When a child is diagnosed with a condition that may be connected to pregnancy, labor, delivery, or newborn care, parents often have questions about how the injury happened and whether anything could have been done differently.
Some birth injuries occur even when doctors and nurses provide appropriate care. Others result from preventable failures during pregnancy, labor, delivery, or immediate newborn care. If a provider failed to meet accepted medical standards and that failure caused or worsened the injury, the family may have grounds for a medical malpractice claim.
Power Rogers, LLP helps families in Elgin investigate those questions. Our attorneys can obtain and review the medical records, work with qualified experts to assess the care provided, identify the providers responsible, and pursue compensation for both the immediate effects of the injury and the support your child may need in the years ahead.
Click here to schedule a confidential consultation or call our office at (312) 236-9381.
Key Takeaways
- Families in Elgin may have grounds for a birth injury medical malpractice claim when a doctor, nurse, hospital, or other healthcare provider fails to meet accepted medical standards and that negligence causes or worsens a child’s injury.
- Birth injury claims may involve conditions such as cerebral palsy, hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE), Erb’s palsy, neurological damage, or traumatic delivery injuries, with compensation potentially covering lifelong medical care, therapy, assistive equipment, lost earning capacity, and pain and suffering.
- Illinois generally allows eight years from the medical error to file a birth injury malpractice lawsuit involving a child, although different deadlines may apply in certain circumstances, making early medical record preservation and legal consultation important.
What Makes a Birth Injury a Medical Malpractice Case?
A difficult delivery or serious birth injury does not automatically mean medical malpractice occurred. To have a claim, there generally needs to be evidence that a doctor, nurse, hospital, or other provider failed to provide the level of care that a reasonably careful medical professional should have provided in the same situation.
That is only the first part. You also have to connect that failure to the injury itself. In other words, it is not enough to show that something should have been done differently. The evidence must also show that the mistake caused the injury, made it worse, or allowed harm to occur that likely could have been prevented.
In birth injury cases, that kind of failure may involve:
- Failing to recognize or respond to signs that the baby was in distress
- Delaying a necessary C-section
- Improperly using forceps or a vacuum extractor
- Mismanaging medication used to induce or strengthen labor
- Failing to treat maternal infections or conditions such as preeclampsia
- Making errors during newborn resuscitation or other care after delivery
Parents are rarely in a position to know whether those standards were met or whether a different response would have changed the outcome. Answering those questions usually requires reviewing the medical records, reconstructing the timeline of care, and having qualified experts evaluate what happened.
You do not need to know exactly what went wrong before contacting a lawyer. Part of our job is to investigate whether the care was negligent and, just as importantly, whether that negligence actually caused or contributed to your child’s injury.
How Our Elgin Birth Injury Lawyers Can Help
At Power Rogers, LLP, our personal injury attorneys have represented injured individuals and their families since 1993, recovering more than $6 billion in verdicts and settlements. That experience includes major birth injury and medical malpractice cases. Our past results include a $35 million settlement for a child who suffered severe neurological injuries after delivery was delayed despite warning signs that the baby was in distress, as well as a $25 million settlement for a child who suffered permanent neurological injuries after providers failed to respond appropriately as the baby’s condition worsened during labor.
When parents come to us, they are often trying to understand what happened while also managing specialist appointments, therapy, a new diagnosis, and questions about what their child will need in the future. We take on the legal investigation and case preparation so they do not have to figure those issues out on their own.
Our Elgin birth injury lawyers can:
- Find out what happened. We obtain the medical records, reconstruct the sequence of care, and work with qualified medical experts to determine whether a preventable failure caused or contributed to your child’s injury.
- Determine who may be responsible. We identify the doctors, nurses, hospitals, or other providers whose actions may have played a role in what happened.
- Build the claim around your child’s future. We document medical treatment, therapy, equipment, educational support, personal care, and other needs the injury may create over time.
- Handle the case from negotiations through trial. We deal with the defendants and insurers, pursue a fair settlement, and litigate the case when necessary.
Our goal is to give your family a clearer understanding of what the evidence shows and, when negligence caused the injury, pursue compensation that reflects what your child may need both now and in the years ahead.
