What is Birth Injury Malpractice?
Birth injury malpractice refers to a type of medical negligence that occurs during childbirth or the delivery process. It includes situations where a healthcare provider, such as a doctor, nurse, or midwife, failed to provide appropriate care during labor and delivery, resulting in injury to the newborn or the mother.
Do Birth Injuries Fall Under Obstetrician Malpractice?
Birth injuries can fall under obstetrician malpractice. Obstetricians are medical professionals who specialize in managing pregnancy, labor, and delivery, and have a duty to provide an appropriate standard of care to protect both the mother and the baby during childbirth. When an obstetrician fails to meet this standard and a preventable injury occurs, a birth injury lawyer can help determine whether the conduct may give rise to an actionable medical malpractice claim. If it can be proven that the obstetrician’s negligence directly caused the birth injury, legal action may be pursued to hold the responsible party accountable and seek compensation for the resulting damages.
How a Birth Injury Attorney Can Help Your Family
The joy of having a child can quickly be tainted with tragedy when a birth injury or birth trauma occurs. When medical negligence is involved, a birth injury lawyer or birth trauma attorney can help families understand their legal options and seek accountability. A child can die from a birth injury or become permanently disabled and require lifelong care. The physical, emotional, and financial hardships endured by parents, siblings, grandparents, and other loved ones of a child injured at birth can be overwhelming and devastating.
Common Causes of Birth Injury and Birth Trauma
Obstetrical care providers in New Jersey and Pennsylvania have a responsibility to anticipate potential problems that are reasonably foreseeable under the circumstances, and where indicated, to intervene during labor and delivery in a timely manner so as to prevent harm. Negligence, which is the failure to act in accordance with the standard of care, is at the heart of birth injury. Common causes of birth injury and birth trauma include:
- Miscalculation of the size of the fetus
- Pre- or post-mature delivery due to improper dating
- Infections and medical problems in the mother
- Infections and medical problems in the fetus
- Rh incompatibility
- Administration of improper medications during pregnancy and/or delivery
- Failure to monitor the fetus and respond to fetal distress
- Abnormal presentation, including shoulder dystocia
- Failure to perform a timely c-section
- Improper use of delivery instruments
- Failure to give oxygen to newborns when needed (hypoxia birth injury)
What to Do If Your Child Suffers a Birth Injury in New Jersey or Philadelphia
If you suspect that your child may have suffered a birth injury or birth trauma, get medical attention for your child right away. Timely and proper treatment will increase the odds that your child will live with as little damage as possible under the circumstances.
Many children will nevertheless require a lifetime of costly medical care. Many will have to be followed by numerous pediatric specialists and will need ongoing physical and occupational therapy. Sometimes, at-home care is too much for caring parents to provide and placement in a specialized institution is the only realistic option.
Your child should be able to benefit from the most advanced treatment available to increase his or her quality of life.
Birth Injury Malpractice Claims in New Jersey & Pennsylvania
Birth injury malpractice claims in New Jersey and Pennsylvania are subject to strict filing deadlines and procedural requirements, making early legal evaluation critical, especially when the impacted mother is suffering from severe emotional distress as a result of witnessing her child’s injury occur in real-time. In both states, the statute of limitations for medical malpractice claims is generally limited, but special rules apply when the injured patient is a minor, is incapacitated, and/or depending on the child’s birthday and the applicable laws at that time.
Both New Jersey and Pennsylvania require medical expert involvement before a birth injury lawsuit can proceed. In New Jersey, an affidavit of merit is required to certify that a qualified medical expert supports the claim. In Pennsylvania, a certificate of merit must be filed to confirm that the claim has been reviewed and is supported by an appropriately qualified medical expert.
Some birth injury claims are investigated and filed right away, while others remain in pre-lawsuit stages for a lengthy period of time to track the child’s progress and morphing prognosis before a lawsuit is initiated. The potential claim investigation typically involves a detailed review of prenatal care charts, labor and delivery admission records, neonatal intensive care records, and ongoing pediatric care or school/facility records. Because birth injury cases often involve complex medical evidence and long-term care considerations. An early investigation is ideal to preserve records, consult qualified experts, and protect the full scope of potential legal claims available to the child and their parents.
Treatment Options and Financial Recovery After a Birth Injury
There is often a big difference between the ideal, most advanced treatment and the treatment and services covered by private medical insurance and programs like Medicaid. If your child has suffered a preventable birth injury, the compensation you could receive from a birth injury lawsuit might be the only way to provide the services and care your child needs to maximize his or her recovery.
New Jersey birth injury attorneys Michael L. Weiss,Esq. and Robert E. Paarz, Esq. have presented over 65 birth injury cases and assisted many families in birth injury lawsuit settlements to lessen or eliminate the financial burden caused by birth injuries.
