Birth Injury Attorneys Taking Cases Nationwide

We’re Here to Hold Negligent Medical Providers Accountable

Expecting parents spend months preparing for their newest family member to arrive, but no one plans for their newborn to suffer an injury during birth. Sadly, around 6-8 infants of every 1,000 born suffer some form of preventable birth injury.

Some of these injuries are relatively minor and can fully heal with the proper treatment. Others may be treated to mitigate symptoms but will continue to affect the child’s life. The worst birth injuries cause lasting disabilities that can change the course of a baby’s life forever.

For parents, the injustice of learning your child was hurt by those you trusted to care for them can be too great to bear. We understand you may be dealing with difficult emotions while seeking the best options for your baby and your family. You do not have to go through this alone: Athea Trial Lawyers is here to help.

Let us know if you want help starting your birth injury claim by calling us at (800) 664-0161 or contact us online. Athea Trial Lawyers serves families nationwide.

Who We Are

Led by a team of six outstanding women, Athea Trial Lawyers helps those who were wrongfully injured find justice. With our team’s experience and credentials, you can trust we have the capability to handle even the most complex and serious claims.

Our birth injury lawyers can help you and your family find answers, recover compensation, and push for systemic changes to prevent others from ending up in the same situation as you.

Learn More

What Is a Birth Injury?

Birth injury is a specific term that refers to harm caused by a doctor’s negligence during pregnancy, delivery, or labor. Birth injuries are separate from congenital birth defects, which are inherited medical conditions that are not preventable.

Common types of birth injuries include:

• Cerebral Palsy: Cerebral palsy is a group of neurological disorders that affect movement, muscle tone, and coordination. It can occur due to brain damage before, during, or shortly after birth, often as a result of oxygen deprivation or trauma during delivery.
• Brachial Plexus Injury: This type of injury involves damage to the network of nerves that control movement and sensation in the arms and hands. It can occur when there is excessive pulling or stretching of the baby's shoulder during delivery, leading to conditions like Erb's palsy or Klumpke's palsy.
• Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy (HIE): HIE is a type of brain injury caused by oxygen deprivation and reduced blood flow to the brain during childbirth. It can lead to long-term neurological complications if not promptly treated.
• Skull Fractures: Fractures of the baby's skull can occur during delivery, particularly in cases of difficult or prolonged labor. While most skull fractures heal without long-term consequences, severe fractures may cause bleeding, brain damage, or other complications.
• Caput Succedaneum: This is a condition characterized by swelling or bruising of the scalp in newborns, typically caused by pressure on the baby's head during labor and delivery. It usually resolves on its own within a few days without treatment.
• Cephalohematoma: Similar to caput succedaneum, cephalohematoma involves bleeding beneath the baby's periosteum, the membrane covering the skull bones. It typically appears as a raised lump on the baby's head and may take weeks to months to resolve.
• Facial Nerve Injury: Pressure or trauma during delivery can sometimes lead to injury to the facial nerve, resulting in facial paralysis or weakness on one side of the baby's face.
• Intracranial Hemorrhage: This refers to bleeding inside the baby's skull, which can occur due to trauma during delivery or other factors. Severe intracranial hemorrhage can lead to brain damage and neurological complications.

When You Can Sue for a Birth Injury

A key factor in whether you can sue for any injury, including a birth injury, is whether it was caused by negligence and, therefore, preventable. Birth injury claims specifically must show that a member of your medical team or the facility itself did not meet the standard of care.

The argument you must be able to prove is that another qualified, non-negligent medical professional in the same situation would have provided better care, thus protecting your child from harm. Making this argument takes legal experience and credible testimony from medical professionals—two things our team can help you find.

Understanding the Causes of Birth Injuries

There are multiple risk factors that can lead to birth injury, and often, filing a lawsuit is the best way to get answers regarding your doctor’s process and errors. Many risk factors can be spotted during the pregnancy, meaning your care team can prepare for what may be a difficult labor or delivery.

These factors include:

• Cephalopelvic disproportion
• Maternal pelvic abnormalities
• Abnormal presentation
• Hydrocephalus
• Macrosomia
• Maternal hypertension
• Maternal diabetes

These factors are not always precursors of birth injury, and some birth injuries happen even when none of them are present. However, it is your doctor’s job to be aware of anything that could cause a complication and have plans to subvert any potential harm.

Birth Injuries Caused by Mistakes

Birth injuries may also be caused by factors or mistakes that happen during childbirth.

Harm to infants is often linked with:

• Prolonged or rapid labor
• Failure to monitor fetal vital signs
• Ignoring fetal distress
• Use of forceps or vacuum extractors
• Delayed C-section

If your child suffered a birth injury, you may be eligible to take action regardless of whether you know the exact cause. Our attorneys are ready to launch a full investigation to determine the depths of a doctor or other clinician’s negligence.

We Can Handle Serious and Complex Birth Injury Claims

The more serious a birth injury, the more important it is to maximize your compensation—and the harder it will be to do so. Injuries that lead to lifelong disabilities are likely to face the highest level of scrutiny because no insurer or medical facility wants to have to pay a fair settlement.

Therefore, your case must be airtight, and your lawyers ready to address all forms of challenges. With an award-winning team that includes some of the top trial lawyers in the country, we can provide vigorous and unbending advocacy for you and your family. Our team is here to help you if your child suffered a birth injury that is likely to cause lasting disabilities.

Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy (HIE)

When the blood flow to a fetus is impeded during labor, the baby will quickly become hypoxic, or low in oxygen. Ischemia, or insufficient blood flow to organs, can also result from this type of complication.

Though any part of the body can be harmed by hypoxia and/or ischemia, brain damage is the most devastating type of harm that can result. The brain does not have the ability to replace injured or dead cells, meaning each minute of low oxygen will permanently decrease the infant’s mental capacity. HIE causes severe disabilities and can increase the risk a child will die before reaching 2 years of age.

Cerebral Palsy (CP)

Cerebral palsy is a condition characterized by damage to the cerebrum, the part of the brain that controls movement as well as functions including speech, reasoning, emotions, and learning. CP is often caused by hypoxic injury during labor.

Along with affecting an infant’s ability to control their muscles and posture, CP may cause:

• Learning disabilities
• Seizures
• Vision or hearing problems
• Difficulty speaking
• Joint problems

Though CP does not worsen over a patient’s lifetime, developmental disorders may not display their full effects at the time they are discovered. Parents of children with CP often discover additional disabilities or challenges as the child develops. Therefore, the child’s needs when it comes to assistive devices and accommodations may increase.

Brain or Spinal Cord Injury

Though rare, a doctor who intervenes in a difficult labor can damage the child’s skull or spinal cord if they use too much force. Traumatic brain injury (TBI) results in a loss of function and mental capacity. While an infant may be able to learn skills despite brain damage, they may also have to learn to live with a disability.

Spinal cord damage causes incurable paralysis that affects the body below the area of injury. The severity of the damage correlates with the level of paralysis; however, even a partial loss of mobility or sensation can cause extreme difficulty.

Athea Trial Lawyers is home to a group of some of the nation’s most formidable litigators. Call us at (800) 664-0161 from anywhere in the nation for a free consultation on your birth injury claim.