NYC Birth Injury Lawyer

The birth of a child should be a joyous occasion, but when medical negligence during pregnancy, labor, or delivery causes preventable harm, families face devastating consequences that last a lifetime. Birth injuries resulting from substandard medical care can affect both mothers and newborns, causing physical disabilities, cognitive impairments, and emotional trauma that require extensive medical intervention and ongoing support. At Kelner & Kelner, we represent families throughout New York City whose lives have been forever changed by birth injuries, helping them hold negligent healthcare providers accountable and secure compensation for the extensive care their children need.

Can I Sue For a Birth Injury in New York City?

Yes, you can sue for a birth injury in New York City if medical negligence during pregnancy, labor, delivery, or immediately after birth caused preventable harm to your child or to you as the mother. To have a viable medical malpractice claim, you must prove that healthcare providers deviated from accepted standards of care, that this negligence directly caused the birth injury, and that you suffered damages as a result. Common examples include failure to monitor fetal distress, delayed cesarean sections, improper use of forceps or vacuum extractors, medication errors, and failure to diagnose or treat maternal conditions like preeclampsia. Hospitals, obstetricians, nurses, midwives, anesthesiologists, and other medical professionals involved in your care can all potentially be held liable.

Birth injury lawsuits in New York must comply with strict procedural requirements and statutes of limitations. While the general statute of limitations for medical malpractice is two and a half years from the date of the negligent act (or from the end of continuous treatment), special rules apply to cases involving injured children that may extend filing deadlines. However, acting promptly is essential to preserve evidence, obtain medical records, and ensure your claim is filed within required timeframes. Because these cases involve complex medical issues, detailed record analysis, and testimony from medical professionals, consulting with an NYC birth injury lawyer as soon as possible after discovering potential negligence protects your legal rights and helps determine whether you have grounds for compensation.

Compensation You Can Pursue in a Birth Injury Case

Birth injuries caused by medical negligence can result in lifelong challenges requiring extensive medical care, therapy, and support services. At Kelner & Kelner, we help families throughout New York City recover comprehensive compensation that addresses both immediate needs and long-term care requirements.

Available compensation in birth injury cases includes:

• Past and Future Medical Expenses: Covers all costs for hospitalizations, surgeries, diagnostic testing, medications, medical equipment, assistive devices, and ongoing treatments your child will require throughout their lifetime.
• Rehabilitative Therapy Costs: Compensates for physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, and other rehabilitative services needed to help your child develop skills and achieve maximum functional independence.
• Life Care Planning Expenses: Addresses projected lifetime costs for comprehensive medical care, equipment replacements, home health aides, nursing care, and other support services documented in professional life care plans.
• Pain and Suffering: Provides compensation for the physical discomfort, emotional distress, and reduced quality of life experienced by your child and, in maternal injury cases, by mothers who suffered preventable harm.
• Lost Earning Capacity: Recovers damages for your child's reduced ability to work and earn income throughout their adult life when birth injuries cause permanent cognitive or physical impairments.
• Special Education and Tutoring: Covers costs for individualized education programs, specialized schools, educational therapy, adaptive learning technology, and tutoring services required due to learning disabilities or developmental delays.
• Home and Vehicle Modifications: Compensates for necessary accessibility improvements including wheelchair ramps, widened doorways, adapted bathrooms, stair lifts, and vehicle modifications to accommodate your child's mobility needs.
• Medical Equipment and Assistive Devices: Addresses ongoing costs for wheelchairs, walkers, communication devices, specialized beds, feeding equipment, and other assistive technology your child needs.
• Parental Lost Wages: Reimburses parents for income lost while caring for injured children, attending medical appointments, coordinating therapy services, and managing educational interventions.
• Loss of Consortium: Compensates parents for the altered relationship with their child when disabilities prevent normal parent-child interactions, activities, and experiences they would have shared.
• Maternal Injury Damages: Provides compensation for mothers who suffered physical injuries during delivery, including costs for corrective surgeries, treatment for chronic pain, and damages for reduced quality of life.
• Psychological Counseling: Covers mental health treatment for family members dealing with the emotional trauma and stress of caring for a child with permanent disabilities caused by medical negligence.
• Respite Care Services: Compensates for professional caregiver services that provide parents with necessary breaks from the demanding physical and emotional toll of caring for children with severe disabilities.
• Future Custodial Care: Addresses costs for group homes, assisted living facilities, or other long-term care arrangements your child may require as they age and parents can no longer provide full-time care.
• Punitive Damages: In cases involving gross negligence or intentional misconduct by healthcare providers, additional damages may be awarded to punish wrongdoing and deter similar behavior.

