The Best Birth Injury Lawyers in Michigan

What Makes a Lawyer the Best?

Preventable birth injuries represent one of the most heartbreaking tragedies in modern health care. Families waiting for the birth of a child are emotionally devastated when something entirely preventable destroys the health and well-being of their baby. In such difficult times, families must carefully select an experienced lawyer with a proven track record of success in birth injury lawsuits.

While there may not be one particular “best lawyer” or even “best law firm,” those that would try to vie for the title share common traits. The best birth injury lawyers in Michigan have the respect of their peers, admiration of past clients, and a track record of success.

Another trait of the best birth injury lawyers is that they strike some fear in the hearts of the defense. This includes OB’s, hospital systems, and defense lawyers. You’re looking for a firm that has it all.

It Starts with Results

One of the interesting nuances about birth injury cases is that the family almost never knows if there is a case or not. Sometimes, there is an indication that there was negligence. Often, however, the answer to that question is buried deep in the medical records or in hundreds of pages of fetal heart rate monitoring “strips.”

First- you need a firm that knows how to get answers about what really happened.

Second- you need a firm who has a history of results.

Calling several law firms about filing a birth injury lawsuit isn’t a pleasant experience because the process entails repeatedly speaking about a very traumatic incident. Before making phone calls, families may find it helpful to begin with a look at the past cases handled by each firm to narrow the results or have an attorney assist you in getting to the right place. Birth injury lawsuits are medical malpractice lawsuits, and the lawyers who handle these cases traditionally specialize in medical malpractice. Birth injury is a sub-specialty.

Birth injuries are incredibly expensive. In cases where infants have experienced permanent disability or injury, the costs can be enormous, totaling many millions of dollars.

Candidates as the Best

Buckfire Law, a successful firm in Southfield, Michigan, won a birth injury case for their client where they were awarded $7,000,000 because the medical team failed to properly monitor an infant, which caused a permanent brain injury. The firm won another case for $5.8M for a client whose baby experienced brain damage when the doctors and nurses failed to treat high bilirubin in the infant at birth.

That firm was ranked as one of the best law firms in the United States by U.S. News & World Report, Super Lawyers, and Lawyers of Distinction. The firm was recognized by The Best Lawyers in America, National Trial Lawyers, Lead Counsel, and DBusiness Top Lawyers of Detroit.

Lee Steinberg Law, a personal injury law firm working throughout Michigan, has had success in multiple birth injury cases, including where the infant was deprived of oxygen. The Lee Steinberg Law Firm is an excellent example of a legal team with many decades of experience.

Examples of Different Types of Birth Injury Cases

Above are some of the examples of birth injuries that may – but do not always – lead to a case. For a more complete list, see this page of examples.

The Best Lawyers for Michigan Cerebral Palsy Cases

When many people think of birth injury lawsuits, one of the first problems that come to mind is cerebral palsy. Children and adults with cerebral palsy may grow up to lead beautifully fulfilling lives, however, those lives often come with special needs. If there are health care professionals responsible for those special needs, those professionals should pay for those needs. Many Michigan birth injury lawyers, and their counterparts around the country, place significant emphasis on their cerebral palsy birth injury lawsuits.

Buckfire Law Firm. Buckfire Law was founded by David Buckfire in 1969. He began his working life as a writer but spent five years in night school pursuing his law degree. He practiced with his wife, Vicky, who started as a teacher but eventually earned a law degree, too. The couple had two sons who would grow up and join the firm after earning their law degrees, and the four worked together for more than 15 years. The firm added lawyers to the team over time and became one of the most well-known birth injury law firms in the state.

McKeen & Associates, P.C. McKeen & Associates, P.C. practices out of Detroit and focuses on medical malpractice and birth injury litigation. The firm’s lead attorney, Brian McKeen, was dubbed “Michigan’s Most Winning Medical Malpractice Lawyer” by the “Detroit News.”  The firm has a track record of success going stretching back forty years. The firm has office in Detroit, Michigan and also handles cases in Illinois for medical malpractice.

Fieger Law. Southfield, Michigan firm Fiegler Law is famous for its worr with Dr. Jack Kevorkian, and the firm has won hundreds of millions of dollars for their clients in the past half-century. The firm boasts a $144 million settlement, one of the biggest settlements in history, for a little girl who experienced permanent brain damage at birth. The firm was founded by Bernard Fieger, and his son, Geoffrey Fieger, is the lead attorney today.

Birth Injury Defendants in Michigan

Defendants in birth injury lawsuits in Michigan are often nurses, doctors, and health care professionals, but lawsuits commonly feature a major hospital and several defendants. Sometimes, it’s a systems failure where multiple actors are to blame. Experienced birth injury lawyers are well versed in whom should be sued.

According to Hospital Safety Grade, some of the hospitals in Michigan with the worst scores include the following…

These hospitals may have very fine health care workers at their facilities, but it’s possible that these hospitals would be named as defendants in medical malpractice suits for birth injuries in Michigan.

About Michigan Birth Injury Cases and Birth Injury Law

One of the most important things for families to remember when thinking about whether to file a birth injury lawsuit in Michigan is the statute of limitations. The statute of limitations is the amount of time a family has to file the lawsuit before the state says that too much time has passed. For parents who want to file the lawsuit, the statute of limitations is just two years, but minor plaintiffs have until they’re ten years old to file, as long as the child was under eight years old when the injury occurred. No matter the statute of limitations, lawyers normally advise against waiting until the last minute to file a lawsuit. Not only are birth injury lawsuits complicated and full of deadlines, procedures, and court dates, but evidence may get lost, memories may fade, and witnesses may die. No matter how long a family has to file their birth injury lawsuit, the best time to file is generally as soon as possible.

 

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