Birth Injury

Cleveland Birth Injury Attorneys

100+ Years of Collective Experience

Birth injury attorneys exist for a reason- an injury to a baby before, during, or after birth can be an overwhelming tragedy that is difficult to navigate. Countless questions emerge: How could this happen? Was it preventable? Was someone at fault? The answers to these questions may be the key to filing a birth injury lawsuit to recover some of the damages your family has suffered.

How Our Birth Injury Law Firm Can Help You

At The Becker Law Firm, we have medical experts on staff and employ a team of physicians to better understand every aspect of a case. We know the right questions to ask to ensure that the negligence which harmed you or your child is held accountable to the full extent of the law.

Bringing a birth injury claim is a complex undertaking. Recovering damages means going up against doctors, hospitals, and high-powered defense lawyers hired by insurance carriers that care more about profits than people.

The law firm you choose to handle your birth injury lawsuit must have the financial resources to pay for top medical experts and other costs associated with prosecuting a birth injury case. An effective birth injuries attorney must also have successful trial experience because providers are reluctant to settle out of court. 

Our Ohio birth injury attorneys have secured tens of millions of dollars for families and some of Ohio's largest malpractice verdicts and birth injury settlements.

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Has your baby been injured during childbirth? Call The Becker Law Firm today at (440) 252-4399 or contact us online to schedule a meeting with our birth injury attorneys in Cleveland! We also represent families in Elyria, Toledo, Cincinnati, Columbus, and Dayton.


Do I Have a Birth Injury Claim?

The easiest way to know if you have a case is to meet with a strong legal team. Contact our legal team at The Becker Law Firm today if you suspect your child’s permanent injury or death could have been prevented or caused by medical malpractice or negligence.

We offer a free initial consultation, and since we accept cases on a contingency fee basis, you won’t be charged any fees unless we win your case. If you aren’t yet ready to talk with us directly, we have compiled a list of facts about birth injuries that may be important to know as you decide how to seek justice.

4 Benefits of Filing a Birth Injury Claim

What Is the Difference Between Birth Injuries and Birth Defects?

One of the first things to understand about birth injuries is that they are considerably different from birth defects. Birth defects are health complications that develop before birth.

Birth defects are congenital and have biological causes, such as genetic abnormalities or problems with the mother’s health during pregnancy. A birth defect is a health problem that stems from who the baby is, biologically speaking.

Birth injuries are health problems created before, during, or shortly after birth. Birth injuries aren’t the result of babies’ biology but rather something that happened to the baby during gestation, labor, delivery, or shortly after delivery.

If you are unsure if your child’s birth injury or defect was caused by a negligent doctor, a birth injury lawyer can analyze your case and help you figure out a plan of action.

What Are Common Causes Of Preventable Birth Injuries?

Some factors that contribute to a birth injury can be prevented by a physician or caregiver. If a physician or caregiver errs or fails to protect the patient's safety, or the hospital fails to ensure that the conditions in which care was provided were safe, a birth injury may result.

Generally speaking, preventable birth injuries most often occur when caregivers and physicians fail to provide necessary prenatal care during pregnancy, make mistakes during labor or delivery, or fail to recognize and respond to complications immediately following birth.

Common mistakes or failures leading to birth injury include:

We employ every strategy to convince the insurance company or a jury that the injury was preventable and that the family should be compensated fairly.

What About Factors That Can’t Be Controlled?

Sometimes, conditions that lead to the injury of a child or mother during gestation, labor, or delivery are beyond the control of a physician. Examples of this could be a very premature birth or precipitous labor. When these or similar conditions are present, injury to the child or mother may be unavoidable, and the physician or caregiver may not be at fault for the resulting injury.

What Injuries Are Common During Birth?

Minor Birth Injuries Are Relatively Common

Birth is a traumatic experience for mothers and babies, as it takes a physical toll on their bodies. Minor injuries to both the mother and baby occur frequently, and these injuries often heal quickly and are not cause for serious alarm. These minor injuries include:

  • Minor bruising on the child’s face and head due to pressure from the mother’s contractions and travel through the birth canal.
  • Temporary paralysis due to pressure damaging the baby’s facial nerves. As long as a nerve is not torn, this condition should resolve itself.
  • Bleeding under the cranial bone (cephalohematoma) can cause a raised lump on the baby’s head within a few hours of birth. The baby’s body will gradually reabsorb the lump, although it may take up to three months to disappear entirely.
  • Broken blood vessels in the eyes of newborns (subconjunctival hemorrhage) may cause a red ring to appear around their irises. This does not damage the eyes and usually disappears within a week.

Birth Injuries Caused by Negligence

Many different birth injuries happen because the doctor saw no other way to deliver the baby. Yet, many cases are avoidable and happen due to miscommunication between the doctor and the rest of the hospital staff regarding your medical history. In these cases and instances of medical malpractice, affected families may be entitled to compensation.

Serious birth injuries to fetuses and newborns may include:

What Are the Long-Term Costs of Birth Injuries?

At The Becker Law Firm, we have worked with hundreds of families whose children have been permanently disabled due to a birth injury. The futures they had envisioned for their children may no longer be possible, and they often face overwhelming costs for ongoing care.

