A birth injury can turn what should be a joyful experience into a devastating ordeal. If your child was harmed due to a medical provider’s negligence, you may be entitled to compensation and justice. At the Law Offices of Anidjar & Levine, we understand the emotional and financial toll a preventable birth injury takes on your family. That’s why we’re here to help.
Our Florida birth injury lawyers are committed to holding negligent hospitals, doctors, and nurses accountable. Whether your child suffered cerebral palsy, brachial plexus injury, or another trauma, we’ll work tirelessly to uncover what went wrong and fight for the financial support your child will need for a lifetime of care. A Florida personal injury lawyer from the Law Offices of Anidjar & Levine can help your family through this difficult time. Contact us today for a free consultation.
Examples Of Negligence In Florida Birth Injury Cases
Medical negligence during labor and delivery can occur in various forms. Some common cases our lawyers help with include:
- Failure to Monitor Fetal Distress: If fetal heart rate monitors indicate distress but the medical team delays intervention, such as an emergency C-section, it can result in oxygen deprivation and conditions like cerebral palsy.
- Misuse of Delivery Tools: Improper use of forceps or vacuum extractors can lead to skull fractures, nerve damage, or brain injuries.
- Delayed Diagnosis of Complications: Conditions such as umbilical cord prolapse, preeclampsia, or placental abruption must be promptly diagnosed and treated to prevent harm.
- Inadequate Response to Prolonged Labor: Extended labor without proper medical oversight increases the risk of trauma to both mother and baby, including brachial plexus injuries or uterine rupture.
- Medication Errors: Administering the wrong dosage of labor-inducing drugs like Pitocin can cause overly strong contractions, putting the baby at risk.
- Improper Handling Post-Birth: Negligence doesn’t end after delivery. Failure to diagnose and treat issues like jaundice, infections, or internal bleeding can also constitute malpractice.
At the Law Offices of Anidjar & Levine, we work with trusted medical professionals to analyze what went wrong in your delivery and whether it could have—and should have—been prevented. If we discover that negligence was a factor, we’ll fight aggressively to hold the responsible parties accountable and pursue the compensation your family deserves.
Common Birth Injuries Sustained In Florida
Birth injuries can cause children to grow up dealing with issues. For example, they could miss out on playing sports or participating in activities that other children can. Depending on the type of injury they sustain, it could affect their life significantly.
Types of birth injuries newborns could sustain include the following:
- Cerebral palsy: A movement disorder that could cause stiff muscles, uncontrollable movements, or poor balance and coordination. A newborn could develop cerebral palsy if a doctor or nurse acts negligently during delivery.
- Brachial plexus injuries: The brachial plexus sends signals from the spinal cord to the shoulders through a network of nerves. When these nerves get compressed or stretched, an injury could occur. Unfortunately, this injury can occur when a newborn undergoes a problematic birth. Thus, medical professionals must monitor babies to minimize the risk of sustaining this injury.
- Cephalohematoma: This injury occurs when blood collects between the scalp and skull due to damaged blood vessels during delivery. A bulge on the top of the baby’s head could develop. When babies sustain this injury, they may require additional treatment, such as blood transfusions, to relieve the issue.
Did the medical professionals who oversaw your pregnancy and delivery act negligently? Regardless of the birth injury your child sustained, we’ll help you seek compensation for your losses.
You Can Count On Our Birth Injury Lawyers To Advocate For You
If you believe your child sustained an injury because of the negligence of a medical professional, you could turn to our firm for help. In addition, we can advocate for your family to recover the compensation you need. Moreover, when medical professionals make careless mistakes, they deserve to pay.
The Florida birth injury lawyers at the Law Offices of Anidjar & Levine will fight for your family. When you choose our firm to represent you, you can expect the following:
- Not to pay for our legal services unless you recover compensation. We offer both free consultations and a contingency fee structure. Thus, you don’t pay to speak to us to learn about your legal options. Also, you don’t pay us upfront. Instead, we only charge a small percentage of your winnings—and if you don’t receive compensation, you owe us nothing.
- Compassionate legal care from everyone at our law firm. Our entire legal team knows the challenging journey many of our clients face. Therefore, we offer compassionate legal representation and personalize each case to fit individual needs.
- To receive your attorney’s cell phone number. That way, you can quickly contact them when you have questions regarding your case.
Even if your child has a minor birth injury, you can still seek maximum compensation from the liable party. Newborns deserve proper medical care. When they don’t receive it, your family deserves justice.
How the Legal Process Works in a Florida Birth Injury Case
Pursuing a birth injury claim might seem daunting, especially when you’re focused on your child’s health and future. But the legal process doesn’t have to add more stress—it’s our job to carry that weight for you. When you contact our firm, everything begins with a conversation. We’ll listen to what happened during your pregnancy, labor, and delivery, and help you understand whether medical negligence may have played a role.
Then, we must conduct a thorough investigation. That means collecting medical records, delivery notes, and other documentation. We also consult medical experts to analyze what should have happened and whether your care fell short of the accepted standard. These professionals help us connect the dots between a provider’s mistake and your child’s injury.
