North Carolina Cerebral Palsy Lawyer

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Let a North Carolina cerebral palsy lawyer guide your legal decisions if your child developed CP after medical negligence. An experienced and qualified attorney can help file a lawsuit to recover damages and explain your rights if your child has faced discrimination.

Why Do I Need a North Carolina Cerebral Palsy Lawyer?

A diagnosis for a baby with cerebral palsy can be devastating. Your family faces many challenges, including choosing and paying for treatments.

You may suspect that your doctor, midwife, or nurse was negligent in some way in your child’s diagnosis, but you don’t know what to do about it. This is the number one reason you may need to hire a North Carolina cerebral palsy lawyer.

Medical negligence is dangerous, and those responsible must be held accountable. Filing a medical malpractice lawsuit is complicated, and proving negligence is more challenging. The right lawyer can help you file a North Carolina cerebral palsy lawsuit and give you the best chance of winning.

Even if you ultimately decide not to file a negligence lawsuit, you may still need a lawyer to help your family.

Having a good lawyer, someone whose expertise and judgment you trust, is essential. You will likely need this lawyer in the future, so finding one early will make sense in the long run.

Later, your legal needs may include fighting discrimination, fighting schools for special education services, and drafting legal documents for your child’s care.

How Can a North Carolina Cerebral Palsy Lawyer Help My Family?

Choose the right lawyer, and you will have an ally for many years. Having a knowledgeable lawyer in your corner to provide advice and guidance will take a significant weight off your shoulders. They will help you make the best choices for your child’s ongoing care and future.

Filing a Medical Malpractice Lawsuit

One of the most critical ways a North Carolina cerebral palsy lawyer will help you is by giving you a strong chance of winning a medical malpractice lawsuit.

This is important because a win means holding those responsible accountable and also recovering damages. Monetary damages will help you provide your child with the best possible care and could help for many years.

Filing Discrimination Complaints

As your child grows older, you may face discrimination. You may have to fight for your child’s right to government assistance and benefits. You may have to go up against your public schools to ensure an appropriate education.

A good lawyer can help you in all of these fights and give you a better chance of success.

Your lawyer will also help with other, more minor battles, like deciding how to provide ongoing care for your child, making financial decisions, setting up trusts, and drafting necessary documents, such as a living will.

Medical Malpractice Laws in North Carolina

Learn about the medical malpractice laws in North Carolina to make the most of your lawyer’s expertise and judgment. A basic understanding will help you make better choices for your child.

Statute of Limitations

For instance, the statute of limitations in the state will determine when it’s too late to file a lawsuit. You have three years from when the negligence occurred or one year from when you realized it happened. No lawsuit can be filed more than four years after the negligent incident.[1][2]

Damages Caps

North Carolina also caps the amount of non-economic damages you can recover in a lawsuit. The original limit of $500,000 was raised to $656,730 in 2023 to account for inflation.[3]

Lawyers of a woman severely harmed by negligence are taking her case to the state Supreme Court to challenge that cap.

Disability Rights in North Carolina

You also may have to take legal action on behalf of your child over discrimination or denial of rights. Your child is protected under federal laws like the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act.[4][5]

These acts ensure access, opportunity, and free and appropriate education, but sometimes, you must fight for your child’s legal rights.

State laws that protect your child’s rights include the Persons with Disabilities Protection Act. It provides disabled access to public transportation, public spaces, hotels, stores, and other facilities.[6]

Your lawyer will know what to do if any federal or state law is being violated to restrict your child’s rights, opportunities, and access.

Legal Wins for North Carolina Residents with Cerebral Palsy

Lawyers throughout the state have been helping children and adults with cerebral palsy and other disabilities for years. They help families file and win medical malpractice lawsuits, fight discrimination, ensure access and opportunities, and recover damages that provide treatment and lifelong care.

Children with cerebral palsy face many challenges. Even as they grow into adults, achieving independence can be a struggle.

A lot depends on getting a job and earning a living. For the most severely disabled, many situations are difficult or impossible. Being able to get and keep a job is essential.

When Walmart recently made a move to change store greeter jobs to require that these workers be able to do more physical tasks, many disabled people faced losing those jobs.[7] Many of these people were born with cerebral palsy.

In North Carolina, cerebral palsy lawyers worked to protect this vulnerable population. Individuals and the community took action, too, including starting petitions to help people keep their jobs.

How to Find a North Carolina Cerebral Palsy Lawyer

The best lawyer to help you and your child will be caring and dedicated to fighting for the rights of vulnerable disabled people.

A general lawyer will not be adequate; you need a lawyer specializing in medical malpractice or disability rights for children suffering from birth injuries.

Try contacting the state bar association to find someone with the right area of specialty.

Also, try other parents you know from support groups or local organizations that support or advocate for the disabled population in your community. These people are most likely to be able to make qualified recommendations.