Birth Injury Lawyer in Northern VA

Cerebral palsy often results from oxygen deprivation during labor and delivery, though it can also stem from untreated maternal infections, traumatic delivery, or failure to perform a timely C-section. When healthcare providers fail to recognize signs of fetal distress or don’t respond quickly enough to complications, the resulting brain damage can cause lifelong motor impairments, developmental delays, and cognitive challenges. We work with pediatric neurologists and life care planners to demonstrate how proper medical intervention could have prevented your child’s cerebral palsy and to calculate the full cost of care your child will need throughout their lifetime. These cases often involve detailed review of fetal monitoring strips, labor progression notes, and delivery room decisions. Learn more about our approach to medical malpractice cases involving preventable brain injuries.

Erb’s palsy occurs when the network of nerves controlling the arm and hand (the brachial plexus) is damaged during delivery, typically due to excessive force or improper maneuvering during shoulder dystocia. Healthcare providers have specific protocols for managing shoulder dystocia, and deviating from these protocols or pulling too forcefully on the baby’s head can tear these delicate nerves. While some brachial plexus injuries heal within months, severe cases result in permanent weakness, limited range of motion, or complete loss of arm function. Our birth injury lawyers in Northern VA investigate whether the delivering physician used appropriate techniques, whether they should have anticipated shoulder dystocia based on risk factors, and whether a C-section should have been performed instead of attempting vaginal delivery.

HIE is brain damage caused by oxygen deprivation and reduced blood flow to the infant’s brain during labor and delivery. This condition represents one of the most serious birth complications and frequently results from failure to monitor fetal heart rate appropriately, delayed response to fetal distress, placental abruption, uterine rupture, or umbilical cord complications. The severity ranges from mild cases with minimal long-term effects to severe HIE causing profound developmental disabilities, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, or death. Modern medicine offers cooling therapy (therapeutic hypothermia) that can reduce brain damage if administered within six hours of birth, making rapid diagnosis critical. When healthcare providers miss warning signs or delay necessary interventions, families may have grounds for a birth injury claim.

Improper use of forceps or vacuum extractors can cause facial nerve injuries, skull fractures, or clavicle fractures during delivery. While some of these injuries heal without permanent consequences, others result in lasting facial paralysis, asymmetry, or chronic pain. These injuries often indicate that a physician used excessive force during delivery or employed these instruments when they were contraindicated based on the baby’s position or size. Our Virginia birth injury attorneys examine whether the delivery team followed proper protocols for instrument-assisted delivery and whether less risky alternatives were available.

Mothers also suffer serious injuries during labor and delivery due to medical negligence. These include severe perineal tears, pelvic organ prolapse, hemorrhage due to delayed response, uterine rupture, infections from unsanitary conditions or retained placenta, and psychological trauma from preventable complications. We represent mothers who suffered harm alongside or instead of their babies, recognizing that birth trauma affects the entire family. Our personal injury attorneys understand the unique challenges mothers face in pursuing claims while caring for a newborn who may also need medical attention.

The most tragic birth injury cases involve the preventable death of a baby or mother. When medical negligence during pregnancy, labor, or delivery results in death, families may pursue wrongful death claims to hold responsible parties accountable and secure compensation for funeral expenses, loss of companionship, and the profound emotional devastation these losses cause.

We begin with a detailed conversation about your child’s birth, the complications that occurred, and the ongoing impacts on your family. We then obtain and review all relevant medical records, including prenatal care notes, labor and delivery records, fetal monitoring strips, nursing notes, and neonatal intensive care documentation. This initial review helps us determine whether medical negligence likely contributed to your child’s injuries.

Birth injury cases require testimony from qualified medical experts who can explain what the standard of care demanded and how the healthcare providers fell short. We maintain relationships with obstetricians, neonatologists, pediatric neurologists, and other specialists who review cases objectively and provide expert opinions. These experts help us understand the medical science, identify all instances of negligence, and establish the causal connection between that negligence and your child’s injuries.

For birth injuries causing permanent disabilities, we work with life care planners, economists, and other professionals to project your child’s future needs. This includes medical care, therapy, adaptive equipment, special education, home modifications, and lost future earning capacity. We also account for your family’s past losses, including medical expenses already incurred, lost wages from taking time off work, and the emotional suffering your family has endured.

Virginia law requires specific procedures for medical malpractice claims, including providing notice to defendants and obtaining expert certification that your claim has merit. We handle all legal filings, discovery requests, depositions, and motion practice. Birth injury cases often involve multiple defendants (the delivering physician, nursing staff, the hospital, anesthesiologists, and others) and we ensure each responsible party is held accountable.

