Reasons Why Our Kansas City Birth Injury Lawyers Caution Against Speaking Directly to a Hospital Representative
If your child suffered an injury while being born, chances are that a member of the hospital’s administrative staff will reach out to you shortly afterward to discuss the situation. Even if they seem truly concerned about your child, that’s not their only motive. After all, their job involves taking proactive steps to protect the hospital. No matter how sincere they may seem, it’s not in your best interest, or that of your injured child, to interact directly with a hospital representative in this circumstance.
Instead, to protect your right to fight for justice for your child and to seek the fair compensation your family deserves, it’s better to direct the hospital to communicate with you only through your legal counsel. Below, the Kansas City birth injury lawyers at Fowler Pickert Eisenmenger Norfleet explain why it’s so important for you to let your experienced medical malpractice attorney speak on your behalf in all communication with hospital representatives regarding your child’s birth injury.
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5 Key Reasons Not to Talk Directly With the Hospital After a Birth Injury
If your child suffered a medical issue, your family may be entitled to recover economic and non-economic damages not only from the hospital but also from any health care providers involved in their prenatal care and birth.
Because these different parties might be held responsible in a medical malpractice case, there are a number of important reasons you should avoid direct communication with any of them.
1. Protecting Your Legal Right to a Claim
If you talk to a hospital representative without following the advice of a skilled birth injury attorney, you could do or say something that weakens your legal position or even inadvertently waives certain rights. When a member of our legal team handles such communication for you, we help ensure that your rights are fully protected.
2. Avoiding Unintentional Admissions
If you talk directly with someone, you could unintentionally say something they construe as you admitting partial fault or that they could use to try to diminish their potential liability. Since Missouri is a one-party consent state for recorded communications, they could even record your words and use them as evidence. By letting your lawyer speak for you, you avoid this risk.
3. Navigating Complex Medical and Legal Issues
Without an in-depth understanding of how the law addresses negligence in birth injury cases, it’s too overwhelming to care for your baby and also investigate the case, pursue and preserve evidence, interview witnesses, and handle other crucial factors required to seek a settlement. It’s our responsibility as your legal counsel to manage these affairs for you.
4. Securing the Fair Compensation You and Your Child Deserve
The hospital or its insurance company may try to get you to settle quickly. If you talk with them directly, it may be tempting to accept their first offer as a way of moving on, but their goal is to limit their liability. You may be entitled to much more. When all communication goes through your lawyer, they’ll help you evaluate any settlement offers to ensure that you don’t accept an amount that isn’t truly fair and adequate.
5. Focusing on Your Child’s Medical Needs and Care
The fact that a hospital representative wants to talk to you doesn’t mean that you owe them your time. In the days, weeks, and months following your child’s birth injury, we understand that your full attention should be on maintaining their wellbeing, and that’s what we want for you. Our goal is to remove the hassle of worrying about what to say or what not to say and give you peace of mind to leave those discussions to us.
A Kansas City Medical Malpractice Law Firm You Can Trust
At Fowler Pickert Eisenmenger Norfleet, we make it our mission to help families with child injury cases feel assured that someone recognizes what a traumatic time this is and has solutions for how best to protect your baby. We take great pride when clients believe we helped them seek a fair resolution.
As one client said, “Retaining and dealing with a law firm can be daunting at best, so it was with a bit of trepidation that we chose Fowler Pickert Eisenmenger Norfleet to represent our family. I'm happy to say that our concerns were quickly put to rest. From the onset of our business dealings, the communication was clear, responsive, and genuine.” So as we often state, “Tell us your story—then let us be your voice.”
