Birth Injury
NationwideBirth Trauma Malpractice
Mechanical injuries during labor and delivery — when they should have been prevented.
"Birth trauma" is the umbrella term for physical injuries a baby sustains during labor and delivery. Some are unavoidable. Many are not. When an obstetrician, midwife, or labor-and-delivery nurse uses excessive force, misuses forceps or vacuum extractors, or fails to convert to a cesarean in time, the resulting trauma can leave a child with lifelong disability — and the family with decades of medical bills.
Gilman & Bedigian has secured eight-figure recoveries for families whose children suffered preventable birth trauma. Every case is reviewed by our in-house board-certified physician before we file.
Common types of birth trauma
- Brachial plexus injuries — including Erb's palsy and Klumpke's palsy from shoulder dystocia mismanagement.
- Skull fractures and intracranial bleeds — often associated with forceps or vacuum-assisted deliveries.
- Cephalohematoma and subgaleal hemorrhage — bleeding under the scalp or skull, frequently linked to instrumented delivery.
- Facial paralysis — from forceps compression of the facial nerve.
- Bone fractures — clavicle and long-bone fractures from difficult extractions.
- Spinal cord and nerve damage — from excessive traction or rotation during delivery.
- Hypoxic-ischemic injury — when trauma is combined with oxygen deprivation, leading to HIE or cerebral palsy.
When is birth trauma malpractice?
Not every injury is the result of negligence. The legal question is whether the medical team's conduct fell below the accepted standard of care — and whether a reasonably competent provider would have prevented the injury. Common departures from the standard of care include:
- Failing to anticipate a large baby (macrosomia) or other delivery risk factors.
- Using forceps or a vacuum extractor when the conditions for safe use weren't met, or after multiple failed attempts.
- Excessive lateral traction in response to shoulder dystocia rather than recognized maneuvers (McRoberts, suprapubic pressure, Wood's screw).
- Delaying a cesarean section in the face of a clearly arrested or obstructed labor.
- Inadequate hand-off or supervision when a less experienced provider performs the delivery.
What recovery typically covers
A successful birth-trauma claim can fund a lifetime of care: ongoing medical treatment, in-home nursing, therapy, adaptive equipment, educational support, lost future earnings, and compensation for the pain and trauma the family has endured. Many of our birth-injury verdicts and settlements have exceeded $30 million.
