United Brachial Plexus Network

If you pursue a lawsuit and win, does this make it more difficult to get therapy covered by insurance companies or medicaid waiver? Can you get county agencies to still assist with such items as splints, therapy, ancillary items? Does this make sense to you who are reading this? I'm just in the phase of considering a lawsuit, but I don't want my daughter's therapy to be stopped in the future due to maybe winning a small settlement. Can anyone help offer advice?

Tanya in NY

Tanya,
We're in PA, however I'll share our experience with you. We decided to settle and not go to trail. We hadd to pay a portion back to the insurance company and to the medical assistance program. We settled a little over a year ago, therapy has continued, his services through early intervention and the iu continued as normal. Your attorney should go over all of the amounts that will be paid back out of the award. You can ask him about these concerns and he should be able to tell you what to expect.

Cindy

I can totally understand your concern. We are still wrapping up our suit so I cannot share with absolute certainty, however, I think for the families I know, this is not a big issue. I haven't heard of settlements and verdicts usually impacting this, although I may have heard it in one case.

I think if a program looks at your income for qualification that they would tend to ask for your income and not assume that the child has any income. I would ask an attorney and anonymously I would ask insurance and local/state programs, if you are concerned.

Also, many of our children get some decent settlements which actually help to ensure future treatment over the years, should insurance not cover, coverage be lost, etc., so I guess there are two ways to look at it. For many of us, winning a case helps provide our children with a means to obtaining needed lifelong medical care, etc.

In our child's case, it is our understanding that the trust & structured annuity will not impact what our insurance covers. In our state once you reach 3 there really aren't many benefits you could receive from the state any way. If you really want the child protected and able to qualify for things like state medical insurance, then you would set up a "special needs trust" where they don't count the assets and the child can qualify for everything, but this may have a few disadvantages as well. I guess you would just need to research it a little.

Sorry, I couldn't be of me help. Good luck on your decision. Before you worry about it too much, see if you can find an attorney to take your case and get an idea of the range they think it might be worth. I suggest speaking with a few attorneys. This may help you get a better idea of things and may impact your decision making, before you get to ahead of yourself. Best wishes to you!

How do I make the decision if I should persue a law suit or not? Right now I was only concerned with getting my son the needed help. I never thought I could sue the Drs until I started reading this site. Is this really the Drs fault? Could it have been prevented? I did not have one bit of trouble until the middle of pushing and they told me the baby was stuck and they tried cutting (i had fourth degree tearing)and after four minutes of the baby being stuck vacuuming and sucton none of which worked I rolled over on my stomach and pushed him out.
Not once did it occur to me this was my ob/gyn fault until now
Donna Scotts mom

The choice to sure is a personal one, just like the course of therapy that you decide for your child. I imagine you will get a lot of posts soon though because obstetrical brachial plexus injuries are caused by too much pressure and or stretching applied to the neck/brachial plexus during delivery. There is a lot of information out there about doctors negligence in these cases and what the accepted moves are to help deliver a baby that presents with shoulder dystocia (gets stuck).
Best Wishes

Winning a lawsuit will not affect your ability to get, or maintain private insurance. Winning you case, or having the case settled before trial can affect your ablity to receive medicaid, state or other similar types of benefits. There are ways to deal with the problem through the creation of a special needs trust. This trust, also sometimes called a supplemental needs trust, if written correctly, can allow you to maintain medicaid, or other similar benefits for your child, even if you win or settle your case.

If you have any particular questions about this issue, please do not hesitate to contact me directly and I would be pleased to explain this issue more completely.

Ken Levine
Klevine@Klevinelaw.com
617-566-2700

The day we filed our lawsuit I broke down in tears on the drive home. I had just felt so lucky that we even had our son..we came so close to losing him. His first APGAR reading was 2!It took a lot of people to convince me to pursue the lawsuit.

Garrett was 12 lbs at birth. I was told several times by my docotor that I'd be having a big baby. I was hospitalized for toximia (hypertension) for two days. The nurses asked me if I was having twins. I was put on bed rest for two weeks, with many trips to the hospital for non stress tests on the baby, but I was never given a second ultra sound after the first intial one. Another doctor who is in the same group as my OBGYN was on duty when I went into labor. He asked her if she was going to give me a C-Section.. because I was so big-she told him no-she was going to take a nap and when she woke up that I'd be ready to go.
After delivering Garrett she told me it was the scariest birth she'd ever been through! Thank heavens I came out fine and Garrett is coming along well with OT. However we have had to purchase a second insurance for him and who knows if there will be surgery in the future.
It took us nine months to decide to place a lawsuit. But I beleive that I've done the right thing to help him out with his needs and any extra medical attention he will need.

Please be carefull what you write on the boards. They will use anything they can against you in court! Protect our children and their future!