When medical professionals fail to provide proper care during labor and delivery in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania the consequences can last a lifetime.
Your baby may face developmental delays, physical disabilities, or cognitive impairments that require ongoing medical treatment, specialized therapy, and round-the-clock care.
Our experienced Philadelphia birth injury lawyers know you trusted your healthcare providers to deliver your child safely, and discovering that preventable errors caused permanent harm is devastating.
At Wilk Law Personal Injury & Car Accident Lawyers, we combine legal expertise with genuine understanding of what your family is experiencing.
Birth injuries often result from failures in monitoring, delayed interventions, or improper use of delivery instruments.
While not every complication during childbirth constitutes malpractice, our birth injury attorneys in Philadelphia thoroughly investigate whether different medical decisions could have prevented your child’s injury.
Contact our law firm today for a free initial consultation.
Why Choose Us for Your Birth Injury Case in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
A birth injury can devastate your family’s plans and dreams for your child’s future. At Wilk Law Personal Injury & Car Accident Lawyers, we understand the overwhelming emotions and financial pressures you face when medical negligence harms your newborn.
Our attorneys have helped families obtain compensation after preventable birth injuries. We handle every aspect of your case while you focus on caring for your child and adjusting to new challenges.
When you work with our firm, you gain access to:
- Compassionate legal counsel who understands the emotional toll of birth injuries
- Aggressive advocacy against hospitals and insurance companies trying to minimize your claim
- Proven results with a track record of substantial settlements and verdicts for injured children
Our Philadelphia birth injury lawyers work on a contingency fee basis, meaning you pay no legal fees unless we win your case. Your initial consultation is completely free, and we’ll meet with you wherever you feel most comfortable.
What Is a Birth Injury?
A birth injury occurs when a baby suffers harm during labor, delivery, or immediately after birth due to medical negligence. These injuries are different from birth defects, which develop during pregnancy due to genetic factors or environmental influences.
Birth injuries are often preventable with proper medical care and monitoring. When healthcare providers fail to follow accepted medical standards, they can cause serious, lifelong harm to newborns.
The key difference between birth injuries and birth defects matters for legal purposes. Only preventable injuries caused by medical negligence can form the basis of a malpractice lawsuit.
Common Types of Birth Injuries We Handle
Our legal team has experience with the most serious birth injuries that can occur during delivery. Each type requires specific medical knowledge and legal expertise to prove negligence occurred.
Cerebral Palsy
Cerebral palsy affects movement, posture, and muscle tone due to brain damage that occurs before, during, or shortly after birth. When caused by oxygen deprivation during delivery, this condition often results from medical negligence.
The condition can range from mild coordination problems to severe physical and intellectual disabilities. Children with cerebral palsy may need lifelong medical care, physical therapy, and assistive devices.
Brachial Plexus Injuries and Erb’s Palsy
These injuries damage the network of nerves that control arm and hand movement. They typically occur when doctors use excessive force during difficult deliveries, especially when a baby’s shoulders become stuck.
Erb’s palsy specifically affects the upper arm and can cause weakness or complete paralysis. Some children recover with physical therapy, while others require surgery or live with permanent limitations.
Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy
This brain injury results from reduced oxygen and blood flow to the baby’s brain around the time of birth. It can lead to developmental delays, seizures, and other neurological problems.
Medical teams must recognize signs of fetal distress and act quickly to prevent this devastating injury. Delayed responses often indicate negligence.
Shoulder Dystocia Complications
Shoulder dystocia occurs when a baby’s shoulders get stuck behind the mother’s pubic bone during delivery. While this complication can happen unexpectedly, improper management can cause severe injuries.
Doctors must use specific techniques to safely deliver the baby without causing nerve damage, broken bones, or brain injuries from oxygen deprivation.
Facial Nerve Injuries and Fractures
Excessive pressure during delivery can damage facial nerves, causing temporary or permanent facial paralysis. Broken bones, particularly clavicle fractures, can also result from forceful delivery techniques.
