Hearing that your newborn has suffered a serious injury is one of the most overwhelming moments a parent can experience. In an instant, questions, fear, and uncertainty can take over as you try to understand what happened and what it means for your child’s future.
Could your doctor have prevented it with better medical care? During this difficult time, you deserve clear answers, support, and guidance from professionals who understand what you are going through. A birth injury lawyer in Dallas can help you here.
At Birth Injury Lawyers Group, we have recovered $750–plus million for victims, and we have personal experience with this kind of trauma.
If medical malpractice is at the root of your child’s birth injury, we can help you figure out a legal path. Find out whether your case qualifies with one phone call to Birth Injury Lawyers Group.
Why Birth Injuries Are Medical Malpractice Cases
Birth injury cases are a particular type of medical malpractice case that focuses on injuries to newborns before, during, and soon after birth. This time is one of the most delicate for new life. Doctors must take great care to make sure nothing happens to the baby.
Not all birth injuries are caused by malpractice, but when they are, you should not have to pay for a medical professional’s mistake. When you work with our Dallas birth injury lawyers, we will help you get answers about what happened to your baby.
The doctor may be right, and there was nothing to be done. However, if we catch that they broke the standards of care, we can hold them accountable and get you compensated for what happened.
"If your child was born with a birth injury, or cerebral palsy, we can help."
What Kinds of Cases Do You Take?
Birth Injury Lawyers Group pursues medical malpractice cases against doctors and hospitals who have harmed newborns. Birth injuries can happen before, during, and in the hours after birth while you’re still in the hospital.
Most parents turn to a birth injury attorney when the costs of harm to their baby exceed their health insurance coverage. Getting proper medical care for babies with severe birth injuries can be incredibly expensive.
Some of the more common birth injuries we see in our offices include:
- Dallas Birth Asphyxia Lawyer: Advocating for newborns harmed by oxygen deprivation due to medical negligence.
- Dallas Cerebral Palsy Lawyer: Helping families pursue justice when delivery errors lead to a cerebral palsy diagnosis.
- Dallas Erb‘s Palsy Lawyer: Seeking compensation for infants with Erb’s palsy caused by preventable nerve damage at birth. This has similar impacts to Klumpke’s palsy.
- Dallas Hypoxic–Ischemic Encephalopathy Lawyer: Supporting families facing HIE, a severe brain injury from oxygen deprivation during delivery.
- Dallas Infant Broken Bones Lawyer: Holding medical providers accountable when newborns suffer fractures due to delivery-related negligence.
- Dallas Infant Cephalohematoma Lawyer: Fighting for infants injured by cephalohematoma, a preventable birth injury caused by improper delivery techniques.
The important part is not the kind of injury but whether someone’s negligence caused it. Even if your case is small, a successful malpractice lawsuit will be on the defendant‘s record and could help another family avoid a similar situation.
Dallas Birth Injury Lawyer Near Me (800) 222-9529
Common Types of Medical Negligence Causing Birth Injury
There are many medical processes that occur during birth, even before a baby is born. Prenatal medical treatment, labor and delivery, and postnatal care are essential for the health of the mother and child.
Understanding these common causes of birth injuries due to medical negligence may help you recognize whether it applies to your situation:
- Failure to properly manage high-risk pregnancies or maternal infections.
- Inadequate monitoring of fetal development and fetal distress.
- Failure to identify umbilical cord or placental complications.
- Medication and medical errors during pregnancy, labor, or after delivery.
- Delayed or unnecessary cesarean section when medically required.
- Improper use of delivery or medical devices, such as forceps or vacuum extractors.
- Mismanagement of prolonged labor or complications like shoulder dystocia.
- Failure to respond to oxygen deprivation or fetal hypoxia.
- Inadequate monitoring and care of the newborn after delivery.
- Delayed diagnosis or treatment of birth injuries and infections.
- Improper neonatal resuscitation.
Still unsure whether there was medical negligence caused by your healthcare provider or about medical malpractice claims? That’s okay; this is where a personal injury lawyer can help you figure out whether or not medical negligence was involved and whether you have a claim.
"We know first-hand what you are going through."
Common Birth Injuries
These errors can have devastating injuries. Here are some common birth injuries that can happen:
- Cerebral Palsy
- Erb’s Palsy
- Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy (HIE)
- Birth Asphyxia
- Brachial Plexus Injuries
- Cephalohematoma
- Skull fractures or broken bones
- Facial paralysis
- Spinal cord injury
- Intracranial hemorrhage (brain bleeding, which can cause brain damage)
These are just the injuries on a surface level; the complications that arise from them can be serious and require long-term care.
