A Complete Guide to Birth Injury Lawsuits

Bringing a child into the world should be a joyous occasion. But medical negligence during pregnancy, labor, or delivery can lead to devastating birth injuries. It’s every new parents’ nightmare, where happiness and hope for your child’s future is replaced by fear, sadness, and uncertainty. Families facing such challenges need help to figure out a path forward and what kind of financial support is available.

Our New York birth injury lawyers can help determine liability, navigate complex medical malpractice laws, and fight for compensation to cover medical care, therapy, and long-term needs. Understanding your rights and legal options is crucial in ensuring your child’s well-being and holding negligent healthcare providers accountable.

What Is a Birth Injury Lawsuit?

A birth injury lawsuit in New York is a legal claim filed against healthcare providers when negligence during pregnancy, labor, or delivery causes harm to an infant or the mother. Liability in birth injury cases often involves doctors, nurses, hospitals, and other medical professionals involved in the birthing process.

New York law allows families (parents or legal guardians) to seek compensation for medical expenses, ongoing care needs, pain and suffering, and lost earnings potential. These cases fall under New York State’s medical malpractice laws and require proving that the healthcare provider deviated from accepted medical standards, directly causing the injury.

Types of Birth Injury Lawsuits

Birth injury lawsuits in New York provide families with legal recourse when medical negligence impacts a newborn's health or life. These legal actions generally fall into two distinct categories, each addressing different circumstances and outcomes.

Medical Malpractice Lawsuits

In New York, families affected by negligent medical care during childbirth typically pursue one of two legal pathways. Medical malpractice lawsuits represent the most common approach, where parents must demonstrate that healthcare providers failed to meet the accepted standard of care. This might involve:

• Improper use of delivery tools
• Failure to monitor fetal distress signals
• Delayed C-section decisions
• Or inadequate treatment of maternal conditions

These cases seek compensation for injuries resulting in conditions like cerebral palsy, brachial plexus injuries, or developmental delays.

Wrongful Death Lawsuits

In the worst-case scenario, wrongful death lawsuits become necessary when birth injuries prove fatal. New York law allows families to seek justice when medical negligence during pregnancy, delivery, or postpartum care results in stillbirth, infant death, or maternal death. These cases address not only the profound emotional trauma but also medical expenses and funeral costs.

Critical Aspects of Handling a Birth Injury Lawsuit

Handling a birth injury lawsuit requires analyzing medical records, identifying negligence, and proving deviations from the standard of care. Medical malpractice lawyers must assess prenatal risk factors, labor complications, and medical decisions to build a strong case. Below are key elements a New York birth injury lawyer should evaluate to secure rightful compensation.

Assessing Medical Records and Evidence

A thorough case evaluation is essential to determine if a claim has merit. Attorneys must obtain and analyze key medical records, including:

• Prenatal records: Identifying high-risk pregnancy factors such as preeclampsia, gestational diabetes, and incompetent cervix.
• Intrapartum and delivery records: Documenting complications and medical interventions during labor and birth.
• Fetal heart monitoring strips: Assessing whether medical providers correctly interpreted signs of fetal distress.
• Umbilical cord blood gases and newborn records: Determining oxygen deprivation and potential neurological injuries.
• Diagnostic imaging and placental pathology reports: Confirming medical conditions that support the claim.

These records help establish a connection between substandard obstetrical care and conditions such as hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) or cerebral palsy.

Evaluating Prenatal Risk Factors

Attorneys must assess prenatal risk factors to determine whether an injury was preventable. Critical considerations include:

• Gestational age and premature birth: Evaluating whether early delivery was due to natural causes or medical negligence.
• Maternal health and lifestyle factors: Investigating conditions such as hypertension, smoking, nutrition, and genetic predispositions.
• Preeclampsia: A serious pregnancy complication characterized by high blood pressure and signs of organ damage, typically occurring after 20 weeks of pregnancy, and can lead to complications for both mother and baby.
• Prenatal testing failures: Non-stress tests and biophysical profile tests provide early indicators of fetal distress; failure to act on abnormal results may constitute malpractice.

Reviewing Labor and Delivery Procedures

The period during labor and delivery is critical. Attorneys must determine whether healthcare providers responded appropriately to complications, including:

• Fetal heart monitoring issues: Misinterpretation of fetal distress patterns, such as late or variable decelerations, can lead to delayed interventions.
• Prolonged or arrested labor: Increases the risk of oxygen deprivation and birth trauma.
• Misuse of labor-augmenting drugs (e.g., pitocin): Can lead to excessive contractions and fetal distress.
• Delayed emergency c-section: Failure to perform a timely cesarean when medically necessary can result in severe injuries.
• Vacuum delivery errors: Incorrect use of vacuum extractors can cause scalp lacerations, skull fractures, and intracranial hemorrhages. These tools must be applied cautiously and only when clearly indicated to avoid permanent injury to the newborn.

Birth Injury Compensation in New York

Families pursuing a birth injury lawsuit in New York may be entitled to compensation for medical expenses, long-term care, pain and suffering, and lost future earnings. For children with severe neurological injuries caused by malpractice, the New York Medical Indemnity Fund (MIF) offers lifetime benefits, covering rehabilitative care, medical equipment, home modifications, and assistive technology. Navigating the MIF and settlement structures can be complex, but securing the proper birth injury compensation ensures a child's lifelong needs are met.

Birth Injury Statute of Limitations in New York

In New York, there are specific timeframes by which you have to file lawsuits. These are called the Statute of Limitations (SOL). According to CVP $214-a, the statute of limitations for birth injury lawsuits in New York varies depending on the type of claim. Generally, parents have two and a half years (30 months) from the date of the injury to file a medical malpractice lawsuit. However, when filing on behalf of an injured child, the SOL is extended, allowing a claim to be brought until the child’s 10th birthday. Exceptions may apply in cases of fraud, concealment, or delayed discovery of the injury. Given these legal complexities, it’s crucial to act promptly to protect your rights and secure compensation.

Our Birth Injury Lawsuit Success Stories

Our attorneys have secured major birth injury settlements in New York, holding healthcare providers accountable:

• $7.5m c-section delay: Attorneys proved delayed delivery caused preventable brain damage. 3D imaging confirmed oxygen deprivation, not infection, as the cause.
• $6.395m monitoring failure: A child suffered brain damage due to providers’ failure to monitor a high-risk pregnancy, missing signs of placental abruption.
• $5m wrongful death: A mother with pre-eclampsia and sickle cell anemia suffered a fatal stroke due to negligence, leaving one surviving twin with brain injuries.

Step-by-Step Birth Injury Lawsuit Process

Birth injury lawsuits follow a structured process to secure justice and compensation for affected families.

1. Case evaluation: A birth injury lawyer reviews the case to determine if medical negligence occurred.
2. Gathering evidence: Birth injury attorneys collect medical records, expert opinions, and documentation linking the injury to negligence.
3. Filing the lawsuit: A formal complaint is filed against responsible medical providers or hospitals.
4. Settlement negotiations: Most cases are resolved through settlements, ensuring compensation for medical care and long-term needs.
5. Trial (if needed): If no settlement is reached, the case proceeds to trial.