These injuries often indicate that medical providers used inappropriate force or failed to recognize when a cesarean section was necessary.
What Causes Birth Injuries During Delivery
Most birth injuries stem from medical errors that could have been prevented with proper care. Understanding these causes helps determine whether negligence occurred in your case.
Healthcare providers have a duty to monitor both mother and baby throughout labor and delivery. When they fail to meet accepted medical standards, serious injuries can result.
Common causes of preventable birth injuries include:
- Failure to monitor fetal heart rate and recognize signs of distress
- Delayed cesarean section when vaginal delivery becomes dangerous
- Improper use of delivery instruments like forceps or vacuum extractors
- Medication errors during labor, including incorrect Pitocin dosages
- Poor communication between medical team members during emergencies
How to Know if You Have a Valid Birth Injury Case
Not every birth complication results from medical negligence. To have a valid malpractice claim, our Philadelphia birth injury attorneys must prove that healthcare providers failed to meet the accepted standard of care and that this failure caused your child’s injury.
Our investigation focuses on whether different medical decisions or actions could have prevented the injury. We work with medical experts who review all records and provide opinions about the care your family received.
We examine four key elements in every potential case:
- Duty of care: The medical team had a professional obligation to provide appropriate care
- Breach of duty: They failed to meet the accepted standard of medical care
- Causation: This failure directly caused your child’s injury
- Damages: Your family suffered significant harm requiring compensation
How We Build Strong Birth Injury Cases
Building a successful birth injury case requires immediate action to preserve critical evidence. We begin investigating right away to gather the documentation needed to prove your case.
Preserving Critical Medical Evidence
Time is crucial in birth injury cases because important evidence can be lost or destroyed. We move quickly to obtain all relevant medical records and documentation.
Essential evidence includes:
- Fetal monitoring strips showing the baby’s heart rate throughout labor
- Complete medical records from prenatal care through discharge
- Nursing notes and shift reports documenting observations and communications
- Electronic data showing when medical entries were made or modified
Working With Medical Experts
Birth injury cases require testimony from qualified medical experts who can explain what went wrong. We work with respected physicians who specialize in obstetrics, neonatology, and related fields.
These experts review all medical records and provide opinions about whether the care met accepted standards. They also explain how different actions could have prevented the injury.
Pennsylvania Laws for Birth Injury Claims
Pennsylvania has specific laws governing medical malpractice cases that affect how and when you can file a birth injury claim. Understanding these requirements is essential for protecting your rights.
The state requires a Certificate of Merit to be filed within 60 days of starting a lawsuit. This document must include a statement from a qualified medical expert confirming that malpractice likely occurred.
Statute of Limitations
You generally have two years from the date of injury to file a birth injury lawsuit in Pennsylvania. However, the discovery rule may extend this deadline if the injury wasn’t immediately apparent.
For children, the statute of limitations is tolled until they reach age 18. They then have until their 20th birthday to file a claim for injuries that occurred at birth.
Certificate of Merit Requirement
Pennsylvania requires an expert’s written statement confirming that the medical care fell below accepted standards; see the Certificate of Merit Requirement. This certificate must be filed within 60 days of filing the lawsuit.
The expert must be qualified in the same medical specialty as the defendant and must review all relevant medical records before providing their opinion.
Compensation Available in Birth Injury Cases
Birth injury settlements and verdicts can provide the financial resources needed to care for your child throughout their lifetime. Our Philadelphia personal injury lawyers fight to recover compensation for all damages your family has suffered and will continue to face.
Economic Damages
These cover specific financial losses related to your child’s injury:
- Medical expenses including surgery, therapy, medications, and ongoing treatments
- Future medical care costs projected over your child’s lifetime
- Lost parental income when caregiving responsibilities prevent work
- Special equipment and home modifications needed for your child’s care
Non-Economic Damages
These address the intangible impacts of the injury:
- Pain and suffering experienced by your child
- Loss of life’s enjoyment and inability to participate in normal activities
- Emotional distress for both the child and family members
Pennsylvania does not cap compensatory damages in medical malpractice cases, allowing full recovery for all proven losses.