Birth injury cases require careful calculation of both economic and non-economic damages to ensure families receive adequate resources for decades of care. An NYC birth injury lawyer at Kelner & Kelner works with medical professionals, life care planners, economists, and vocational rehabilitation specialists to document the full scope of your child's needs and pursue maximum compensation. Contact our firm to discuss your case and learn how we can help secure the financial resources necessary to provide your child with the best possible care and quality of life.

Birth Injury Cases We Take

Kelner & Kelner represents families throughout New York City affected by a wide range of birth injuries caused by medical negligence during pregnancy, labor, delivery, and postpartum care. Our firm has the knowledge and resources to handle complex medical malpractice cases involving both infant and maternal injuries.

Types of birth injury cases we handle include:

• Cerebral Palsy: Cases involving brain damage caused by oxygen deprivation during labor and delivery, resulting in permanent impairments affecting movement, muscle tone, posture, and motor function.
• Brachial Plexus Injuries: Claims for Erb's palsy, Klumpke's palsy, and other nerve damage to the shoulder, arm, and hand caused by excessive force or improper delivery techniques during difficult births.
• Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy (HIE): Cases where lack of oxygen and reduced blood flow to the baby's brain during birth causes seizures, developmental delays, cognitive impairments, and neurological damage.
• Perinatal Asphyxia: Birth injuries resulting from inadequate oxygen supply before, during, or immediately after birth due to delayed interventions, umbilical cord complications, or placental problems.
• Shoulder Dystocia Injuries: Cases where the baby's shoulder becomes stuck during delivery and healthcare providers use excessive force or improper maneuvers, causing permanent nerve damage or fractures.
• Fractures and Bone Injuries: Claims involving broken clavicles, skull fractures, femur fractures, and other bone injuries caused by excessive force or improper use of delivery instruments.
• Facial Nerve Damage: Cases where forceps or vacuum extractors are improperly applied, causing facial paralysis, difficulty closing eyes, inability to smile, and other permanent facial nerve injuries.
• Brain Bleeds and Intracranial Hemorrhages: Birth injuries involving bleeding in or around the brain caused by trauma during delivery, improper use of instruments, or failure to perform timely cesarean sections.
• Kernicterus: Cases where failure to diagnose and treat severe newborn jaundice leads to brain damage, hearing loss, vision problems, and cerebral palsy.
• Spinal Cord Injuries: Claims for paralysis and neurological damage caused by excessive traction, twisting, or improper handling of the baby during delivery.
• Delayed Cesarean Section Cases: Birth injuries resulting from healthcare providers' failure to perform emergency C-sections when complications arise, including fetal distress, prolonged labor, or placental abruption.
• Forceps and Vacuum Extractor Injuries: Cases involving skull fractures, brain damage, nerve injuries, and other harm caused by improper or excessive use of delivery instruments.
• Medication Errors: Claims involving improper use of Pitocin to induce or augment labor, anesthesia errors, or administration of contraindicated medications during pregnancy or delivery.
• Failure to Monitor Fetal Distress: Cases where healthcare providers fail to properly interpret fetal heart rate monitoring, miss warning signs, or delay necessary interventions when the baby shows signs of distress.
• Maternal Birth Injuries: Claims for severe vaginal tearing, uterine rupture, hemorrhage, bladder injuries, bowel injuries, and other preventable harm to mothers during labor and delivery.
• Failure to Diagnose Maternal Conditions: Cases involving undiagnosed or untreated preeclampsia, eclampsia, gestational diabetes, infections, or placental problems that cause complications affecting both mother and baby.
• Umbilical Cord Complications: Birth injuries from cord prolapse, nuchal cord, or true knots in the umbilical cord that healthcare providers failed to recognize or properly manage.
• Placental Abruption Cases: Claims where failure to diagnose placental separation or delayed response to abruption causes oxygen deprivation and brain damage to the baby.
• Meconium Aspiration: Cases involving failure to recognize meconium-stained amniotic fluid or inadequate suctioning that results in breathing problems and lung damage in newborns.
• Infection-Related Birth Injuries: Claims for brain damage, sepsis, and other complications resulting from undiagnosed or untreated maternal infections like Group B Strep, chorioamnionitis, or other bacterial infections.
• Wrongful Birth Claims: Cases where healthcare providers failed to diagnose or inform parents about serious fetal abnormalities that would have affected reproductive decisions.
• Stillbirth and Neonatal Death: Claims involving preventable fetal or infant deaths caused by medical negligence during pregnancy, labor, delivery, or immediate postpartum care.