Many birth injury cases settle before trial once defendants recognize the strength of our evidence and the devastating impact on your family. However, we prepare every case as if it will go to trial, because this preparation often leads to better settlement offers. If a fair settlement cannot be reached, our experienced trial attorneys are ready to present your case to a Northern Virginia jury. We’ve successfully tried complex medical malpractice cases and know how to make medical evidence understandable and compelling to jurors.

If we recover compensation through settlement or trial, we help families establish structured settlements, special needs trusts, and other financial arrangements that protect your child’s interests and preserve eligibility for government benefits when appropriate. Our commitment to your family extends beyond the conclusion of your case.

Economic damages compensate for measurable financial losses: past and future medical expenses, rehabilitation and therapy costs, special education and adaptive equipment, home and vehicle modifications, lost parental wages from caring for an injured child, and the child’s lost future earning capacity if injuries prevent them from working as adults.

Non-economic damages address the intangible harms your family has suffered: the child’s pain and suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, emotional distress to parents and siblings, and loss of the parent-child relationship you expected before the injury occurred. In cases involving permanent severe disability, these damages recognize that your child will face lifelong challenges and limitations due to someone else’s negligence.

Virginia imposes strict time limits for filing medical malpractice claims, including birth injury cases. Generally, you have two years from the date of injury to file a lawsuit. However, birth injury cases have special rules. For injuries to a child, the statute of limitations may be extended until the child’s tenth birthday. This means that if your child was injured at birth, you generally have until their tenth birthday to file a claim, even though the injury occurred years earlier. There are exceptions and complications to this rule, and waiting too long can result in losing your right to compensation entirely. Consulting an attorney early preserves your options and ensures critical evidence is not lost.

Virginia law requires specific procedures before filing a medical malpractice lawsuit. You must provide written notice to potential defendants at least 90 days before filing suit. Your attorney must also obtain a certification from a qualified medical expert stating that the claim has merit and that the expert will testify. These requirements are designed to screen out frivolous claims, but they also add complexity and time to the process.

Virginia has detailed rules about who can serve as an expert witness in medical malpractice cases. Generally, experts must be actively practicing medicine in the same or substantially similar specialty as the defendant, must be familiar with the relevant standard of care, and must have appropriate qualifications. Our firm maintains relationships with highly qualified experts who meet Virginia’s stringent requirements.

As mentioned earlier, Virginia limits total damages in medical malpractice cases. This cap applies to the combined total of economic and non-economic damages and increases each year by $50,000. While this cap can limit recovery in some cases, our attorneys work within these constraints to maximize compensation for our clients through strategic case presentation and identifying all responsible parties.

Virginia follows a contributory negligence rule, which is harsher than most states. If a plaintiff is found even 1% at fault for their own injuries, they cannot recover any damages. In birth injury cases, this rarely applies because babies cannot be negligent, but in cases involving maternal injuries, defendants sometimes argue the mother contributed to complications by not following medical advice or disclosing medical history. Our attorneys anticipate and counter these defense strategies.

Both hospitals and individual healthcare providers can be held liable for birth injuries. Hospitals may be directly liable for inadequate policies, unsafe staffing ratios, or failure to credential physicians properly. They may also be vicariously liable for the negligence of nurses and other employees. Understanding these liability rules helps us identify all potential defendants and maximize recovery.

Monument Legal handles birth injury cases on a contingency fee basis, meaning we receive payment only if we recover compensation for your family.

You pay no upfront fees, no retainers, and no hourly charges. Our fee is a percentage of the recovery we obtain, and we advance all case costs including expert fees, medical record costs, and litigation expenses. If we don’t win your case, you owe us nothing, we absorb all costs. This arrangement ensures every family, regardless of financial means, can pursue justice when medical negligence harms their child.

Virginia’s statute of limitations for birth injury cases generally allows you to file until your child’s tenth birthday, even though the injury occurred at birth. However, exceptions and complications exist, and waiting too long can jeopardize your case by allowing evidence to be lost or destroyed.

Some claims must be filed within two years of discovering the injury. We recommend consulting an attorney as soon as you suspect negligence, ideally within the first year or two after birth. Early consultation preserves evidence, secures witness testimony while memories are fresh, and ensures you don’t miss any deadlines that could bar your claim entirely.

The value of birth injury cases varies dramatically based on the severity of injuries, the quality of evidence proving negligence, the child’s age and life expectancy, and the specific damages your family has incurred.

Cases involving permanent severe disabilities requiring lifetime care can be worth millions of dollars, while less severe injuries may justify smaller but still substantial compensation. Factors affecting value include the cost of past and future medical care, therapy and rehabilitation needs, special education and adaptive equipment, home and vehicle modifications, lost parental income, the child’s lost future earning capacity, pain and suffering, and loss of quality of life. During your free consultation, we can provide a more specific assessment based on your child’s particular circumstances and injuries.

