The birth of your child should be a joyous occasion, but for some families, unexpected medical complications can result in serious or life-altering birth injuries. While some birth injuries may be unavoidable, others can be the result of medical negligence or errors during labor and delivery.
Understanding what happened and determining what to do next can be overwhelming. Stephenson Rife is here to help you understand your legal options and pursue the support your child and family deserve.
Some injuries during birth are unavoidable despite excellent care, while others are quite preventable. Knowing which one you and your family are facing starts with an investigation, not a guess.
What Is a Catastrophic Birth Injury?
A catastrophic birth injury is a serious injury or medical complication that occurs before, during, or shortly after childbirth and results in lifelong disabilities or impairments for a child. These injuries can have a profound impact on a child’s development, independence, and quality of life, often requiring ongoing medical care, therapy, specialized equipment, and other forms of support.
Examples of catastrophic injuries related to birth may include:
- Cerebral palsy
- Brain damage
- Amputation
- Sepsis
- Vision or hearing loss
- Other serious conditions
The bottom line: When a birth injury is caused by medical negligence, families may have legal options for seeking compensation to help address the child’s current and future needs.
Costs and Long-Term Care Considerations
When it comes to calculating a child’s lifetime cost of care, that work is performed with the help of a life care planner. However, the most significant damages ultimately impact the child and the parents due to the profound effect on the child’s life.
In Indiana, there is a cap on how much money can be recovered for a child affected by a catastrophic birth injury, and that typically prevents the need for hiring a life care planner for medical needs.
Why These Cases Require Legal Help
Establishing liability is the most critical part in Indiana due to the medical malpractice cap, and that’s why you’ll need a few types of experts to come together and speak on behalf of your family.
| Expert | What They Address |
|---|---|
| Obstetrician | The aspects of labor and delivery |
| Nurse fetal monitoring expert | Information presented on the fetal monitoring strip and whether the fetus was properly monitored |
| Neonatologist | Injuries that were caused by a lack of oxygen during the birthing process |
| Life care planner | Utilized in situations where a family can receive compensation beyond the cap of the Indiana Medical Malpractice Act |
Neonatology testimony can include injuries resulting from episodes shown on the fetal monitoring strips where the fetus experienced a significantly reduced heart rate for an extended period.
Our Firsthand Experience
One case we oversaw involved a newborn baby that suffered profound neurological injuries as a result of mishandling during the induced labor and birthing process. What initially appeared to be a routine labor and delivery ultimately resulted in severe brain injury, cerebral palsy, developmental delays, and lifelong medical needs.
We were retained by the mother a few months after the birth of the baby. Our investigation required consulting with highly regarded specialists in this area and reviewing thousands of pages of medical records, focusing very closely on:
- Fetal monitoring strips
- Labor and delivery records
- Neonatal records
- Radiology studies
The injuries to the baby were the result of multiple decisions made by different healthcare providers during the course of the induction of labor and delivery. We worked with nationally recognized experts in obstetrics, neonatology, nursing, infectious disease, and life care planning to reconstruct what happened and why it mattered.
The litigation had two aspects:
| 1 | Establishing legal liability of the healthcare providers and determining what medical care, therapies, adaptive equipment, education, support, and other needs the child would have during its lifetime. |
| 2 | Proving the injuries and damages were caused by medical negligence and finding a way to provide as much financial support as possible through the limited ability to recover through the Indiana Medical Malpractice Act. |
We developed clear evidence to show a breach of the standard of care, how that breach resulted in the injuries to the child, and the cost those injuries would amount to over the child’s entire lifetime.
What Families Can Do in the Early Stages
From the moment you step into the hospital, your family should document as much as you can about what takes place. The birth of a baby should be an exciting moment for the entire family, but if things go wrong having documentation in place can be a significant help.
