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Chicago Birth Injury Lawyer

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Chicago Birth Injury Lawyer

The Chicago birth injury lawyer team at Curcio & Casciato represents parents whose child’s injuries occurred due to medical negligence during pregnancy, labor, and delivery, or aftercare. Our Chicago personal injury law firm provides experienced legal representation for victims throughout Cook County. We hire medical experts and are skilled at negotiating with insurance companies to ensure negligent health care providers, hospitals, and birthing centers are held responsible for all mothers’ and children’s injuries. If you suspect medical negligence caused your baby’s health condition, our labor and delivery malpractice attorneys will work to secure the full compensation for the child’s past healthcare costs, lost income, and money to ensure the child’s future expenses are covered as well.

Our Chicago birth injury attorneys handle legal claims on a contingency fee basis and offer free case evaluations. This means that clients don’t pay anything up front unless we obtain a fair settlement or jury award.

If your child suffered a birth injury or birth defect in Cook County, contact a Chicago birth injury attorney by filling out our contact form or calling 312-321-1111 to schedule your free consultation.

Chicago Birth Injury Lawyer

Legal Advice for Birth Injury Cases in Chicago

If you believe your child’s birth injury was affected by insufficient care in the Chicagoland area, including Naperville, Joliet, Aurora, Kankakee, Rockford, and the surrounding locations, you must act quickly to protect your family’s legal rights. Illinois families generally have eight years from the date of medical errors to file a lawsuit under the state’s legal malpractice timelines.

If medical malpractice caused a child’s permanent injury or lifelong disability, Illinois deadlines for filing a lawsuit can extend until the victim’s 22nd birthday.

A Chicago birth injury attorney from our firm will conduct a thorough investigation to determine whether the obstetrician, attending physician, or other medical professional didn’t meet the accepted standard of care in Illinois. We help secure medical records and other evidence, secure expert opinions, and negotiate with insurance companies on your behalf. We ensure legal claims account for the child’s past and future medical expenses, parents’ lost wages, life care planners, home and vehicle modifications, support services, and other lifetime costs. We’re skilled at negotiating with hospital insurers and are trial-prepared when birth injury litigation is necessary to obtain full compensation for the harm caused.

Because Illinois hospitals and medical networks have significant legal teams, hiring a skilled birth injury lawyer in Chicago, IL, is critical to protect your legal rights and ensure success in birth injury cases.

If your child suffered medical issues during or shortly after they were born, contact a Chicago birth injury attorney to pursue justice and recover damages for your family.

Common Cook County Birth Injuries We Handle

Wrongful Death Birth Injury Claims

The most common medical malpractice–related causes of infant death are well-documented across neonatal safety research and patient-safety data. The most common types include:

  • Untreated or unrecognized fetal oxygen deprivation caused by failure to monitor fetal distress, delayed response to abnormal fetal heart rates, or failure to perform timely emergency procedures.
  • Shoulder dystocia mismanagement.
  • Not performing timely emergency C-sections, especially when healthcare providers ignore non-reassuring fetal heart tones, uterine rupture risk, placental abruption, or cord prolapse.
  • Inappropriate use of forceps or vacuum extractors can cause permanent brain damage, fatal head trauma, skull fractures, intracranial hemorrhage, or brain swelling.
  • Failure to treat mothers’ infections (for example, chorioamnionitis or Group B Strep).
  • Induction drug mistakes.
  • Failure to diagnose or manage placental complications.
  • Negligent resuscitation after childbirth.

If you lost a newborn due to suspected medical negligence, a Chicago infant death attorney can help you pursue justice, accountability, and financial compensation. Our wrongful death law firm has secured numerous favorable settlements and verdicts on behalf of previous clients for the fatality of their child, including a $1,986,485 verdict. We’ll review medical records, consult professionals with expertise, and determine whether mistakes caused your precious infant’s death.

When infants have an insufficient oxygen supply during labor and delivery, they can suffer asphyxia. This can result from complications like cord compression, abruption, prolonged labor, or not providing emergency procedures.

Lack of oxygen can cause hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE). Chicago HIE birth injury claims result from health conditions in which insufficient oxygen supply and blood flow to the baby’s brain cause the child’s birth injury. Hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy can result in lifelong disabilities like cerebral palsy, epilepsy, or, in worst cases, infant death.

Anoxic brain injuries refer to permanent brain damage resulting from a lack of oxygen. Outcomes are normally fatal. Treating anoxic damage requires immediate medical care and extensive NICU stays. Our Chicago birth injury lawyers work closely with leading oxygen deprivation treatment centers, including Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago and University of Chicago Comer Children’s Hospital.

