Victim of a Birth Injury?

When a child is injured at birth, the trust you placed in your medical team is fractured. You are left with a gnawing feeling that something went wrong in the delivery room, but the people you counted on for answers are no longer a source of comfort. 

If this sounds familiar, your intuition is worth listening to.

A birth injury claim is designed to secure a lifetime of care, support, and opportunity for your child. The first step is to determine whether the medical care provided fell below the accepted standard. If it did, the next step is holding the responsible parties accountable for the harm they caused. 

As birth injury lawyers, our purpose is to help you find clear answers. If you have questions about an injury your child sustained during birth, we are here to listen. Call Sweet James Accident Attorneys for a no-cost, confidential review of your case at (800) 900-0000.

Key Takeaways for Los Angeles Birth Injury Claims

1. Financial compensation is intended to cover a lifetime of care. A successful claim can provide for future medical treatments, specialized therapies, home modifications, and your child’s lost earning capacity, relieving your family of an incredible financial burden.
2. California has strict deadlines for filing a claim. For an injury to a child, a lawsuit must generally be filed before their eighth birthday. Missing this window will permanently bar you from seeking compensation, making a prompt consultation with a personal injury lawyer advisable.
3. Proof of negligence requires more than a bad outcome. We must demonstrate that your medical provider deviated from the accepted “standard of care” and that this specific failure directly caused your child’s injury, a process that relies on a detailed investigation by independent medical experts.

Why Trust Sweet James With Your Family’s Future?

When you are considering legal action on behalf of your child, you need a law firm with the resources and experience to stand up to hospitals and their insurance carriers.

A Record of Holding Negligent Parties Accountable

Our results speak for themselves. We have:

• Recovered millions for clients.
• A 98% success rate, a reflection of our thorough preparation and commitment.
• Recently secured a record $17.4 million verdict for a family injured by a government entity, showing our readiness to go to trial when a settlement offer is not enough.

The Resources to See Your Case Through

We provide the support and resources your family needs from start to finish.

• No Win, No Fee: We handle birth injury cases on a contingency fee basis. This means you pay nothing unless and until we recover compensation for you.
• Direct & Personalized Attention: You will have a dedicated team, and we will be available to answer your questions at every turn.
• Award-Winning Advocacy: Our attorneys are consistently recognized by organizations like Super Lawyers.

Located to Serve Los Angeles Families

Our office at 16133 Ventura Blvd, Suite 700, is centrally located in the Financial District to serve families throughout the Los Angeles area. 

What Does a Birth Injury Claim Cover in California?

In California, a successful birth injury claim can secure compensation for all harms and losses that result from medical negligence, which fall into three general categories.

Economic Damages: The Tangible Costs

These are the specific, calculable financial losses your family has and will incur in the future. They are not capped under California law. 

Examples include:

• Medical Bills: Covers everything from the initial hospital stay to future surgeries, doctor’s appointments, and prescription medications.
• Future Care Needs: The cost of lifelong assistance, including in-home nursing care, assistive devices (like wheelchairs and communication tools), and specialized therapies such as physical, occupational, and speech therapy.
• Home and Vehicle Modifications: The expense of making your home and vehicle accessible for your child’s needs.
• Lost Earning Capacity: If the injury prevents your child from working in the future, this calculates the income they would have been able to earn over their lifetime.

Non-Economic Damages: The Intangible Impact

These damages are meant to compensate for the non-financial suffering the injury has caused. This includes payment for your child’s pain, suffering, emotional distress, and loss of enjoyment of life. 

California law, through the Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act (MICRA), places a cap on non-economic damages in medical malpractice cases. 

Punitive Damages: A Rare Exception

These are not tied to any specific loss. Instead, their purpose is to punish a healthcare provider for extreme recklessness or malicious conduct. Punitive damages (also known as “exemplary damages”) are rarely awarded, as they require proof of oppression, fraud, or malice under California Civil Code 3294. They may, however, be pursued in cases of particularly egregious behavior.

How Do You Recognize Medical Negligence During Childbirth?

Medical negligence, legally defined as a breach of the “standard of care,” happens when a healthcare provider’s action, or failure to act, causes harm.

What is the “Standard of Care”?

It’s the level of skill and care that a reasonably competent healthcare professional in the same field would have provided under similar circumstances. If a doctor, nurse, or other medical professional deviates from this accepted standard and an injury results, that is negligence. 

The key is that not every bad outcome is the result of negligence. Some injuries happen even with the best care.