Every birth injury case is unique, requiring thorough investigation of medical records, analysis of standards of care, and collaboration with qualified medical professionals who can establish negligence and causation. An NYC birth injury lawyer at Kelner & Kelner has the experience and resources to handle even the most complex cases involving catastrophic injuries. If your child suffered any birth injury or if you experienced maternal injuries due to medical negligence, contact us for a confidential consultation to discuss your situation and learn how we can help your family pursue the compensation you deserve.

How a Birth Injury Lawyer Can Maximize Your Compensation

Birth injury cases require sophisticated legal strategies, extensive medical knowledge, and collaboration with multiple professionals to achieve optimal results. At Kelner & Kelner, we employ proven methods to build compelling cases and secure maximum compensation for families affected by preventable birth injuries.

Our approach to maximizing your compensation includes:

• Comprehensive Medical Record Analysis: We obtain and thoroughly review all prenatal care records, labor and delivery documentation, fetal monitoring strips, operative reports, and neonatal care notes to identify every instance where healthcare providers deviated from accepted standards.
• Engagement of Qualified Medical Professionals: We work with obstetricians, neonatologists, neurologists, and other medical professionals who can provide authoritative testimony establishing that negligence occurred and directly caused your child's injuries.
• Detailed Life Care Planning: Our New York City medical malpractice lawyers collaborate with certified life care planners who evaluate your child's medical condition and project comprehensive lifetime costs for medical care, therapy, equipment, medications, and support services.
• Economic Expert Analysis: We retain economists and vocational rehabilitation professionals who calculate lost earning capacity by comparing what your child would have earned absent injury to their reduced income potential given permanent impairments.
• Identification of All Liable Parties: We investigate thoroughly to identify every party whose negligence contributed to birth injuries, including hospitals, obstetricians, nurses, anesthesiologists, and other healthcare providers, maximizing available compensation sources.
• Documentation of All Damages: Our NYC birth injury lawyersmeticulously track medical expenses, therapy costs, travel to appointments, lost wages, home modifications, equipment purchases, and every other financial impact to ensure no losses are overlooked.
• Early Evidence Preservation: Immediate involvement allows us to secure fetal monitoring strips, witness statements, hospital protocols, staffing records, and other critical evidence before it can be lost, destroyed, or altered.
• Strategic Use of Consultants: We engage physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech pathologists, special education professionals, and others who can document your child's functional limitations and ongoing treatment needs.
• Thorough Causation Analysis: Our NYC birth injury lawyers work with medical professionals to establish clear connections between specific negligent acts and resulting injuries, countering defense arguments that blame unavoidable complications or pre-existing conditions.
• Comprehensive Damage Projections: We calculate not just immediate costs but decades of future expenses including equipment replacements, home health care, residential placements, and evolving medical needs as your child ages.
• Aggressive Settlement Negotiation: Our NYC birth injury lawyers leverage strong evidence, qualified professional testimony, and demonstrated trial readiness to negotiate settlements that fully compensate families without accepting inadequate early offers from insurance companies.
• Presentation of Impact Evidence: We document how birth injuries affect daily life, family dynamics, and your child's future opportunities through photographs, videos, diary entries, and testimony from family members and caregivers.
• Understanding Complex Liability Issues: An NYC birth injury attorney on our team navigates hospital corporate structures, professional liability insurance policies, and complicated relationships between healthcare providers to maximize recovery from all available sources.
• Addressing Future Care Needs: Our NYC birth injury lawyers anticipate equipment needs, home modifications, vehicle adaptations, and attendant care requirements that families may not initially recognize but will become essential as children grow.
• Countering Defense Medical Opinions: Our NYC birth injury lawyers retain credible medical professionals who can effectively rebut defense arguments, explain complex medical concepts to juries, and withstand cross-examination during depositions and trial.
• Proper Valuation of Non-Economic Damages: We present compelling evidence of pain, suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, and emotional distress to ensure juries understand the profound impact beyond financial losses.
• Contingency Fee Representation: Our NYC birth injury lawyers handle cases with no upfront costs to families, advancing all expenses for medical record retrieval, professional consultations, depositions, and trial preparation, with fees only recovered from settlements or verdicts.
• Trial Preparation and Readiness: We prepare every case as if it will go to trial, conducting thorough discovery, deposing witnesses, and developing compelling presentations that demonstrate our commitment to achieving justice if settlement negotiations fail.

Healthcare providers and their insurance companies employ aggressive defense strategies designed to minimize payouts and deny responsibility for birth injuries. Having an NYC birth injury lawyer who understands medical standards of care, can effectively work with qualified professionals, and knows how to present complex medical evidence makes the difference between inadequate settlements and comprehensive compensation. Our firm's thorough approach to investigating negligence, documenting damages, and advocating for families has helped numerous clients secure the substantial resources their children need for optimal care throughout their lives. Contact Kelner & Kelner to discuss how we can help maximize compensation for your family's birth injury case.

