What Is a Birth Injury Lawsuit?
A birth injury lawsuit is a type of medical malpractice lawsuit that allows parents to seek compensation if their child’s health condition was caused by a medical mistake.
“Medical malpractice (or medical negligence) occurs when a doctor, health care professional, hospital or other health care facility fails to care for someone in accordance with the accepted standards of the medical profession and the person is injured, becomes ill or a condition or illness worsens as a result.”
– New York City Bar
Birth injury lawsuits are filed against the doctors and other health care professionals who delivered the baby and/or the hospital where the birth took place.
The cost of lifetime care for a person with cerebral palsy — one of the most common types of birth injuries — is $1.65 million, excluding daily living expenses, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Legal compensation from a birth injury lawsuit can help pay for medical care, assistive technology, and other expenses that may improve your child’s quality of life.
If you suspect that your child’s birth injury was caused by a medical mistake, LawFirm.com may be able to help. We have registered nurses on staff who can listen to what happened and determine if medical malpractice may have occurred. Get a free case review now.
Types of Birth Injury Lawsuits
Parents have successfully filed lawsuits to recover compensation for many different birth injuries.
Families of children with these common birth injuries often take legal action:
- Brain damage
- Broken bones
- Cerebral palsy
- Erb’s palsy
- Fetal distress
- Hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy or HIE (caused by lack of oxygen/blood flow to the brain)
- Injuries caused by a delayed cesarean section (C-section)
- Injuries caused by misuse of forceps or vacuum extraction
- Necrotizing enterocolitis
- Shoulder dystocia (one of both of the baby’s shoulders get stuck during delivery)
- Skull fractures
- Spinal cord injuries
- Umbilical cord strangulation
- Untreated jaundice
- Wrongful death
Keep in mind that this is not a complete list. Many other types of birth injuries can be caused by medical malpractice and may qualify for a birth injury lawsuit.
Who Can File a Birth Injury Claim?
Parents or guardians of children who were injured because of a medical mistake made before, during, or shortly after childbirth may be able to file a birth injury lawsuit.
Families can use money from birth injury lawsuits to pay for top medical treatments, assistive technology, and other aids that can help their children live their best lives.
Without legal compensation from a birth injury lawsuit, many families struggle to afford the care that their children need. They may need to dip into their retirement savings or take out a second mortgage on their home to pay for necessary expenses.
However, filing a claim on your own, or with an attorney who doesn’t specialize in these cases, may not get you the results that you want or deserve. Labor and delivery malpractice cases are extremely complex.
For a lawsuit to be successful, it must be proven that the injury in question was caused by medical malpractice.
Thankfully, birth injury law firms can handle birth injury malpractice cases from start to finish. These firms have experience proving birth injury medical malpractice and understand the expenses involved in raising a child with a birth injury.
Birth Injury Lawsuit Process
By working with an experienced birth injury law firm, you can rest assured knowing the legal process will be as stress-free as possible. Your lawyer will support you through the entire lawsuit process. They will file your claim, gather evidence, build your case, and fight for compensation on your behalf.
Learn more about how childbirth malpractice cases work.
1. Free Case Evaluation
The first step in the lawsuit process is a free case evaluation. This allows you to have your case reviewed without paying any upfront costs.
You do not need a birth injury diagnosis to get a free case evaluation. Birth injury lawyers and their support staff can listen to your story and determine whether medical malpractice may have played a role in your child’s birth injury.
Get started with a free and confidential case evaluation right now.
2. Gathering Evidence
As soon as you qualify for a lawsuit, your birth injury lawyer and the rest of your legal team will start collecting evidence to support your claim, prove medical malpractice, and estimate the amount of your damages (how much money they believe you’re owed).
Law firms often gather medical records from the mother’s pregnancy and the child’s birth, as well as firsthand accounts of the delivery. These pieces of evidence are critical in proving a child’s birth injury was caused by medical negligence.
3. Filing the Lawsuit
Your attorney will file your claim once all initial information has been gathered. You will become the plaintiff, and the doctors and other health care providers that you are suing will become the defendants.
Your legal team will be mindful of your state’s statute of limitations, which is the amount of time you have to file a claim. If you don’t file before this deadline, you won’t be able to recover money through a lawsuit.
4. Settlement Negotiations
After both parties have gathered enough supporting evidence to back their claims, settlement negotiations may begin. During this phase, your lawyer will request the defendants pay a lump sum of money to compensate you for your damages.
About 95% of all birth injury cases end in a settlement agreement.
The two sides may go back and forth when negotiating a settlement amount. Your lawyer will fight for enough money to cover lifetime costs to care for your child.
In the unlikely event that the plaintiff and defendant cannot reach a settlement agreement, the lawsuit will proceed to trial.
5. Trial Verdict
A small percentage of birth injury lawsuits will reach the trial stage. During a trial, a judge or jury will listen to arguments from both sides and determine whether the health care provider is responsible for the child’s injury.
If the court rules in your favor, you will be awarded compensation, but if the court sides with the defendants, you will not win any compensation at all.
Many experienced lawyers will seek to resolve a birth injury lawsuit with a settlement agreement because birth injury lawsuit verdicts can be risky, costly, and time-consuming.
Get help with a labor and delivery lawsuit right now.