Common Failures That May Lead to a Birth Injury

A deviation from the standard of care can take many forms in the delivery room. Some common failures include:

• Failure to Monitor Fetal Distress: Not recognizing or responding quickly enough to signs that the baby is not getting enough oxygen, such as dangerous changes in heart rate.
• Improper Use of Delivery Tools: Mistakes made with forceps or a vacuum extractor might cause skull fractures, brain bleeding, or nerve damage.
• Delayed C-Section: Waiting too long to perform a necessary cesarean section when the baby or mother is in distress, which may lead to oxygen deprivation.
• Mishandling a Complicated Birth: Errors in managing situations like a breech birth (feet-first) or shoulder dystocia, where the baby’s shoulder gets stuck.
• Medication Errors: Giving the wrong medication or the wrong dose of a medication, like Pitocin, to the mother, which can lead to dangerously strong contractions that stress the baby.

How We Prove Medical Negligence: The Role of the Medical Expert

To build a successful birth injury claim, we prove it with hard evidence. This is not something we do alone. It requires a thorough and objective analysis by independent medical professionals.

Our process involves retaining highly respected, board-certified physicians, nurses, and other specialists who were not involved in your care. Their job is to conduct an impartial review of all relevant medical records:

• Prenatal Records: To understand the health of the mother and baby leading up to delivery.
• Labor and Delivery Notes: To reconstruct the timeline of events, decisions made, and actions taken by the medical team.
• Fetal Heart Monitor Strips: To analyze the baby’s heart rate for any signs of distress that may have been missed or ignored.
• Post-Delivery Records: For both mother and child, to see how they were cared for immediately after the birth.

These experts provide their opinion on whether the standard of care was met. If they conclude that a reasonably prudent medical provider would have acted differently to prevent the injury, their testimony becomes a cornerstone of your case, providing the credible, objective evidence needed to establish negligence.

Types of Preventable Birth Injuries

• Cerebral Palsy: A group of disorders that affect movement and posture, frequently caused by damage to the developing brain before or during birth.
• Brachial Plexus Injuries (Erb’s Palsy): Damage to the nerves in the shoulder, arm, or hand, often caused by excessive pulling or stretching of the baby’s neck during delivery.
• Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy (HIE): A type of brain damage that happens when the brain does not receive enough oxygen and blood flow for a period of time, something a skilled brain injury lawyer is experienced in evaluating and proving in a legal claim.
• Facial Paralysis: This may be caused by pressure on the facial nerves during birth, sometimes from the improper use of forceps, resulting in a lack of movement on one side of the face.

Factors That Contribute to Medical Errors in a Hospital

Most errors represent systemic problems, not bad doctors. Factors may include:

• Understaffing: When a labor and delivery unit is short on staff, nurses may have too many patients to monitor effectively, leading to missed signs of distress.
• Communication Breakdowns: A failure in communication between doctors, nurses, and other staff can lead to important information being lost.
• Inadequate Training: Staff might not be properly trained to handle high-risk birth scenarios or use certain medical equipment correctly.
• Systemic Failures: Sometimes a hospital’s own policies and procedures are flawed, creating an environment where mistakes are more likely to occur.

Beware: the Hospital’s Insurer Is Not Your Advocate

After a birth injury, you may hear from a representative from the hospital or its insurance company. They might sound caring and concerned. Their actual role, however, is to protect the hospital’s financial interests. They are a business, and that means they must balance paying claims with making a profit.

Why an Early Offer Might Not Be in Your Best Interest

An insurer might make a quick settlement offer before the full extent of your child’s injuries and future needs are known. Accepting an early offer can feel like a relief when bills are piling up, but it could leave your family without the resources needed for a lifetime of care. A complete understanding of your child’s prognosis is needed before any fair settlement can be considered.

You do not have to speak with them alone. Our job is to handle all communications with the hospital and its insurer for you. We work to ensure your rights are protected and that any evaluation of your claim is based on a full and accurate understanding of your child’s long-term needs.

California’s Time Limit for Filing a Birth Injury Claim

One of the most unforgiving aspects of any legal claim is the deadline to file, known as the statute of limitations. In California, the rules for birth injuries are specific and missing the deadline means losing your right to seek compensation forever.

Under the California Code of Civil Procedure section 340.5, a lawsuit for a birth injury to a minor must be filed within three years of the injury or before the child’s eighth birthday, whichever period is longer. This extended timeframe acknowledges that many birth-related conditions, like certain forms of cerebral palsy, are not immediately obvious at birth. Symptoms and developmental delays may only become apparent as the child grows.

Because these deadlines can be tricky to interpret, it’s always best to consult with a lawyer to determine the eligibility of your case.

Your Child’s Future Is All That Matters

Finding out what truly happened is the first step toward getting your child the support they need to thrive. You have the right to get answers, and you have the right to demand accountability.

A gut feeling that something isn’t right is enough. We will review the medical records, consult with the right professionals, and give you a clear, honest assessment of your legal options.

Contact Sweet James Accident Attorneys today for a free, confidential conversation. Our number is (800) 900-0000.