Our childbirth malpractice attorneys have secured several settlements on behalf of previous head trauma-related child and birth injury clients, including a $250,000, $3,500,000, $4,500,000, two $5,000,000, $5,600,000, and $7,400,000 settlements. If you suspect medical negligence caused or contributed to your child’s oxygen deprivation or brain injury during childbirth, your child’s future depends on hiring experienced birth injury attorneys in Chicago who can help family members determine their legal options.

Cerebral palsy occurs from the baby’s lack of oxygen and blood flow during labor and delivery, leading to permanent injuries involving the person’s ability to control movement. This is the most common type of hospital-related birth injury.

Birth asphyxia, HIE, umbilical cord prolapse, abruption, prolonged labor, and delayed emergency C-section are among the most common causes of cerebral palsy related to medical malpractice. Cerebral palsy presents in several types, including:

  • Spastic cerebral palsy: spastic quadriplegia, spastic hemiplegia, spastic diplegia
  • Dyskinetic cerebral palsy: athetoid cerebral palsy, choreoathetoid cerebral palsy, dystonic cerebral palsy
  • Ataxic cerebral palsy: balance and coordination-based cerebral palsy involving cerebellar injury
  • Mixed cerebral palsy: a combination of dyskinetic, ataxic, or spastic cerebral palsy features, depending on the location

Our birth injury attorneys in Chicago work with major neonatal treatment centers, including Shirley Ryan, Lurie’s cerebral palsy treatment specialists, Advocate’s cerebral palsy treatment team, Lake Forest Pediatric Associates, Chicago Pediatric Therapy & Wellness, and other local cerebral palsy treatment centers.

When pursuing cerebral palsy claims in Chicago, our firm seeks compensatory damages for lifelong seizure management, vent support, neurological monitoring, physical and occupational therapy, life care planners, and other expenses. Cerebral palsy is a life-altering disability, and many birth injury cases involving cerebral palsy require at least $1 million in medical care. If you suspect your child suffered cerebral palsy because of a negligent health care provider, call to determine your legal options. We investigate whether medical errors caused or contributed to your baby’s cerebral palsy.

These serious injuries can trigger medical-malpractice investigations because they can result from preventable mistakes during pregnancy, labor, and delivery, involving the baby’s scalp. Such birth injury claims are often linked to failing to monitor fetal distress, excessive pressure from forceps or vacuum extractors, unmanaged infections in the mother, unsafe induction practices, or delays in responding promptly to signs of oxygen deprivation. When a baby suffers excessive bleeding or a stroke, they’ll require seizure management, extensive NICU care, and may face lifelong disabilities that require ongoing treatment.

A birth injury lawyer in Chicago can evaluate whether the inadequate monitoring, delayed c-sections, or incorrect use of delivery tools caused the infant’s stroke or blood loss. Family members rely on our attorneys to gather complete medical records, consult neonatal experts, determine whether medical negligence caused the injury, and build compelling cases to secure the lifelong financial compensation that their child deserves.

Spinal cord injuries at birth can range from mild nerve disruption to paralysis. These birth injury cases often occur when excessive pressure, pulling, or twisting is applied to the baby’s scalp or neck during complicated deliveries. Some infants suffer specialized patterns of spinal cord injuries, such as central cord syndrome, anterior cord syndrome, posterior cord syndrome, or Brown–Séquard syndrome. Each spinal cord injury impairs movement, sensation, or function. Depending on severity, traction during delivery can cause nerve root avulsion or spine damage that extends into the brachial plexus, potentially leading to paralysis. Because spine trauma often occurs from preventable complications, family members often have valid birth injury claims related to spinal cord injuries in Chicago. Birth injury attorneys can conduct investigations to determine whether delayed c-sections, forceps, or vacuum extractor misuse during vaginal delivery, or improper maneuvers contributed to the spinal cord injury.

Kernicterus is a preventable form of brain damage caused by extremely high, untreated bilirubin levels. When bilirubin isn’t treated in an adequate time frame, toxicity can cause permanent health conditions, like athetoid or dystonic cerebral palsy, deafness, developmental delays, and even death. A birth injury lawyer in Chicago can investigate hospital readings, newborn jaundice screening protocols, follow-up timing, and whether recommended medical care was delayed or ignored. This helps families seek compensation for lifelong medical bills for therapy and support.

Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) often becomes a medical malpractice issue when medical practitioners fail to recognize symptoms or follow proper NICU protocols. Medical staff can be negligent when they introduce formula too early, overlook symptoms, fail to order testing, or transfer babies to better-equipped NICUs. Contact a birth injury attorney in Chicago to discuss filing a lawsuit.

Chorioamnionitis, neonatal sepsis, and other missed infections often lead to birth injury claims because these birth injury cases cause rapid, preventable harm if not recognized by medical professionals. Chorioamnionitis malpractice concerns arise when health care providers overlook maternal fever, abnormal fetal monitoring, or signs of infection and fail to give antibiotics or start the delivery process. After birth, newborn sepsis occurs when medical teams miss symptoms of temperature instability, poor feeding, or breathing problems, or delay necessary testing and antibiotics. Untreated infections can cause HIE, brain injury, organ failure, or result in infant mortality. Our birth injury attorneys are skilled at navigating birth injury claims for chorioaminiotis and sepsis injuries in Chicago.

Periventricular leukomalacia (PVL) typically happens due to a lack of oxygen or blood or missed infections during birth. PVL often leads to spastic diplegic cerebral palsy, vision problems, and other injuries. Medical malpractice concerns arise when negligent health care providers fail to recognize fetal distress, delay delivery, or allow unstable oxygen or blood-pressure levels in the NICU. If you work with our firm, your child’s birth injury lawyer in Chicago will review delivery records, infection control practices, and imaging to identify whether medical errors contributed to your child’s injuries.

Persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn (PPHN) occurs when a baby’s circulation does not transition properly after birth, leading to severe breathing problems. Medical malpractice happens when health care providers don’t monitor fetal heart rate, don’t provide emergency c-sections, miss a mother’s infection, misuse induction medications, or make mistakes in the NICU. If you suspect the mother or child was improperly treated and PPHN affected your child’s ability to develop properly or caused physical trauma, a birth injury lawyer in Chicago will gather the necessary evidence and aggressively advocate to help your family seek fair financial assistance.

When medical professionals fail to monitor distress, don’t provide timely deliveries, or mismanage airway management after the baby is born, families may be eligible to file a medical malpractice lawsuit for meconium aspiration syndrome. Our Chicago birth injury lawyers have extensive experience with legal claims involving respiratory failure, PPHN, and other injuries resulting from meconium aspiration syndrome in Cook County.

Subgaleal hemorrhage and bone fractures are caused by serious birth trauma associated with excessive force and medical negligence during vaginal deliveries, especially when doctors use forceps or vacuum extractors. Our birth injury attorneys in Chicago review medical records, monitoring data, and newborn imaging to determine whether incorrect use of assistive devices or other forms of medical malpractice contributed to your child’s birth injury.

When the child’s arm is stuck behind the mother’s pelvis in the birth canal and the doctor applies excessive traction, the infant can suffer brachial plexus injury and shoulder dystocia. Brachial plexus injury malpractice issues arise when medical professionals pull too hard on the baby’s scalp or the affected arm, and there’s evidence of incorrect use of vaginal delivery tools. When medical negligence occurs during the birthing process, this can stretch or tear the infant’s nerves. Depending on severity, this leads to paralysis in the arm, as seen in Erb’s Palsy. If your family needs to pursue a birth injury lawsuit, our attorneys have a deep understanding of shoulder dystocia claims in Chicago and Erb’s Palsy claims in Chicago. Your child’s birth injury lawyer will evaluate whether the medical team identified risk factors, called for timely assistance, used approved childbirth maneuvers, and avoided dangerous forces. If your baby experienced nerve damage during childbirth in Chicago, you’ll need attorneys experienced with birth injury litigation.

Many birth injury claims involving facial nerve damage and floppy baby syndrome indicate birth trauma during vaginal delivery or missed neurologic problems. Doctors can cause facial nerve palsy or facial paralysis from inappropriate use of assistive devices or from improper hand placement.