Birth Injury Lawsuit Settlement Value and Compensation Factors
Philadelphia and New Jersey birth injury attorneys handling claims involving birth injuries caused by various types of medical malpractice and/or medical negligence are often unable to protect the value of their clients’ birth injury claims without a thorough, comprehensive review of the relevant medical records. Since each birth injury claim is unique in its cause and because the events giving rise to one’s negligent labor and delivery vary widely, it is difficult to average values across these tragic claims.
Some factors involved in valuing birth injury claims include:
- The extent of the baby’s injury and future impact on their life and their ability to generate an income for themselves and/or their family once they become an adult, an attorney and their medical malpractice team’s prior success rate with similar birth injury claims
- The venue wherein the case must be filed (which will depend on the location where the negligent care took place and/or the location where the client(s) live)
- The projected expense involved in filing a client’s particular birth injury claim
- The number of medical experts who will be required to support the client’s birth injury claim once a lawsuit is filed.
Value analyses are complex and case-specific. At Weiss & Paarz Pennsylvania and New Jersey offices, when victims of medical malpractice contact us to explore a potential birth injury claim, we begin by collecting vital information from the injured child’s parents and extended family (or friends) about what happened.
We then perform a comprehensive and thorough review of our clients’ prenatal care records, labor and delivery admission, NICU and/or post-birth admission, and pediatrician records, and depending on the child’s injury and its’ long-term impact, we review records from specialists, early intervention programs, schooling, and any additional ongoing care. Our experienced birth injury lawyer team leaves no stone unturned.
Once we collect all of the information available from the baby’s family and from their medical records, assuming our team believes there is legal merit such that they would be successful in proving a client’s potential birth injury claim, we begin the process of consulting the top medical experts necessary to file a lawsuit. In both New Jersey and Pennsylvania, medical experts are required to support a medical malpractice claim before it is filed regardless of how strong a law firm believes a client’s birth injury claim is. To get a better understanding of how our career-dedicated birth injury attorneys can help you and your family, contact our medical malpractice team. We do not charge any fees to our clients unless we file their lawsuit and successfully obtain a recovery for them.
Types of Birth Injury Cases We Handle
Want to learn more about the different kinds of birth injuries our New Jersey and Pennsylvania offices focus on? Read on below:
*The firm handles cases in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. For cases outside those states, Weiss & Paarz works with local attorneys in the state where the medical care took place, at no additional cost to the client.
FAQs
How can I tell if my child’s birth injury was preventable?
Not all birth injuries are preventable, but unfortunately, some occur due to medical negligence during pregnancy, labor, or delivery. Warning signs may include a failure to monitor fetal distress before or during labor, delayed emergency intervention during labor and/or delivery, improper use of delivery instruments, or failure to perform a timely C-section. A birth injury attorney can review medical records and consult qualified medical experts to determine whether the injury could have been prevented and, if so, whether a potential claim is actionable.
How long do I have to file a birth injury lawsuit in New Jersey or Pennsylvania?
Both New Jersey and Pennsylvania impose strict statutes of limitations for medical malpractice claims, including birth injury cases. When the injured patient is a minor, special rules may extend the filing deadline, often until the child reaches adulthood. However, exceptions and procedural requirements can limit these extensions, making it critical to seek legal guidance as early as possible to protect your child’s rights.
Who can be held responsible for a birth injury?
Liability for a birth injury may extend beyond a single physician. Obstetricians, nurses, physician assistants, midwives, anesthesiologists, hospitals, and other healthcare providers involved in prenatal care or delivery may be held accountable if their negligence contributed to a claimant’s injury. In some cases, healthcare facilities may also be administratively responsible for systemic failures, inadequate staffing, or improper policies.
What compensation may be available in a birth injury malpractice case?
Compensation in a birth injury malpractice case may include damages for past and future medical expenses, rehabilitation and therapy, assistive devices, special education, in-home or institutional care, lost future earning capacity, and pain and suffering. In cases involving catastrophic injuries, compensation may be structured to provide long-term financial support for the child’s lifetime needs. Settlements involving minors must be handled very carefully. Depending on the child’s age and injury, special needs trusts are often established once a case is resolved to preserve a child’s eligibility for government benefits, protect their recovery, and grow their nest egg over time.
Do birth injury cases usually go to trial?
Some birth injury cases are resolved through settlement, but some proceed to trial if a fair resolution cannot be reached. Because these cases involve complex medical issues and significant damages, defendants often vigorously contest them. An experienced birth injury lawyer prepares every case as if it will go to trial to protect the full value of the claim and maximize their client’s recovery.