth and was totally upset and angry at what had been done, to testify in court. He's been retired for a while and probably wouldnt mind speaking his mind and the truth as it is. Would that count as expert evidence ?
Also, if he is unwilling to come, can he be subpoenaed and asked to provide a testimony? Would that count as expert evidence?

You need a Life Care Planner who is sometimes a medical doctor and licensed to provide you a total layout of costs associated with the long term care of your children. I am not you, but have you looked into niche firms who specialize in this area? You really need an attorney to put forth the best case for you. There has to be someone out there who will take the case.

Doing this Pro Se is going to result in a lot of results which will not be helpful to you and your case.

 

[doucar]

Thanks @Redemptionman , I totally agree. So, I am hoping I can get our Pedeatrician at that time who examined my boy right after birth and was totally upset and angry at what had been done, to testify in court. He's been retired for a while and probably wouldnt mind speaking his mind and the truth as it is. Would that count as expert evidence ?
Also, if he is unwilling to come, can he be subpoenaed and asked to provide a testimony? Would that count as expert evidence?

If you subpoena him as an expert, be prepared to pay him for his time and preparation of an experts prepared statement to submit.

 

[Tax Counsel]

Pain and Suffering nor wages will be in any of your calculations.

In a case in federal court based on diversity jurisdiction the court applies the state substantive law, including its laws on what damages are available. In this regard the same damages are available whether the action is brought in federal court or state court. While federal judges tend to be more strict with pro se plantiffs than state court judges on matters of procedure (at least in the jurisdictions I'm familiar with) state court judges have to apply the law the same regardless of whether a party is pro se or not.

As for juries, it is not the case that a federal jury is always worse. A jury for a federal court case is drawn from a wider area than a local trial court would. That does not automatically make the jury less favorable, as you stated. Rather, in some cases that's an advantage because the local jury pool may contain more defense favorable folks than a federal jury pool would. The PI lawyers at my firm choose federal court for some cases for that very reason. Jurors in more rural counties of my state tend to award lower damages because their lower cost of living gives them a different perception of what the plaintiff's damages are worth. So when the choice is litigating in a rural state district court or the federal district court, which would tend to have more urban jurors, the federal jury for us would usually be federal court. Of course, most cases are not eligible for filing in federal court, in which case there isn't a choice. Consulting a litigation attorney in the state is the best way to find out what forums are actually available in a given case and if there is a choice, which forum would be best to litigate a matter in.

Federal judges tend to be bought and paid for by medical organizations, health insurance companies, and large hospitals. I am not saying all are but you can look up what entities donate money to which federal courts and what that is used for. Usually it keeps a judge in office and the court rulings favorable to them.

Absolutely incorrect. Federal district court judges are appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. Once seated, the federal judge serves for as long as he or she likes because federal district court judges have life tenure, just like U.S. Supreme Court justices do. A federal judge is therefore not elected to the bench nor does the judge have to stand for retention in an election as state court judges in some states must do. The federal courts and the federal judges do not take donations from interest groups. They can't do that and even if they could, they have no need for donations because they don't have any elections to pay for. All funding for the federal courts is paid by the U.S. Treasury.

Federal courts tend to be a more difficult forum for a pro se plaintiff because (1) the federal rules of procedure tend to be more detailed and extensive than state rules of procedure and (2) the federal judges expect the plaintiff to know the rules of procedure as well as a lawyer does and tend not to cut the pro se plaintiff slack on some parts of procedure as a state court judge would.

In either forum, other than small claims court, most litigants stand a much better chance at winning if they are represented by a lawyer.

 

[Dinesh]

You need a Life Care Planner who is sometimes a medical doctor and licensed to provide you a total layout of costs associated with the long term care of your children. I am not you, but have you looked into niche firms who specialize in this area? You really need an attorney to put forth the best case for you. There has to be someone out there who will take the case.

Doing this Pro Se is going to result in a lot of results which will not be helpful to you and your case.

Thanks for this pointer. I am able to google up a few life care planners in my area. Will check them out. But its not just about the cost of care. My boys are physically perfectly healthy except for the brain damage effects of speech, learning, brain processing impairments and behavior issues. I mean, they're not in a vegetable state requiring care. Its more about the life they will not live. They are prisoners in their own minds, they have aspirations to be like everyone else, but are frustrated and angry at their inabilities to follow conversations at the speed that everyone around them functions. Brings tears to my eyes when I hear my 16 yr old boy speak in broken sentences asking me, " I cant speak, why I cant speak". Even that is probably a comment someone made at him in special needs school. He keeps repeating any hurtful comments someone passed about him. Those emotions get stuck in his damaged brain.

Is the earnings from a 40 year career that they wont have, as a result of their lifelong disabilities, considered economic damages that I can demand compensation for ?

 

[Redemptionman]

Is the earnings from a 40 year career that they wont have, as a result of their lifelong disabilities, considered economic damages that I can demand compensation for ?

Sure, you will ask for all economic damages. However, it is easier to get clear and cut medical damages and future medical damages than it will be any wage impacts or future earnings. You are opening a can of worms there that you do not want to go over in court. They could say your children could work at McDonald's while you could argue they would have been engineers or a doctor. Who knows what they actually would have or could have been.

Dinesh, you need an attorney who specializes in medical malpractice and specifically these type of cases. I believe you can and will find one if you are persistent enough, without one you limit your ability to be successful and get a result you will be happy with. You will be frustrated, confused and completely out gunned by a more sophisticated defense team. Whatever money you get it will never make you whole nor be enough to provide everything your children require.

Good Luck with it.

 

[Tax Counsel]

Is the earnings from a 40 year career that they wont have, as a result of their lifelong disabilities, considered economic damages that I can demand compensation for ?

The malpractice attorney will go over that. Claims for future damages are often included in the complaint the plaintiff files, whether the court will grant that and how much it would be are impossible for me to say. The problem with future wage claims for kids with any disability is that the damages are speculative, and the law requires that the court is able to reasonably accurately determine what those damages would be. If your kids will be capable of some kind of work, and you can get an expert to testify to that, the court might at least consider an award based on minimum wage because the employer has to pay at least that much to his/her employees. That should be reasonably accurate enough to get over the speculative income issues. You likely won't get income for them based on what they'd make at a more demanding, higher pay job but even if it's only minimum wage that can add up for a working lifetime, and I'd seek cost of living increases to the damages too.

 

[army judge]

Perhaps you'll find some useful information on this site...

Parents of babies injured at birth may be able to take legal action - Top Class Actions

 

[Dinesh]

@Redemptionman, @TaxCounsel, @army judge thank you for your inputs and suggestions. I will try again for an attorney, using this top class actions site.
Apparently it costs 100k-300k to file a single case like this, mainly to pay for expert doctors testimony that can very expensive. I am going to see if my retired obstetrician who spotted the malpractice right at the time of my first boys birth, might be willing to give a testimony for his former patient, I believe if I take care of this high cost endeavor, then finding a lawyer to take up the case might be a lot easier.