"Our Birth Injury Lawyers have recovered over $750+ Million on behalf of our clients."
Signs Your Child May Have Suffered a Birth Injury
Here are some signs to look out for with your newborn that may be related to a birth injury:
- Developmental delays (not meeting milestones like sitting, crawling, or walking).
- Difficulty feeding or sucking.
- Weak or floppy muscles (low muscle tone).
- Stiff or rigid muscles (high muscle tone).
- Seizures or unusual movements.
- Excessive crying or irritability.
- Lack of responsiveness or alertness.
- Breathing problems at birth.
- Poor coordination or balance as they grow.
- Favoring one side of the body (possible nerve damage).
Regardless of whether a birth injury was involved or not, it’s important to see your health care provider if your newborn is showing any of these signs.
Why You Need a Dallas Birth Injury Lawyer
Making a claim with a malpractice insurer is not the same as making one with an auto insurer. They demand far more information and throw up all kinds of legal roadblocks to keep you from getting compensation. Fighting the insurer and caring for your baby at the same time is a recipe for disaster.
Birth Injury Lawyers Group can help you take on the malpractice insurers and prove you have a case. We’ve helped families get over $750 million in compensation from medical professionals who didn’t take care when they were caring for babies.
Also, by hiring a lawyer to help you, you show the medical malpractice insurance companies you mean business. Our lawyers are comfortable in the courtroom and will take your case all the way to a judge and jury if the insurers don’t give you and your baby the settlement you deserve, based on the details of your case.
How Our Dallas Birth Injury Lawyers Build Your Case
Proving a birth injury claim requires more than simply pointing to a bad outcome. Our team conducts a thorough investigation to determine exactly what went wrong and whether medical negligence played a role. Here is what you can expect with the process:
Evaluating What Happened
We begin by reviewing all relevant medical records, including prenatal care, labor and delivery notes, and neonatal records. These documents often reveal whether doctors and nurses followed proper procedures or failed to meet the accepted standard of care.
Consulting With Medical Experts and Healthcare Providers
Next, we work with qualified medical experts who can evaluate the care your child received. Their insight is critical in identifying mistakes, explaining how the injury occurred, and establishing a clear link between the provider’s actions and your child’s condition.
Assessing the Damages
We also assess the full extent of your child’s damages, including current and future medical needs, therapy costs, and long-term care requirements. By building a comprehensive case, we put you in the strongest position to recover the compensation your family deserves.
What to Expect in a Birth Injury Lawsuit?
Taking legal action may feel overwhelming, especially while caring for an injured child. Our goal is to make the process as straightforward and stress-free as possible. Here is what to know and expect with a birth injury lawsuit:
- Statute of limitations: In Texas, most birth injury claims must be filed before the child’s 10th birthday under the medical malpractice statute of repose.
- Free consultation: We begin by listening to your story and evaluating whether you may have a viable case.
- Case investigation: If we move forward, we will gather medical records, consult with medical experts, and prepare the necessary documentation to support your claim.
- Expert report requirement: Texas law requires an expert report early in the case explaining how the medical provider failed to meet the standard of care.
- Filing the claim: Once the case is filed, both sides exchange information through the legal discovery process.
- Negotiation phase: Many birth injury cases are resolved through settlement discussions with the insurance company.
- Trial readiness: If the insurer refuses to offer fair compensation, we are fully prepared to take your case to trial and advocate for your family in court.
- Full support: Throughout the entire process, we handle the legal work so you can focus on your child’s care and recovery.
Throughout the process, we handle the legal work so you can focus on your child and your family.
How Do I Win My Birth Injury Case?
To prove a doctor committed negligence against your baby, we must prove four elements to the insurers and/or the court:
- The person you’re suing had a medical relationship with your baby.
- They violated the standards of care and put your baby at risk for injury.
- That breach of standards caused your baby to come to harm.
- That harm caused you and your baby to suffer measurable consequences and damages.
Medical malpractice cases for babies can easily reach six or seven figures in settlements, and insurers have done a lot of work to make it hard for victims to collect. Doctors have a lot of legal leeway in how they practice medicine because it’s not a perfect science.
