While many births result in the parents taking home a healthy baby, some births unfortunately result in complications or injury. This can be the result of things going wrong during the labor and delivery process or failures in prenatal care.
When this happens, it’s important to determine if medical negligence played a role in causing the birth injury. If it did, then the doctor, hospital, and other care providers may be responsible for the resulting losses.
At Morris Wilson Knepp Jacquette, P.C., we have represented many clients whose families have been impacted by birth injuries. We are prepared to help you secure the resources necessary to ensure your child receives the care they need and your family is compensated for the resulting challenges.
To find out more about how our Philadelphia medical malpractice attorney can fight for you if your child was injured or killed due to medical malpractice, give us a call at 610-825-0500 or contact us online today to schedule your free consultation with a Philadelphia birth injury attorney.
Has your child suffered a birth injury due to medical negligence?
Contact Our Birth Injury Lawyers in Philadelphia
Why Choose Morris Wilson Knepp Jacquette for Your Philadelphia Birth Injury Claim?
At Morris Wilson Knepp Jacquette, P.C., we believe that no parent should have to deal with the emotional and financial impact of a preventable birth injury. Our team is here to help you hold negligent providers accountable for the harm they caused to your child.
Families across Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, trust our medical malpractice lawyers because:
- We have decades of experience handling complex med mal and birth injury cases.
- Our firm has recovered more than $75 million in verdicts and settlements for injured clients.
- We collaborate with leading medical experts to demonstrate how a medical provider failed to meet the standard of care.
- We provide personalized representation, where your calls, questions, and communications are always answered.
- We work on a contingency fee basis; you pay nothing unless we win your case.
Our goal is to pursue the compensation your child needs to live the fullest life possible. Call us today to schedule a free case review with a Philadelphia birth injury attorney.
How Can A Philadelphia Birth Injury Lawyer Help You?
At Morris Wilson Knepp Jacquette, P.C., we have represented many families harmed by birth injuries, and we provide full-service representation from day one. The steps that we take to help you include:
- Obtaining medical records and witness testimony to determine how your birth injury occurred.
- Identifying the defendants who could be liable for the malpractice that caused the birth injury, such as your prenatal care provider, midwives, doctors, or nurses who provided substandard care during labor and delivery, and the hospitals that employ negligent providers or that have insufficient policies in place to protect mothers and their babies
- Taking legal action within the statute of limitations for pursuing a medical malpractice claim
- Getting a certificate of merit, which is required within 60 days of filing a medical malpractice lawsuit. This is a signed statement from a licensed medical professional who has carefully reviewed the evidence and who believes there’s a reasonable probability that the care provided by the defendants injured the plaintiffs because it fell short of the professional standard of care
- Proving medical negligence and the extent of damages, including demonstrating the costs of ongoing care for the injured infant and the extent of the disruption to the normal development of the child and the lives of parents, siblings, and other surviving family members
- Negotiating with medical malpractice insurers to try to resolve the claim in an out-of-court settlement to recover fair and full compensation as quickly as possible
- Going to court when needed to prove the losses from the birth injury and to help victims get justice
Birth injury cases often involve substantial compensation because a child’s medical needs can be extensive and, depending on the severity of the injury, may continue for a lifetime.
At Morris Wilson Knepp Jacquette, P.C., we have recovered millions in out-of-court settlements and in-court verdicts, and we bring decades of legal experience to your Philadelphia Erb’s Palsy case to maximize your chances of fair compensation.
What Compensation is Available in a Philadelphia Birth Injury Claim?
A successful birth injury claim can provide compensation for your child and the family’s economic and non-economic damages. Together, these should address all financial and personal losses caused by the birth injury.
Your birth injury award in Pennsylvania may include damages for:
- Medical expenses
- Costs of in-home care or special education
- Lost earning capacity if the child is permanently disabled
- Pain and suffering, both physical and emotional
- Loss of quality of life
- Emotional distress experienced by the family
If a birth injury resulted in the tragic death of your child, wrongful death damages may also be available. Our Philadelphia wrongful death lawyer will work closely with financial and medical experts to fully assess and document your damages so nothing is left on the table.
Who Can Be Held Liable for a Birth Injury in Philadelphia?
Birth injury cases often involve more than one potentially responsible party. Often, professionals and institutions may play a role in a single delivery.
Depending on what went wrong, liability may fall on:
- The obstetrician or delivering physician, for failing to recognize fetal distress, delaying a necessary C-section, or misusing delivery tools.
- Labor and delivery nurses, for failing to properly monitor the mother and baby or failing to alert a physician.
- Anesthesiologists, for medication errors or improper administration of an epidural or other anesthesia
- The hospital itself, for inadequate staffing or systemic failures in its labor and delivery protocols
- A pediatrician or NICU team, for failing to properly treat a newborn’s condition after birth
It often takes extensive investigation and expert review to determine which parties actually deviated from the accepted standard of care. However, this can be one of the most important parts of a malpractice claim.
How Does a Birth Injury Lawyer Prove Negligence to Win Your Case in Philadelphia?
To succeed in a birth injury lawsuit, your attorney must prove that medical providers failed to meet the accepted standard of care during pregnancy, labor, delivery, or immediate postnatal care. Additionally, your legal team must show that this deviation caused your child’s birth injury and the extent of the damages you’ve suffered.
Your legal team will gather many types of evidence to establish that a medical provider was negligent. They will:
- Review detailed medical records
- Consult with obstetric and neonatal experts to strengthen your case
- Identify signs of medical negligence during labor and delivery
- Demonstrate causation between the medical error and the injury
- Calculate damages to reflect the long-term impact of the injury
Your attorney will identify the best strategies to maximize the value of your case and ensure that medical providers don’t devalue your child’s injuries. Contact Morris Wilson Knepp Jacquette, P.C., today for a free consultation with a Philadelphia birth injury lawyer to learn more about your rights.