The mother, father, friends, or anyone else present should capture whatever they can:
✅ Photographs taken during the early process, especially if anything appears to be wrong
✅ Text messages or emails to friends and family
✅ Birth photos, as these can be very significant since they will show the appearance of a baby compared to what is stated in the medical records
During these critical times, it’s important to have family members write down what they remember – what was said, who said what – and, if the doctors or nurses will be willing to do so, take a recorded conversation of what occurred.
Just as important, here is what to avoid:
❌ Do not threaten anyone or threaten to get a lawyer
❌ Do not sign any documents that appear to be any type of release of claim or that resolve any disputes without first seeking legal advice
Key insight: Preserving this information can be important when determining what happened and what legal options may be available to the family, including in cases involving serious injury or death.
Our Approach Is the Difference
When you look at other law firms, you may receive help, but what you might not receive is the compassion and dedication that our team provides. Catastrophic birth injury cases require an extraordinary investment of time, money, and attention, and we take great care in selecting attorneys to oversee your case. We approach these cases by understanding the medicine ourselves and then hiring the best possible medical experts we can in the area.
Most importantly, we understand that these cases are not just lawsuits. They feature families facing decades of medical complications and challenges for a baby they love and care for. We strive to become a trusted resource throughout the entire process, not merely courtroom advocates.
Your Questions Surrounding Catastrophic Birth-Injuries Answered
What is the biggest misconception families have?
A major misconception is that the incident was not anyone’s fault or was something that occurred genetically or in the womb. This oftentimes is not correct. Another misconception is that a catastrophically injured baby or child is the result of medical negligence. Birth is an inherently complex process, the vast majority of which goes smoothly without any problems. Some injuries during birth are unavoidable despite excellent care; other injuries are quite preventable.
What is the deadline in Indiana for a child claim and what mistakes do people make about “having time”?
The real deadline for pursuing an Indiana medical malpractice claim is not, in our opinion, judged so much by the statute of limitations. The critical aspect is to obtain the medical records and investigate the claim while the evidence is still available, and you can take depositions of critical witnesses.
| Stage | Timeline |
|---|---|
| Minimum statute of limitations | The typical timeline is two (2) years from the date of the event. For an infant, this is extended for many years depending on the circumstances. |
| Filing to medical review panel | There will be 2–3 years just to get the claim to the medical review panel process. |
| Panel decision to trial | This will take another 2–3 years to get the case to trial. |
Key insight: The nurses and medical staff that need to be deposed in these cases may move away. If they are older in their career, they may retire or pass away. Those critical witnesses may not be available if you wait near the statute of limitations to even begin the claim.
What Indiana-specific rules affect medical malpractice?
There are very specific Indiana rules that affect medical malpractice, most significantly our Indiana Medical Malpractice Act. This act requires that you file a claim with the Department of Insurance before you can file a lawsuit. A medical review panel is formed consisting of three doctors who practice in Indiana in the same field that you are pursuing a claim in.
The healthcare provider maintains a minimum amount of insurance of only $500,000, and the insurance carriers are very reluctant to pay that money because they know they will make the plaintiff go through the medical review panel process and will very likely get a medical review panel that determines there is not a breach of the standard of care. In addition, the total amount of recovery that could ever be recovered under the medical malpractice act in Indiana is currently $1.8 million.
Does your legal team front the costs for those with no money right now?
We’ll be upfront: Catastrophic birth injury litigation is incredibly expensive. There are many costs included, such as:
- Obtaining medical records
- Hiring experts to review those records
- Depositions
- Medical illustrations
- All the other experts needed to present the case to the medical review panel
Our firm does advance all of these costs at no expense to the client unless we are successful. We carry the costs through a case’s conclusion.
Discuss Your Child’s Birth Injury with Our Attorneys
Our attorneys are dedicated to helping families understand what happened and what their options are when a child suffers a catastrophic birth injury. We take the time to investigate the circumstances surrounding the injury, work with various experts, and determine whether medical negligence played a role.
If you have any questions about your child’s birth injury or are seeking legal options, reach out to our team today.