Birth Injury Settlement Amounts
Since the majority of birth injury lawsuits do not reach the trial phase, many cases end in a settlement paid out to the family.
How much compensation your family receives will depend on your specific case. Birth injury settlement amounts can vary greatly based on the severity of the injury, lifetime cost of treatment, and other factors.
The birth injury law firms in the LawFirm.com network have recovered payouts of more than $862 million for families impacted by preventable birth injuries.
Some of these birth injury lawsuit settlements and trial verdicts include:
- $8 million for a New York family (vacuum extraction injury)
- $7.8 million for a Florida family (cerebral palsy)
- $6 million for a New York family (untreated jaundice)
- $5.97 million to a Texas family (oxygen deprivation)
- $4.5 million to an Illinois family (Erb’s palsy)
These compensation amounts do not necessarily indicate how much you may receive from a case. Your lawyer will be able to determine the value of your claim by calculating your child’s estimated treatment costs and other factors.
LawFirm.com can help you take the first step toward pursuing a birth injury settlement. Chat with one of our caring and knowledgeable case managers in confidence.
Our case managers can answer your questions and connect you to an attorney.
Chat NowHow a Birth Injury Settlement Can Help
Compensation from a birth injury settlement can help ensure that your child receives the best treatment and care possible.
It can also be used to pay for things like motorized wheelchairs and housing accommodations that allow children to access the world around them more easily.
Compensation from a birth injury lawsuit can help your family pay for:
- Adaptive equipment
- Medication
- Mobility aids
- Occupational therapy
- Physical therapy
- Special education costs
- Speech therapy
- Surgery
- Transportation equipment
- And more
By taking legal action against negligent doctors, you can also help protect other children from becoming victims of medical malpractice.
How Long After a Birth Injury Can You Sue?
It’s important to file your birth injury lawsuit within your state’s statute of limitations. A birth injury statute of limitations is a law that sets a time limit on how long people have to file birth injury claims. These statutes vary by state.
In most states, the statute of limitations is 2-3 years from when the injury is discovered. However, in some states, parents only have 1 year to file a claim.
Since these cases are so time-sensitive, it’s essential to work with an experienced birth injury attorney who can determine when and where to file your lawsuit.
If you don’t file your birth injury claim within the statute of limitations, you may forfeit your right to sue. However, you should still contact a lawyer even if the deadline for filing has passed to see if you qualify for other compensation options or if exceptions may apply in your case.
Get Help Filing a Birth Injury Claim
If you believe your child’s birth injury was caused by medical negligence, you may be able to recover money through a birth injury lawsuit. The first step is to find a lawyer who can evaluate your case, determine its value, and file your claim.
LawFirm.com can connect you with a law firm that has the experience and specialized skills to win birth injury lawsuits.
The birth injury firms in our network:
- Can handle cases in all 50 states
- Have a track record of success
- Never charge any upfront or out-of-pocket fees
Birth injury lawsuits are time-sensitive, so don’t wait. Call one of our team members at (888) 726-9160 or fill out our online form for a free case evaluation.
Childbirth Injury Lawsuit FAQs
How long does a birth injury lawsuit take?
The timeline of a birth injury lawsuit can vary depending on your specific case. However, a birth injury attorney can ensure the legal process goes as smoothly and efficiently as possible.
This process may be shorter if the case ends in a settlement, as you will not have to go through a lengthy trial.
Your medical malpractice attorney will keep in touch throughout the lawsuit process to update you about your case’s time frame.
What is considered a birth injury?
A birth injury is some type of physical harm to a baby that occurs before, during, or shortly after childbirth.
For example, an obstetrician’s failure to detect and treat a maternal infection could cause cerebral palsy, or a nurse’s failure to monitor for fetal distress could lead to infant brain damage. These scenarios could both be considered birth injury malpractice.
What are the most common birth injuries?
Some common birth injuries include:
- Bone fractures
- Brain injury
- Cerebral palsy
- Erb’s palsy (injury to the brachial plexus, the nerves that supply the hands and arms)
- Hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy or HIE (results from lack of oxygen or blood flow to the brain)
- Shoulder dystocia (baby’s shoulders stuck behind pubic bone during delivery)
- Spinal cord injuries
- Wrongful death
What are birth injuries due to negligence?
Birth injuries due to negligence stem from a medical professional’s failure to follow the standard of care. That means that they acted differently than another physician would have under the same circumstances.
Birth injury attorneys help families prove birth malpractice cases and get financial aid.
Can you sue a hospital for traumatic birth?
Yes, you may be able to sue a hospital for birth trauma if the hospital bears some responsibility for your child’s injury. For example, the hospital may have known that the doctors who delivered your baby had a history of negligence.
A birth injury lawyer can let you know whether you have a valid medical malpractice case against the hospital where your child was born and the doctors on the labor and delivery team.
How long after birth can you sue for malpractice?
It depends on several factors, including the state in which your baby was born and when they were diagnosed with a birth injury.
In most states, parents have 2-3 years from the date on which they discovered that their child had a birth injury to bring a malpractice claim against negligent doctors, but in other states the filing deadline is only 1 year.
To protect your legal rights, it’s best to speak to a personal injury attorney as soon as possible. Contact one of our team members at LawFirm.com at (888) 726-9160 for a free consultation.
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