How Long Do I Have to File a Birth Injury Lawsuit in Pennsylvania?
Under Pennsylvania law, medical malpractice claims are generally subject to a two-year statute of limitations. However, when the injury involves a minor child, the clock for filing a claim does not begin until the child turns 18, allowing them to file a lawsuit up until age 20.
However, parents often file birth injury lawsuits on behalf of their children much earlier, especially when the birth injury results in extensive medical costs and treatment needs. Since time limits for filing birth injury claims in Pennsylvania can vary, you should consult a birth injury attorney as soon as possible for help identifying and complying with the deadlines.
What to Do If You Believe Your Child Experienced a Birth Injury?
If you suspect something went wrong during your child’s delivery, a few early steps can protect your child’s health and your legal rights.
At a minimum, you should:
- Get your child evaluated promptly. Some birth injuries are obvious right away, while others only become clear as your child grows and misses developmental milestones. A prompt evaluation creates a medical record that can later help establish what happened.
- Request a complete copy of the medical records. This should include fetal heart rate monitoring strips, delivery notes, nursing records, and any records from the NICU. These documents often reveal exactly what the medical team saw and how they responded.
- Write down what you remember. Details about the labor and delivery can fade quickly and are worth recording while they are fresh. Jot down how long it lasted, any conversations with staff, and anything that felt rushed or unusual,
- Avoid discussing fault with the hospital or provider. You do not want to say anything that could be used against you later on.
You should also consult an attorney early. Pennsylvania imposes strict deadlines and procedural requirements for birth injury claims, and early legal guidance helps ensure the right evidence is preserved before it is lost.
How Much Does It Cost to Hire a Birth Injury Attorney?
Most birth injury attorneys handle these cases on a contingency fee basis. That means there are no flat attorney’s fees, no hourly billing, and no retainers of any kind. Instead, your attorney will take a percentage of any settlement or verdict recovered on your family’s behalf.
Under Pennsylvania’s Rules of Professional Conduct, any contingency fee percentage must also be reasonable. It usually ranges from 30% to 40%. If there is no recovery, you typically owe no attorney’s fees at all.
Because birth injury cases require significant investment in medical experts and detailed record review, firms generally cover these costs upfront and recover them from any eventual settlement or verdict.
Morris Wilson Knepp Jacquette, P.C. offers free consultations and handles birth injury cases on contingency, so your family can pursue justice without any upfront financial burden. Call us today to discuss your child’s case.
Common Questions About Birth Injuries
What is the difference between a birth injury and a birth defect?
The key difference between a birth injury and a birth defect is timing. Birth injuries occur just before, during, or right after a baby is delivered. However, birth defects develop during pregnancy. Birth defects are not related to the labor and delivery process.
How do birth injuries happen in Philadelphia?
Birth injuries occur for many reasons, including:
- Failed attempts to move or reposition the baby during labor or delivery
- Improper and unsafe use of assistive devices, such as vacuum extraction delivery, forceps, or C-section
- Failure to properly monitor the mother and baby
- Prolonged labor or delayed delivery
- Improper prenatal care
- Failure to diagnose or treat fetal complications
In any situation when a child is injured before, during, or immediately after the birthing process, it will be important to determine if the healthcare provider’s negligence played a role.
Providers have a duty to offer reasonably professional care to mothers and babies, and if they fall short in this obligation and cause harm as a result, parents and children can pursue a damage claim. At Morris Wilson Knepp Jacquette, P.C., our Philadelphia hospital malpractice lawyer can help you evaluate if you have a case and can assist in gathering the appropriate evidence if you do.
What are common types of birth injuries?
The Cleveland Clinic has identified both common and rare birth injuries that can affect infants. These include:
- Broken collarbones (clavicles)
- Caput succedaneum or swelling of the scalp
- Cephalohematoma or pooling of blood under the scalp
- Cerebral Palsy
- Erb’s palsy (paralysis or weakness in the arm due to injury to the brachial plexus)
- Swelling of the eyelid
- Subcutaneous fat necrosis
- Paralysis of the facial nerve
- Fractured humerus (upper arm bone)
- Fractured upper leg bone (femur)
- Intracranial hemorrhage (bleeding in the brain)
- Face or scalp lacerations
- Nose injuries, including a deviated septum
- Eye injuries, including retinal or subconjunctival hemorrhages
- Fractured skull
- Epidermal or subarachnoid bleeding
- Hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (brain damage due to insufficient oxygen)
- Fractured ribs
- Damage to internal organs, including the spleen and liver
- Spinal cord injuries
- Subgaleal hemorrhage
In some cases, infants can fully recover from these injuries with the right medical care. In other circumstances, the injuries are permanent or sometimes fatal.
At Morris Wilson Knepp Jacquette, P.C., we have represented clients whose infants faced all of these different injury types, and we can put our legal experience to work to help babies and their families afflicted with these conditions to fight for justice.
Contact A Philadelphia Birth Injury Lawyer Today
When your family’s future is changed because a doctor injures your child as they come into the world, you deserve all of the remedies that the justice system can provide you. At Morris Wilson Knepp Jacquette, P.C., our Philadelphia Cerebral Palsy lawyers offer compassionate legal advocacy that is aimed at helping you get justice.
We don’t charge legal fees unless we win compensation for you, and we are skilled negotiators and experienced litigators ready to take on large hospitals and major malpractice insurers. We care deeply about all our clients, and we have a long track record of successful cases that proves we are a firm you can trust.
Give us a call today at (610) 825-0500 to talk with a member of our legal team to learn more.