Common Types of Birth Injuries That Can Lead to a Claim
Birth injury claims can involve many different types of harm. Power Rogers, LLP has represented families in cases involving:
- Hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) and other oxygen-deprivation brain injuries
- Cerebral palsy
- Brachial plexus injuries and Erb’s palsy
- Seizure disorders and other neurological injuries
- Skull fractures and traumatic delivery injuries
- Serious injuries arising from newborn care
- Fatal birth injuries
A diagnosis alone does not determine whether there is a malpractice claim. What matters is how the injury happened and whether a preventable failure in care caused or worsened it.
Click here to schedule a confidential consultation or call our office at (312) 236-9381.
Who May Be Liable for a Birth Injury?
Responsibility for a birth injury isn’t always limited to one person in the delivery room. Depending on how the injury occurred, liability may rest with a single provider or extend across several members of the care team. Parties who may bear responsibility include:
- OB/GYNs
- Nurses
- Midwives
- Maternal-fetal medicine specialists
- Anesthesiologists
- Neonatologists and other pediatric providers
- Hospitals and health systems
Hospitals can sometimes be held responsible both for the negligence of their employees and for their own institutional failures, such as inadequate staffing or poor protocols for responding to fetal distress. Families do not need to figure out on their own which provider or institution is responsible. Identifying every potentially liable party is part of the investigation we conduct once we take on a case.
What Compensation Can Families Recover for a Birth Injury?
A serious birth injury can create needs that last throughout a child’s life, not just during infancy or early childhood. A damages claim needs to reflect that full scope rather than just the costs a family has already incurred. Depending on the circumstances, families may be able to recover for:
- Past and future medical treatment
- Surgeries and specialist care
- Physical, occupational, and speech therapy
- Medications and medical equipment
- Assistive technology
- Home or vehicle modifications
- Nursing or attendant care
- Educational and developmental support
- Future loss of earning capacity
- Pain and suffering
- Disability, disfigurement, and loss of normal life
- Wrongful death damages, where applicable
Determining the value of those losses often requires more than medical records alone. Depending on the case, life care planners, economists, and other specialists may help project the cost of future care, equipment, support services, and lost earning ability so those needs can be supported with concrete evidence.
Click here to schedule a confidential consultation or call our office at (312) 236-9381.
What Should You Do If Your Child Suffered a Birth Injury in Elgin?
If you have questions about whether your child’s birth injury could have been prevented, there are several steps you can take while you continue focusing on their care.
- Continue with recommended treatment and evaluations. Keep up with specialist appointments, therapy, testing, and other care your child’s medical team recommends.
- Keep records related to your child’s condition. Save diagnoses, treatment plans, therapy records, medical bills, and other documents that show how the injury is being treated over time.
- Track additional needs and expenses. Keep a record of costs and support related to equipment, transportation, caregiving, accessibility changes, educational services, or other needs created by the injury.
- Write down what you remember about the care provided. Notes about pregnancy, labor, delivery, changes in your baby’s condition, and conversations with doctors or nurses may help establish a clearer timeline later.
- Do not assume the hospital’s explanation is the final answer. Determining whether an injury was unavoidable or resulted from preventable negligence may require an independent review of the records.
- Speak with an Elgin birth injury attorney. A lawyer can obtain the complete medical record, consult qualified experts, and determine whether the evidence supports a malpractice claim.
You do not need to have all of the answers before seeking legal advice. Power Rogers can investigate what happened and evaluate whether medical negligence played a role while your family continues focusing on your child’s treatment and support.
FAQs About Elgin Birth Injury Claims
For a birth injury involving a child, Illinois generally allows eight years from the medical error that caused the injury to file a medical malpractice lawsuit. Different deadlines may apply to claims brought separately by the parents or in other circumstances. Because of that, families should consult an attorney to understand the deadline that applies to their specific case.
Power Rogers, LLP offers a free consultation to review your child’s case, and we handle birth injury and medical malpractice claims on a contingency-fee basis, meaning there’s no upfront cost and we only get paid if we recover compensation for your family.
There’s no single timeline for a birth injury case. How long a case takes depends on factors like the complexity of the medical issues involved, how many providers were part of the care team, how long expert review and discovery take, and whether the case resolves through settlement negotiations or has to go to trial.
Speak With an Elgin Birth Injury Attorney at Power Rogers Today
You don’t need to know exactly what went wrong during your child’s delivery before reaching out. Power Rogers, LLP can review the medical records, consult with qualified experts, and determine whether negligence may have contributed to your child’s injury. If we find that a viable claim exists, we’ll work to pursue compensation that reflects both the losses your family has already experienced and what your child may need in the years ahead. Contact us today for a free consultation.