Contact Our NYC Birth Injury Lawyers Today

If your child suffered a birth injury or you experienced maternal injuries due to medical negligence, you need experienced legal representation to protect your rights and pursue the compensation your family needs. At Kelner & Kelner, we have extensive experience handling complex birth injury cases throughout New York City and work with qualified medical professionals to hold negligent healthcare providers accountable. Contact us today for a free, confidential consultation to discuss your case. We handle all birth injury cases on a contingency fee basis—you pay nothing unless we recover compensation for your family.

NYC Birth Injury FAQs

How long do I have to file a birth injury lawsuit in New York? New York's statute of limitations for medical malpractice is generally two and a half years from the date of the negligent act or from the end of continuous treatment with the provider. However, for injured children, special rules apply that can extend filing deadlines significantly. In many cases, the statute of limitations doesn't begin until the child turns 18, giving them until their 20th birthday to file, though there are exceptions. Consulting an NYC birth injury lawyer promptly after discovering potential negligence ensures you don't miss critical deadlines and allows proper time for investigation.

What's the difference between a birth injury and a birth defect? Birth injuries result from preventable harm during pregnancy, labor, or delivery caused by medical negligence, such as oxygen deprivation or improper delivery techniques. Birth defects are genetic or developmental abnormalities that occur during fetal development unrelated to medical care quality. However, healthcare providers can be liable if they failed to diagnose birth defects during pregnancy through appropriate screening, or if their negligence during delivery worsened a pre-existing condition.

What if my child's birth injury wasn't discovered immediately? Many birth injuries don't become apparent until months or years later when developmental delays, learning disabilities, or other problems emerge. The discovery rule may apply, meaning the statute of limitations doesn't begin until you knew or reasonably should have known that an injury occurred and that it may have been caused by medical negligence. An NYC birth injury attorney can evaluate when your claim accrues and whether you're still within the time limits for filing.

Does signing consent forms prevent me from suing for birth injuries? No. Informed consent documents acknowledge that you understand risks associated with procedures, but they don't waive your right to sue for medical negligence. Healthcare providers cannot obtain consent to commit malpractice, and consent forms don't protect them from liability when they deviate from accepted standards of care or make preventable errors during treatment.

Can I still sue if multiple doctors and nurses were involved in my care? Yes, and in fact, cases involving multiple healthcare providers often result in higher compensation because liability can be distributed among several parties and their insurance policies. An NYC birth injury lawyer will investigate the role of every doctor, nurse, midwife, anesthesiologist, and hospital employee involved in your care to determine who breached standards of care and contributed to injuries.

How much is my birth injury case worth? Case value depends on numerous factors including injury severity, permanence of disabilities, projected lifetime medical costs, impact on earning capacity, degree of negligence, and available insurance coverage. Cases involving severe permanent disabilities like cerebral palsy often result in multi-million dollar settlements or verdicts, while less severe injuries may warrant smaller amounts. A thorough evaluation by an NYC birth injury attorney with input from medical professionals and life care planners provides realistic value assessments.

What if the hospital claims the birth injury was unavoidable? Hospitals and healthcare providers frequently argue that complications were unavoidable or resulted from pre-existing conditions rather than negligence. An NYC birth injury lawyer works with qualified medical professionals who can review records, analyze care provided, and provide opinions about whether injuries truly were unavoidable or resulted from departures from accepted standards. Many injuries hospitals claim were unavoidable actually resulted from delayed interventions, inadequate monitoring, or other preventable errors.

Do I need an autopsy if my baby died due to suspected negligence? While not legally required to file a wrongful death claim, an autopsy can provide crucial evidence about cause of death and whether medical negligence contributed. If you suspect medical errors caused your baby's death, requesting an autopsy before making final arrangements preserves important evidence. An NYC birth injury attorney can guide you through this difficult decision and explain how autopsy findings may support your case.

Can I afford a birth injury lawyer? Yes. Kelner & Kelner and most birth injury attorneys handle cases on a contingency fee basis, meaning you pay no attorney fees unless we recover compensation through settlement or verdict. We advance all costs for medical record retrieval, professional consultations, depositions, and other case expenses, which are reimbursed from recovery. This arrangement ensures families have access to quality legal representation regardless of financial circumstances.