Floppy baby syndrome can signal missed distress, not providing a timely delivery, or failing to respond to neurological symptoms immediately after childbirth. Our birth injury lawyers in Chicago focus on whether medical professionals used safe delivery practices, followed adequate monitoring protocols, and performed timely evaluations to identify and treat potential injuries.

birth injury lawyer chicago

Cases Our Birth Defect Attorneys in Chicago, IL, Handle

  • Spina Bifida from negligent prenatal care or missed folic acid deficiency
  • Hydrocephalus that’s caused or worsened by delayed treatment or missed infection
  • Congenital heart defects that are linked to medication errors or failure to detect abnormalities
  • Limb reduction defects caused by negligent exposure to toxins or unsafe medications
  • Microcephaly caused by untreated Zika or cytomegalovirus in the mother
  • Neural Tube Defects resulting from failure to monitor or provide adequate prenatal care

How a Chicago Birth Trauma Attorney Can Help With Maternal Injuries

Placental Abruption and Uterine Rupture

Placental abruption and uterine rupture often lead to birth injury claims when healthcare providers ignore a mother’s pain, bleeding, or abnormal fetal monitoring and don’t provide timely emergency surgery. This can harm both the mother and the baby. It’s more dangerous when negligent health care providers attempt vaginal deliveries in breech delivery situations. Our mother’s birth injury lawyers in Chicago can help secure financial compensation for the harm caused to both the child and the mother. We work diligently to ensure that defendants are held liable and provide the lifetime resources families need for the complex circumstances.

When obstetricians aren’t aware of a mother’s excessive bleeding, ignore signs of retained placental tissues, or delay surgery or medications, especially after difficult times, ike breech deliveries, the family can pursue a birth injury lawsuit in Cook County. Liability increases when doctors ignore risk factors during childbirth or in postnatal care. A birth injury lawyer in Chicago can help secure fair compensation for past and future medical costs and other consequences for both the mother and the baby.

While amniotic fluid embolisms are generally unavoidable, families can file birth injury lawsuits when the doctor isn’t aware of the rapid changes in the mother’s status, delays resuscitation, doesn’t follow emergency response practices, or doesn’t secure blood and critical care support in time. Our birth injury lawyers in Chicago can identify whether the doctor or hospital was responsible and help families through the next steps of securing crucial resources.

Uterine inversion and surgery errors in Chicago can lead to birth injury lawsuits when doctors deliver using improper techniques or only recognize emergencies too late. Liability increases when obstetricians aren’t immediately aware of inversion or don’t provide emergency surgery.

Surgical birth injuries often result from medical negligence during procedures, inadequate visualization, or mishandling of forceps or vacuums. A birth injury lawyer can identify whether the doctor followed accepted standards, responded appropriately once complications occurred, and took steps to mitigate the mother’s and child’s injuries.

Common Chicago Birth Injury Causes

Chicago Birth Injury Law Firm

Failure to Monitor Fetal Distress – Brain Damage and Umbilical Cord Prolapse

Our birth injury lawyers have secured numerous fair settlements for this type of birth injury claim, including a $3,500,000 settlement, $4,500,000 settlement, and $5,000,000 settlement for failure to recognize fetal distress, and a $7,400,000 settlement for a child’s brain damage case.

Improper Use of Forceps and V-BAC Injuries

For forceps and vacuum extractor birth injury claims in Chicago, our birth injury lawyers have a proven track record for showing that doctors didn’t uphold their duty of care by deviating from accepted practices. For example, we prove negligence by demonstrating the doctor misapplied forceps, continued through excessive pulls, failed to switch to vacuum extractors or surgery when necessary, or failed to monitor fetal signs. Our attorneys secure complete medical records and expert opinions and show how the child’s injury diagnosis affects their quality of life.

The average vacuum or forceps birth injury settlement is around $1 million in Illinois. However, depending on the severity, disability lifetime costs, and other factors, these birth injury lawsuits can exceed double-digit millions.

Labor Induction Injury (Cytotec and Pitocin Birth Injuries)

For labor induction injury claims in Chicago, our birth injury lawyers prove negligence by showing that doctors failed to uphold their duty of care by creating dangerous uterine conditions that harmed patients. Both the child and mother can suffer a birth injury when doctors administer too much Pitocin or Cytotec, increase doses too quickly, or don’t monitor how the uterus and fetus respond. These drug injuries and medication errors in Chicago can result in a variety of severe birth injury claims. Our attorneys secure expert opinions to show how the child’s injury diagnosis affects their quality of life. The average birth injury settlement for too much Pitocin or Cytotec in Illinois is $1 million. However, courts may award several million dollars when severe hypoxia, permanent disability, or excessive medical bills are involved.

Failure to Perform Timely C-Section

When doctors fail to perform timely C-sections in Cook County, our birth injury lawyers have a proven track record of showing that doctors didn’t uphold their duty of care. Our attorneys obtain full reports, secure expert testimony, and document how the child’s diagnosis affects long-term outcomes. The average birth injury settlement in Illinois is about $1 million. Birth injury claims involving severe hypoxia or permanent neurologic impairment can reach several million dollars.