Who Can Be Held Liable for Birth Injuries
Multiple parties may share responsibility when a birth injury occurs. Our investigation identifies everyone whose negligence contributed to your child’s harm.
Potentially liable parties include:
- Obstetricians who failed to recognize complications or make appropriate decisions
- Labor and delivery nurses who didn’t properly monitor or communicate concerns
- Hospitals with inadequate staffing, poor protocols, or defective equipment
- Anesthesiologists who made errors during epidurals or cesarean sections
We also investigate whether equipment manufacturers could be liable if defective medical devices contributed to the injury.
What You Should Do Now
Taking the right steps immediately after discovering a birth injury can protect both your child’s health and your legal rights. We recommend specific actions to preserve your case while ensuring your child gets proper care.
Your immediate priorities should focus on:
- Following all medical recommendations and attending every appointment for your child
- Keeping detailed records of symptoms, treatments, and developmental milestones
- Avoiding signed documents from hospitals or insurance companies without legal review
- Refusing recorded statements to insurance adjusters
- Contacting our law firm to begin preserving evidence before it’s lost
Don’t let hospitals or insurance companies pressure you into making quick decisions. We can review any documents or settlement offers to ensure your rights are protected.
Our Contingency Fee Promise
We believe every family deserves access to quality legal representation, regardless of their financial situation. That’s why we handle all birth injury cases on a contingency fee basis.
You will never pay any upfront costs or attorney fees. We advance all expenses needed to build your case, from expert witness fees to medical record costs.
Our fee comes only from any settlement or verdict we secure for your family. If we don’t win your case, you owe us nothing.
Frequently Asked Questions About Birth Injury Cases
Can We Continue Getting Medical Care at the Same Hospital Where the Injury Occurred?
Yes, hospitals cannot refuse to provide necessary medical treatment because you filed a legal claim against them. Your child’s health and medical needs must always come first, regardless of any legal proceedings.
How Long Will Our Birth Injury Case Take to Resolve?
The time needed to resolve a birth injury case varies widely depending on the case’s complexity and whether it proceeds to trial. Cases that go to trial may take longer, but we work to resolve claims as efficiently as possible while maximizing your compensation.
What if We Didn’t Discover the Birth Injury Until Months Later?
Pennsylvania’s discovery rule allows the statute of limitations to begin when you reasonably should have discovered the injury. Many birth injuries aren’t apparent immediately, and delayed diagnosis doesn’t necessarily bar your claim.
Do We Need to File a Certificate of Merit for Our Case?
Yes, Pennsylvania law requires a certificate of merit from a qualified medical expert within 60 days of filing your lawsuit. We handle this requirement and work with appropriate medical experts to meet all legal deadlines.
What Medical Records Should We Request Now?
You should obtain complete copies of all prenatal records, labor and delivery notes, electronic fetal monitoring strips, and any NICU documentation. We can help you request these records and ensure nothing important is overlooked.
Contact Our Philadelphia Medical Negligence Law Firm Today
When medical negligence harms your child during birth, you need experienced legal advocates who understand both the medicine and the law. Our Philadelphia birth injury lawyers have the knowledge and resources to take on major hospitals and their insurance companies.
We serve families throughout Philadelphia and surrounding counties, handling cases against all area hospitals. Our commitment extends beyond just winning your case – we want to help secure your child’s future and hold negligent providers accountable.
Don’t wait to protect your family’s rights. Evidence can disappear quickly, and Pennsylvania’s strict deadlines mean time is critical. Contact Wilk Law Personal Injury & Car Accident Lawyers today for your free consultation. We’re ready to fight for the justice and compensation your family deserves.