Birth Injury

The hours around a child’s birth are some of the most medically monitored moments in a human life — which is exactly why so many birth injuries are preventable. When doctors, nurses, or hospitals miss warning signs, delay a C-section, misuse delivery instruments, or mismanage complications, the consequences can last your child’s entire lifetime. Miracle Law APC helps California families find out what really happened in the delivery room and, when negligence caused the harm, pursue the resources their child will need for decades to come.

Birth Injuries We Investigate

• Hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) — brain damage from oxygen deprivation during labor or delivery
• Cerebral palsy — which the CDC estimates affects about 1 in 345 children in the U.S., and which in some cases traces back to preventable delivery complications
• Erb’s palsy and brachial plexus injuries — nerve damage from excessive force or mismanaged shoulder dystocia
• Skull fractures and brain bleeds — often linked to improper forceps or vacuum extraction
• Untreated jaundice (kernicterus) — preventable brain damage from unmonitored bilirubin levels
• Maternal injuries — hemorrhage, infection, and preeclampsia complications that were ignored or mishandled

Not every bad outcome is malpractice — some complications occur despite excellent care. The only way to know is an expert review of fetal monitoring strips, delivery notes, and hospital records. We arrange that review at no cost to your family.

What Negligence Looks Like in the Delivery Room

Birth injury cases typically come down to whether providers responded reasonably to warning signs. Common failures include:

1. Ignoring fetal distress — abnormal heart tracings that demanded intervention
2. Delaying an emergency C-section — minutes matter when a baby is oxygen-deprived
3. Misusing forceps or vacuum extractors — or using them when surgery was indicated
4. Mismanaging shoulder dystocia — applying traction that tears the brachial plexus
5. Medication errors — improper Pitocin dosing that overstimulates labor
6. Failing to treat newborn conditions — jaundice, infection, or hypoglycemia left unmonitored

These are medical negligence claims, closely related to our broader brain injury practice — and when the unthinkable happens, to wrongful death claims as well.

Deadlines: More Time Than You Think, Less Than You’d Like

California treats children’s malpractice claims differently. Under CCP § 340.5, a birth injury claim on behalf of the child can generally be filed up to the child’s eighth birthday. But don’t let that number create false comfort:

• Parents’ own related claims follow shorter adult deadlines
• If the delivery happened at a public or county hospital, a government claim may be required within six months
• Records get purged, witnesses scatter, and memories fade — the strongest cases are built early

California’s MICRA law also caps non-economic damages in medical malpractice cases (the caps were raised beginning in 2023 and now increase annually), which makes thorough documentation of economic damages — lifetime care costs, therapy, equipment, lost earning capacity — absolutely central to full recovery.

What a Birth Injury Recovery Must Cover

A child with a serious birth injury may need physical, occupational, and speech therapy; specialized medical care; adaptive equipment; home and vehicle modifications; attendant care; and special education support — for life. We work with pediatric specialists, life-care planners, and economists to calculate those needs credibly, then pursue them through settlement or trial. Structured settlements and special needs trusts can protect the recovery and your child’s benefits eligibility, and we help families set those up correctly.

What to Bring to Your Free Consultation

You don’t need anything to start — we can obtain the records ourselves. But if you have them, bring discharge paperwork from the delivery, any NICU records, your child’s diagnosis and therapy documentation, and a simple timeline of what you remember from labor and delivery. Write down your questions, too. Parents often sense that something went wrong long before anyone confirms it; your observations frequently point our experts to the right pages of the chart.

Why Families Choose Miracle Law

Founder Tamar Miot is a former insurance defense attorney — she spent years seeing how hospitals, medical groups, and their insurers defend and devalue injury claims. That inside knowledge shapes how we build every case. Our firm’s results include a $5 million wrongful death recovery; past results don’t guarantee future outcomes, but they show the level at which we litigate. You can see more on our results page and learn about our team on our about page.

If you have questions about your child’s delivery, ask them — the consultation is free, the records review is free, and there’s no fee unless we win. Call (888) 843-5290 or contact us online today. Hablamos Español.