Not all birth injuries are caused by malpractice, but we have the experience and medical expert access you need to get answers about what happened to your baby. Contact our birth injury lawyers in Dallas to determine if malpractice caused your baby’s injuries.
What Compensation Can You Recover in a Birth Injury Case?
Here are some types of damages that are present in many birth injury cases:
Medical Expenses and Ongoing Care
Compensation may cover all medical costs related to the birth injury, including hospital stays, surgeries, medications, and long-term treatment. Many children require continued care from specialists, which can result in significant lifetime expenses.
Rehabilitation and Support Services
Families may also recover damages for rehabilitation needs such as physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy. In more serious cases, compensation can include assistive devices, mobility equipment, or home modifications needed to support daily living.
Future Medical Needs
Many birth injuries require lifelong care, including future surgeries, ongoing specialist visits, and long-term medication management. These projected costs are often a significant part of a settlement or verdict.
Loss of Future Earning Capacity
In many cases, children who suffer from a birth injury may not be able to earn income as they would have; there may be compensation available for these lost wages. Helping ensure financial stability despite long-term limitations caused by their injuries.
Pain, Suffering, and Emotional Distress
Birth injuries can have severe emotional damage for everyone involved. Damages for pain, suffering, and emotional distress recognize the non-economic impact of a serious, life-changing injury that both the child and their family will face.
Assistive Care and Daily Living Support
In severe cases, a child may need assistance for their everyday life, especially as they get older; there may be compensation available to cover these costs.
Home and Lifestyle Modifications
Many children who suffer from birth injuries have trouble accessing locations that those with normal mobility can. And so, their homes need modifications like ramps and accessible bathrooms, all of which compensation may cover.
Laws in Texas Regarding Medical Malpractice
There is a limit to the amount of non-economic damages you can receive in your case. This is compensation for pain and suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, and similar harms done to you that aren’t tied to a dollar amount. The limit is $500,000 per claimant and $250,000 per sued individual.
You have until your child’s 10th birthday to sue on their behalf if they were injured at birth. This is the maximum time to bring forth a medical malpractice lawsuit set by the statute of repose in Texas law. We encourage you to speak with a birth injury attorney in Dallas as soon as possible after your child is diagnosed with an injury.
Texas also requires the testimony of a medical expert before allowing a medical malpractice case to go to trial. Our lawyers have access to these. They will examine your child’s medical records and give testimony about what went wrong and what the doctor should have done instead to avoid the injury.
Birth Injuries Are More Expensive Than You Think
Birth injuries are more expensive than you think, so you should never accept a settlement offer from a malpractice insurer at face value. Texas law requires us to notify defendants of pending medical malpractice cases, so they may try to settle early with you.
It’s almost certain that they are trying to give you a lowball offer because once you accept money in a settlement, you cannot get more later. This will leave you on the hook for future medical bills for your baby.
If you receive an offer to settle from a malpractice insurer, do not accept it before first speaking with a birth injury lawyer. Also, do not agree to sign any paperwork from an insurer before we examine it. You could sign away certain rights, like the right to a trial.
The Lifetime Cost of a Birth Injury
It can be easy to overlook future costs with a birth injury, especially if your baby was just born; however, these injuries unfortunately come with a lifetime cost that can fall onto the family if there is no claim. These costs can reach thousands and sometimes even millions over the life of the injured child.
Here are some things that many families have to face:
- Ongoing medical care throughout the child’s life. This can include specialist visits, hospitalizations, rehab (speech and physical), and long-term treatment.
- Home modifications, including ramps, accessible bathrooms, and medical support systems.
- In–home nursing care or daily personal assistance for severe cases.
- Medical equipment to help with mobility, like wheelchairs.
- Special education services and individualized learning support needs.
- Lost future earning capacity if the injury limits the child’s ability to work as an adult.
- Increased transportation costs for ongoing medical appointments and treatment.
- Emotional and psychological impacts on both the child and the family.
Seek Justice for Your Baby With Help From Birth Injury Lawyers Group
Taking legal action after a birth injury can feel overwhelming, especially when you are focused on your child’s health and future.
It may seem too difficult to fight against a medical practitioner who harmed your baby, but we make it possible. We have Dallas birth injury attorneys ready to take your case.
All of our lawyers work on contingency, so you won’t owe us anything unless you win your claim. The sooner you start, the sooner you can learn if you have a case. Call or email us today and get started with a free consultation.
"We are committed to helping families who have suffered medical negligence."