Defects arising from a child’s birth are the worst nightmare for many parents, but fortunately, they’re relatively uncommon. According to the PA Department of Health, defects only impact one in every 33 babies born in the USA, and this figure encompasses any number of conditions, no matter how minor or serious. The necessarily high standards of US healthcare and regulatory frameworks aside, there are good reasons for this that stem from the solid litigation environment that underpins the US medical and healthcare system. Legal protections help to protect against traumatic birth and birth defects.
Current and onward rights
Litigation provides access to justice for families across Pennsylvania who are impacted by birth defects. Take, for instance, families who have children born with cerebral palsy. Cerebral palsy is one of the most common conditions arising from a traumatic birth, and it can have a lifelong impact on both the child and their family. As a result, legal advocates for cerebral palsy are incredibly important in ensuring that the hospital in question has maintained its commitment to care, and that any birth trauma leading to a diagnosis was completely unavoidable. These advocates play an important role further in life, too, by helping to maximize the opportunities of children born with cerebral palsy who may have found themselves restricted in the past. This has resulted in Pennsylvania becoming the 19th best state in terms of the help it provides to people living with disability, according to Penn Live. This onward care for disabilities, and the ever present opportunity for restorative litigation against companies that don’t appreciate these rights, is helping the future to look brighter again.
Attacking discriminatory state policies
This has been seen most clearly in the legal action taken against the Pennsylvania DHS by a range of disability advocates. According to WENY News, affirmative legal action was taken immediately and professionally in response to a change in business rates that made it difficult for people living with disability, including those impacted by birth trauma, to access important services. This is a great example of how the litigation environment in the USA is not only present, but effective, in protecting the rights of those living with disability.
Why society should be interested
Aside from the obvious benefit of a broader and healthier society being beneficial to people across the state, the hard work of the legal environment with regards to disability and illness is providing the groundwork for medical changes that will benefit everyone. By providing a solid last avenue of redress, legal advocates put in a framework that means new medical measures are safe. That means everything from surgical procedures through to the prospect of new vaccines and chemical treatments for common illnesses. In short, the safety put into place by a tough legal environment helps to make the world safer for everyone and ensure that medical care is upheld.
Altogether, this brings together an environment in which medical negligence and traumatic birth are at a reduced risk. Litigation helps to protect rights today. Perhaps even more importantly, it safeguards these protections in the future.
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