Some of the long-term health care needs of birth-injured children include:

  • Multiple surgeries
  • Nursing care
  • Ongoing medical care
  • Medical equipment
  • Medications
  • Physical, occupational, speech, vocational, and psychological therapy
  • Personal care attendants
  • Adaptive devices such as motorized wheelchairs, braces, and/or artificial limbs
  • Accessible vans and housing modifications
  • Enrollment in special-needs schools
  • Special tutors
  • Healthcare supplies

We understand that the impact of a birth injury is both financial and emotional. We work with life care planners to calculate the future costs of caring for a child with special needs.

We seek no less than the full damages for medical care and therapy, medications, equipment, special services, and the projected earnings of the child. Our demands also include damages for the victim’s lost quality of life, pain, suffering, and the emotional suffering of the parents.

What Damages Are Common in a Birth Injury Claim?

Legal Damages Go Beyond Medical Expenses

Damages are awards of money paid as compensation for an injury or wrongful death. Damages resulting from a birth injury are assessed with present and future costs in mind and may include compensation for the existing and ongoing costs of the child's medical care, the loss of time and income of parents who must now care for the birth-injured child, and the loss of the income that child would have earned as an adult if they had not been injured at birth.

If a child dies from a birth injury, their family’s award will include funerary costs. Families with children who are permanently disabled or die due to birth injuries lose more than just time and money – they lose love and companionship from their children. Parents and siblings often experience emotional suffering from the loss of these babies or the stress of ongoing care for those who survive. Contact our firm to find out if you have a viable claim.

How Long After a Birth Can You Sue for Medical Malpractice

In Ohio, the statute of limitations for filing a medical malpractice lawsuit is generally one year from the date the injury occurred or the date when the injury was discovered or reasonably should have been discovered. Ohio law also provides certain exceptions for minors (individuals under the age of 18 at the time of the injury) in medical malpractice cases. For minors, the statute of limitations may be extended, allowing them to bring a lawsuit for medical malpractice within one year of turning 18.

It is important to keep in mind that every case is unique, and various factors can impact the time limits for filing a medical malpractice lawsuit. If you believe you have a potential injury, it is essential to consult with an experienced birth injury attorney in Cleveland who can provide personalized advice based on the specific details of your case.
 

Seek Justice for You & Your Family

If your baby was injured before, during, or immediately after birth and suffered a permanent disability or wrongful death as a result of errors or negligence made by caregivers, holding them accountable is more than just a right; for the sake of your child and your family, it is a necessity.

The lifetime medical costs incurred by a family from a serious birth injury can be overwhelming and must be the caregivers or institutions that caused them. Holding physicians, caregivers, and medical institutions responsible for their mistakes is about more than just compensating those who have been harmed – it’s also about preventing future mistakes. Paying out large rewards for medical malpractice provides a huge incentive for caregivers and institutions to avoid making those same mistakes. 

Caregivers, medical institutions, and insurance providers employ armies of attorneys and experts to protect themselves from these cases and claim that they were not at fault. As a result, you’ll need your team of birth injury lawyers to ensure that your family's interests aren’t just brushed aside. As your advocates, the personal injury lawyers at The Becker Law Firm will keep your family’s interests front and center and won’t settle for anything less than the full justice you deserve.


Contact The Becker Law Firm today to schedule a FREE case evaluation!


 

$13.5 Million Birth Injury
Becker Law Firm attorneys Michael Becker and David Skall obtained a jury verdict for $13.5 million in Akron, Ohio. The case involved a now 16- year-old boy who suffered a brain injury at the time of birth (specifically a watershed injury). The doctor held liable for causing ...
  • $13.5 Million Birth Injury
  • $4.5 Million Birth Injury
  • $4.25 Million Birth Injury
  • “Michael Becker helped us secure our daughter’s future needs. We will always be grateful for the impact he has had on our family.” - Kris Harmon, mother of Perri
  • “Mike represented us as if he was fighting for his own family member. I knew that my son was getting the best representation in Northeast Ohio.” - Knyesha Washington
  • “David handled our case professionally and really cared about my daughter and her outcome.” - Client

Contact the Becker Law Firm to Fight for Full Justice

If a member of your family has been the victim of a birth injury due to medical negligence, please contact us today. The Becker Law Firm accepts cases on a contingency basis, meaning you will not be charged unless we win your case. Our Ohio birth injury attorneys are prepared to fight for you.


You can use the contact form on this page or call us at (440) 252-4399 to schedule a free initial consultation today.


 

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    Full Justice for Your Family Is a Lifetime Calculation

    It is difficult for a family who is experiencing a tragedy such as a serious birth injury to put a monetary amount on the pain they are feeling. On top of that, it’s next to impossible to anticipate what their costs and needs resulting from this injury will be for the rest of their and their child’s lives.

    If someone in your family has suffered a birth injury, you have already experienced more pain and suffering than most people will ever have to bear. If someone was negligent or erred in causing that injury, the negligent party or parties must compensate you for your losses and pay to meet the needs their errors caused. You shouldn’t have your pain and suffering compounded again and again by being forced to pay for their mistakes.

    Full justice for your family means ensuring that this compensation is sufficient to meet your family’s lifetime needs and will allow you and your child to live fulfilling lives. The Becker Law Firm and its team of experts will work with your family to identify your losses, project their costs over a lifetime, and then fight tirelessly for the full justice that you and your family deserve.

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