Mismanagement of High-Risk Pregnancies (HELLP Syndrome, Missed Preclampsia, and Eclampsia)

Our birth injury lawyers feel comfortable with birth injury litigation involving high-risk pregnancies. We’re skilled at identifying liability and negotiating settlements for HELLP syndrome, missed preeclampsia, and eclampsia. These can result in devastating circumstances, and your child’s birth injury lawyer will refuse to settle for less than what clients deserve.

The average high-risk pregnancy mismanagement settlement in Illinois is about $1 million. However, when the medical costs and future medical expenses are extensive, for example, clients can recover several million dollars in settlements and verdicts for such medical issues.

Birth Injuries Caused by Midwife Negligence in Chicago

Our Chicago midwife negligence lawyers have secured two $5 million settlements. We secured one settlement when a midwife didn’t order fetal testing before a hospital transfer. Another client’s settlements were secured after a home delivery attended by a certified nurse-midwife resulted in complications that weren’t properly managed.

Miscarriage, DNC Negligence, and Other Maternal Injuries

91% of pregnancy-related deaths in Illinois, and over 80% of maternal deaths in Cook County, were preventable in recent years. The number of maternal fatalities in Chicago and across Illinois continues to rise. Black women are nearly twice as likely to die from negligent prenatal care in Illinois as white women. Pregnant medicaid patients are over 3x as likely to die as pregnant women with private insurance companies. Settlements for maternal injury claims in Chicago depend on the economic and non-economic damages. Local courts have issued settlements and verdicts ranging from $1 million to several million dollars.

Chicago Birth Injury Attorney

Chicago Hospitals Where Birth Injuries Can Occur

When to File a Chicago Birth Injury Lawsuit

File a birth injury lawsuit in Cook County when the mother or the child was injured by avoidable medical errors. Medical malpractice lawsuits are appropriate when harm stems from not providing timely C-sections, improper monitoring, drug errors, procedural mistakes, or failing to treat fetal or maternal distress. Parents typically pursue birth injury claims to obtain fair compensation for medical bills, lost wages, occupational and physical therapy, full-time care, education, vehicle and home modifications, pain and suffering, and other economic and non-economic damages resulting from the medical practitioner’s negligence.

Illinois Birth Injury Laws and Deadlines

Illinois families have eight years to file a lawsuit, regardless of discovery, under the state’s statute of limitations. If the child’s injury resulted in a disability, the deadline can extend until the child turns 22 years old. For maternal cases, the statute of limitations follows the Illinois standard two-year medical malpractice deadlines. If discovery was delayed by the act of omission by the doctor or hospital, Illinois families have a four-year time frame.

It’s crucial to understand that the necessary evidence to secure reasonable settlement offers from insurance companies doesn’t last forever. The faster parents hire birth injury lawyers, the better their chances of recovering settlements or court verdicts are.

The state of Illinois does not impose a damage cap for economic or non-economic damages, like pain and suffering, in medical malpractice lawsuits. Additionally, punitive damages are generally not available in standard medical malpractice cases in Illinois.

Additionally, for birth injury claims in Illinois, plaintiffs must file a pre-suit affidavit or certificate of merit signed by a medical expert, determining there is a reasonable cause to file a lawsuit.

Fair Compensation in Chicago Birth Injury Cases

  • Lifetime medical care: $10M-$50 million for severe cerebral palsy
  • Lost earning capacity over the lifetime
  • Pain and suffering (no caps in Illinois)
  • occupational therapy, physical therapy, and speech therapy costs
  • Special education and adaptive equipment
  • In-home modifications and nursing care
  • Life care planners for lifetime costs

How a Chicago Birth Injury Malpractice Lawyer Can Help

Our Chicago childbirth injury attorneys prove medical negligence by collecting and analyzing every clinical detail surrounding prenatal care to postnatal care. We review fetal monitoring strips, labor and delivery records, documents with APGAR scores, and other reports to show that hospitals or medical practitioners are liable under Illinois medical malpractice laws.

We calculate current medical expenses, future medical costs, lost wages for parents, and future earnings for disabled children, ensuring that clients don’t settle for anything less than fair payments for life-long costs. Our attorneys are prepared to present cases in trials when insurers refuse to settle fairly.

Contact a Chicago Birth Injury Attorney For a Free Consultation

If your baby was harmed during labor and delivery in a Chicago hospital, consult Curcio & Casciato. They aggressively advocate for victims, addressing a range of OBGYN-related cases, and the firm is backed by decades of successful medical malpractice representation. To schedule a free case evaluation, use the contact form or call 312-321-1111.