Most birth injury cases in Virginia resolve within 18 to 36 months, though complex cases involving severe injuries or multiple defendants can take longer.

The timeline includes several phases: initial investigation and case development (3-6 months), filing the lawsuit and completing discovery (8-12 months), expert depositions and trial preparation (6-12 months), and either settlement negotiations or trial (varies).

While this may seem long, thorough preparation leads to better outcomes. Some cases settle earlier if liability is clear and defendants make reasonable offers. We work as efficiently as possible while ensuring your case is fully developed and positioned for maximum recovery.

Birth injury cases are among the most complex personal injury claims, requiring extensive medical knowledge, expert testimony, understanding of Virginia’s specific procedural requirements, and significant financial resources to litigate against well-funded defendants.

While Virginia law allows you to represent yourself, doing so in a birth injury case is extremely risky. Insurance companies and hospital attorneys will take advantage of unrepresented families, offering inadequate settlements or denying claims that have merit.

An experienced birth injury attorney provides access to medical experts who can evaluate your case, knowledge of Virginia’s medical malpractice laws and procedures, resources to fully investigate and develop your case, negotiation skills to maximize settlement offers, and trial experience if your case doesn’t settle. Most birth injury attorneys offer free consultations and work on contingency, so there’s no financial risk in at least discussing your case with a lawyer.

Birth injuries typically result from failures in monitoring, diagnosis, or response during pregnancy, labor, or delivery. Common causes include failure to properly monitor fetal heart rate during labor, delayed C-section when signs of fetal distress appear, improper use of forceps or vacuum extractors, failure to diagnose or treat maternal infections, medication errors during labor, failure to manage shoulder dystocia appropriately, inadequate response to umbilical cord complications, failure to identify and respond to placental abruption, improper management of high-risk pregnancies, and understaffing leading to inadequate patient monitoring.

Many of these errors are preventable with proper training, adequate staffing, appropriate protocols, and healthcare providers who prioritize patient safety over convenience or efficiency.

If your child’s cerebral palsy resulted from medical negligence during labor and delivery, you likely have grounds for a birth injury claim.

Cerebral palsy often results from oxygen deprivation (hypoxia) during birth, which can occur when healthcare providers fail to recognize or respond to fetal distress, delay necessary C-sections, improperly manage delivery complications, or make other errors during labor and delivery. Not all cerebral palsy cases involve negligence, some result from factors unrelated to medical care. However, an experienced birth injury attorney can review your medical records and work with expert neurologists to determine whether your child’s condition was preventable. Call Monument Legal today for a free case evaluation to discuss your child’s specific circumstances.

Virginia law allows you to pursue several types of compensation in birth injury cases.

Economic damages include all past and future medical expenses, therapy and rehabilitation costs, special education needs, adaptive equipment and assistive devices, home and vehicle modifications, medications and ongoing treatments, lost parental wages from caring for your child, and your child’s lost future earning capacity if injuries prevent them from working as adults.

Non-economic damages compensate for your child’s pain and suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, emotional distress to your child and family members, and loss of normal childhood experiences and activities.

Virginia caps total damages in medical malpractice cases, which limits recovery in some situations, but exceptions may apply in cases involving multiple acts of negligence or multiple defendants. During your consultation, we’ll explain how Virginia’s damage cap might affect your specific case.

Signs suggesting medical negligence may have contributed to your child’s birth injury include the baby requiring extensive resuscitation after delivery, low Apgar scores (measurements of baby’s condition at birth), transfer to neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) unexpectedly, prolonged labor without appropriate intervention, fetal distress signals that weren’t addressed promptly, unexpected use of emergency C-section, baby experiencing seizures after birth, difficulty with feeding or breathing after delivery, and vague or changing explanations from medical staff about what happened.

Additionally, review the labor and delivery records for concerning patterns like gaps in fetal monitoring documentation, delayed response to abnormal fetal heart tracings, failure to call for assistance during complications, or inconsistencies in nursing notes and physician notes. If you have concerns, consult an experienced birth injury attorney who can review medical records and have independent experts evaluate whether the standard of care was met.

This concern is understandable but should not prevent you from pursuing a legitimate claim.

First, your birth injury lawsuit is against the healthcare provider’s malpractice insurance, not the doctor personally. Second, your medical records and any lawsuit are private and protected by medical confidentiality laws. Future healthcare providers will not know about your legal case unless you choose to tell them. Third, you have every right to hold negligent providers accountable, and doing so may prevent similar injuries to other families. Finally, most physicians respect parents who advocate for their child’s best interests, including seeking compensation when negligence occurs.

Your relationship with future healthcare providers should be based on their competence and your child’s needs, not fear of being labeled a “difficult patient” for exercising your legal rights.