From there, we’ll file a legal claim against the parties responsible. We’ll negotiate with the at-fault parties and their insurers to pursue a fair financial recovery for your medical expenses, ongoing care, and emotional distress. If they refuse to offer a just amount, we won’t hesitate to take your case to trial and seek what your family deserves.
Throughout the process, we keep you informed, answer your questions, and protect your rights. You don’t pay anything unless we win. That’s our commitment to you—legal support that’s aggressive when it needs to be, and compassionate when it matters most.
Medical Negligence In Florida Birth Injury Cases
When you place your trust in medical professionals to guide you through pregnancy, labor, and delivery, you expect a high standard of care. Most medical providers meet this expectation. However, when doctors, nurses, or other healthcare staff make avoidable mistakes that result in harm to your newborn, those actions may rise to the level of medical negligence.
Understanding what constitutes negligence is crucial in determining whether you have a valid birth injury claim.
Defining Medical Negligence
Medical negligence occurs when a healthcare provider fails to deliver care that meets the accepted standard within the medical community, and that failure directly causes injury or harm. In the context of childbirth, it means the medical team did not act as a reasonably competent provider would have in similar circumstances, resulting in preventable injuries to the child or mother.
To prove medical negligence, a legal claim must typically establish four key elements:
- Duty of Care – The medical provider had a professional duty to care for the mother and child.
- Breach of Duty – The provider failed to meet the accepted standard of care (e.g., ignoring warning signs of fetal distress).
- Causation – The breach directly caused injury to the child or mother.
- Damages – The injury resulted in measurable harm, such as physical disability, emotional trauma, or financial loss.
Medical Negligence Is Different From An Unavoidable Birth Outcome
It’s important to understand that not every poor outcome is the result of negligence. Some birth injuries may occur even when the medical team does everything right. However, if a healthcare provider ignored warning signs, misread tests, failed to act swiftly, or otherwise departed from standard procedure, those actions could be considered negligent.
This distinction is why an experienced birth injury attorney is vital. They can thoroughly review your case with medical experts to determine whether negligence played a role in your child’s injury.
How Much Compensation Can I Seek In A Florida Birth Injury Claim?
Many factors can influence how much you receive in a birth injury case. Our legal team can help you reach a fair settlement outside of court. However, we will represent you in a lawsuit if we cannot settle your case.
We will review your damages to determine how much our lawyers can pursue on your family’s behalf. For instance, you could recover compensation for the following:
- Economic damages: Any monetary loss you sustained because of the birth injury. Examples include medical care costs, physical therapy costs, or lost income while you cared for your child. In addition, we could calculate the lifelong costs of caring for a disabled child.
- Non-economic damages: Your child might feel physical pain or emotional distress because of the injury they sustained. These and other intangible losses can have lifelong effects on both your child and your family, and we can help you seek a settlement or verdict that addresses these needs.
Damages from a birth injury could become complicated because it’s difficult to determine how long your child will suffer from issues related to their injury. Thus, our attorneys can speak to medical experts to gain a clearer picture. Then, we can prove the impact this injury could have on your child.
Statute of Limitations for Birth Injury Claims in Florida
In Florida, families must act within specific time limits—called the statute of limitations—to file a birth injury lawsuit. Generally, you have two years from the date you discovered (or should have discovered) that medical negligence caused your child’s injury per Florida Statutes § 95.11. However, no case can be filed more than four years after the incident—unless an exception applies.
One major exception involves injured children under the age of 8. In these cases, Florida law allows parents to file a claim anytime before the child’s 8th birthday, even if the injury occurred during birth. This protects families when birth injuries like cerebral palsy or developmental delays are not immediately obvious.
That said, it’s still critical to act quickly. Waiting too long can make it harder to gather evidence, secure expert testimony, and build a strong case. Once the statute of limitations expires, you may lose the right to pursue compensation, even if your child was clearly harmed by negligence.
Florida Birth Injury Lawsuit FAQs
How Long Does A Birth Injury Case Take To Resolve?
Every case is different, but many birth injury claims in Florida take several months to a few years to resolve. If the case settles out of court, it may wrap up more quickly. However, if litigation is necessary, the process can take longer due to discovery, expert evaluations, and trial scheduling.
Will I Have To Go To Court?
Not necessarily. Most birth injury cases settle before trial, meaning you may never have to appear in court. That said, if the other side refuses to offer a fair settlement, we’re fully prepared to represent you in front of a judge and jury.
What Kind Of Evidence Is Used In These Cases?
Evidence in a birth injury claim often includes medical records, fetal monitoring strips, labor and delivery notes, imaging scans, and testimony from medical experts. We also use witness statements, hospital communications, and sometimes video evidence (if available) to build a clear timeline of what went wrong.
Contact Us Today For A Free Consultation With Our Florida Birth Injury Lawyers
Contact our Florida birth injury attorneys today to learn more about the compensation you could recover after a birth injury. We will stand up for your family through the case. In addition, holding medical professionals accountable could help prevent another newborn from getting injured because of their negligence.
We Can Help.