What if I'm not certain whether medical negligence caused my child's injury? You don't need to determine definitively whether negligence occurred before consulting an attorney—that's our job. Bring your concerns, medical records, and questions to an initial consultation, and we'll have qualified medical professionals review the care provided to determine whether viable grounds for a claim exist. Many families initially uncertain about negligence discover through investigation that healthcare providers did breach standards of care.

Are cases involving midwives different from those involving obstetricians? Midwives can be held liable for birth injuries when they fail to practice within their scope of training, miss warning signs requiring physician involvement, or make errors during delivery. Cases may involve certified nurse midwives employed by hospitals or practices, as well as independent midwives. The standards of care differ somewhat from obstetricians, but midwives still have duties to recognize complications and ensure appropriate medical intervention when needed.

Can birth injuries that occurred in the NICU be considered malpractice? Absolutely. NICU staff must provide appropriate monitoring, treatment, and care for vulnerable newborns. Medication errors, feeding tube complications, ventilator mismanagement, failure to recognize and treat infections, improper handling causing injuries, and other NICU negligence can result in additional harm beyond initial birth complications. Both the hospital and individual healthcare providers may be liable for NICU malpractice.

What if my obstetrician had excellent reviews and is well-respected? A physician's reputation doesn't prevent them from making negligent errors or shield them from liability when mistakes occur. Even highly regarded healthcare providers can be distracted, make poor judgment calls under pressure, or fail to follow established protocols. An NYC birth injury lawyer evaluates care based on medical standards, not provider reputation, and qualified medical professionals reviewing your case provide objective opinions regardless of the defendant's standing in the medical community.

Are there caps on damages in New York birth injury cases? New York does not cap economic damages like medical expenses and lost earning capacity in medical malpractice cases. However, non-economic damages for pain and suffering are subject to case-by-case evaluation by juries and courts, with appellate courts sometimes reducing awards they deem excessive. There are no predetermined caps limiting what juries can award for birth injury cases.

What if I received care at a teaching hospital with residents involved? Teaching hospitals remain liable for negligent care provided by residents, interns, and fellows training under their supervision. Attending physicians who supervise trainees also bear responsibility for ensuring appropriate care. The presence of less experienced providers doesn't excuse errors, and hospitals have duties to provide adequate supervision and ensure patients receive care meeting established standards regardless of who directly provides treatment.

Can grandparents or other family members file birth injury lawsuits? Generally, parents or legal guardians file birth injury claims on behalf of injured children. However, if parents are deceased, incapacitated, or unwilling to pursue claims, grandparents who have custody or guardianship may be able to file. In wrongful death cases involving deceased mothers, surviving spouses, children, or other family members may have standing to file claims depending on specific circumstances.

What if my baby was part of a multiple birth like twins or triplets? Multiple births involve higher risks, but healthcare providers must still meet standards of care appropriate for these pregnancies. This includes adequate monitoring, timely interventions, proper delivery planning, and appropriate response to complications. When one or more babies in a multiple birth suffer injuries due to negligence while others don't, it may actually strengthen claims by demonstrating that injuries weren't unavoidable.

Do arbitration clauses in hospital admission forms prevent lawsuits? Many hospitals include arbitration clauses in admission paperwork requiring disputes to be resolved through arbitration rather than court trials. These clauses are sometimes enforceable, but not always—particularly if signed during labor when you couldn't meaningfully review terms, if they're unconscionable, or if they weren't properly explained. An NYC birth injury attorney can evaluate whether arbitration clauses apply to your case and whether grounds exist to challenge them.

What evidence do I need to prove a birth injury case? Key evidence includes medical records from prenatal care through delivery and postpartum care, fetal monitoring strips, operative notes, nursing notes, hospital policies and protocols, witness testimony from staff present during delivery, professional testimony from medical professionals, and documentation of your child's injuries and ongoing needs. Your attorney handles gathering and organizing this evidence, working with professionals who can interpret technical medical information and establish causation.

What happens if the healthcare provider's insurance doesn't cover the full value of my case? When injuries are catastrophic and damages exceed available insurance coverage, an NYC birth injury lawyer explores additional compensation sources including the healthcare provider's personal assets, hospital insurance policies separate from individual provider coverage, and potential claims against multiple defendants whose combined insurance provides adequate recovery. In some cases, structured settlements ensure long-term financial security even when immediate lump sum payments are limited.

Can I sue if I went to the emergency room in labor and was treated by doctors I'd never met? Yes. You can pursue claims against any healthcare provider who treated you negligently, even if you had no prior relationship with them. Emergency room physicians, on-call obstetricians, and hospital staff all have duties to provide appropriate care meeting established standards. The lack of a prior doctor-patient relationship doesn't diminish their responsibility to deliver competent care during labor and delivery.