When medical professionals fail to provide proper care during pregnancy, labor, or delivery, the results can forever alter your family’s future. Birth injuries affect thousands of families across North Carolina each year, leaving parents to grapple with unexpected medical challenges and mounting healthcare costs.
Your child deserves the best possible start in life. When that opportunity is taken away through medical negligence, you need attorneys who understand both sides of the legal battlefield. We know their playbook and use that knowledge to fight for the compensation your family deserves.
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What Constitutes a Birth Injury Case?
Birth injuries occur when medical professionals deviate from accepted standards of care during pregnancy, labor, delivery, or immediate postpartum care. These cases require proof that healthcare providers acted negligently, causing harm that could have been prevented with proper medical attention.
North Carolina follows strict contributory negligence rules under N.C.G.S. § 1-139, which means even minimal fault attributed to the plaintiff can bar recovery entirely. Our team vigorously defends against any claims that you or your family contributed to the injury. We know how defense attorneys attempt to shift blame, and we prepare comprehensive strategies to counter these tactics from day one.
Medical malpractice claims in North Carolina must be filed within three years of discovery, but birth injury cases often have different timelines depending on when the injury becomes apparent. You should contact our office immediately to protect your legal rights and preserve crucial evidence.
Common Types of Birth Injuries
Birth injuries range from temporary conditions that resolve with treatment to permanent disabilities requiring lifelong care. Our Charlotte birth injury lawyers have handled cases involving numerous types of birth trauma, each requiring specialized medical and legal knowledge.
Oxygen-related injuries represent some of the most serious birth complications. Hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy from prolonged labor complications can cause permanent brain damage. Cerebral palsy often results from inadequate fetal monitoring during delivery. Brain injuries stemming from delayed emergency interventions create lifelong challenges for families.
Physical birth trauma affects thousands of newborns each year when delivery procedures go wrong. Erb’s palsy and brachial plexus injuries commonly result from difficult deliveries requiring excessive force. Fractures to the clavicle, skull, or limbs can occur during complicated extractions. Facial nerve damage often happens when forceps or vacuum devices are used improperly.
How Medical Negligence Leads to Birth Injuries
Healthcare providers have clear obligations during prenatal care, labor, and delivery. When they breach these duties, serious injuries can result. Our experience working for insurance companies taught us exactly how medical facilities try to minimize their liability in these situations.
Prenatal care failures often involve missed diagnoses of conditions that affect pregnancy outcomes. Doctors who fail to identify gestational diabetes, preeclampsia, or fetal growth restrictions put both mother and child at risk. Inadequate monitoring during high-risk pregnancies can lead to preventable complications that cause permanent harm.
Labor and delivery errors frequently stem from poor communication, inadequate staffing, or failure to respond appropriately to emergency situations. Fetal heart rate monitoring exists to identify distress signals that require immediate intervention.
Your medical team should recognize signs of complications and act swiftly to protect you and your baby. Electronic fetal monitoring, regular assessments, and prompt decision-making about delivery methods are standard care requirements.
The Legal Process for Birth Injury Claims
Birth injury cases require extensive preparation and expert testimony to establish the standard of care and prove negligence occurred. Our Charlotte birth injury lawyers begin each case with a thorough medical record review and consultation with qualified experts who can explain how proper care would have prevented the injury.
We know insurance companies will deploy teams of attorneys and medical experts to defend these claims aggressively. Their goal is to deny liability entirely or minimize the value of your case. Having worked for these companies, we anticipate their strategies and prepare counter-arguments before they even develop their defense.
Medical expert testimony forms the backbone of successful birth injury cases. These specialists must demonstrate that the defendant’s actions fell below acceptable medical standards and directly caused your child’s injuries. We maintain relationships with respected physicians, nurses, and other healthcare professionals who provide credible testimony in court.
Compensation Available in Birth Injury Cases
North Carolina allows recovery of both economic and non-economic damages in medical malpractice cases, though caps may apply to certain types of compensation under N.C.G.S. § 90-21.19. Your family’s recovery should account for all current and future expenses related to your child’s injury.
Birth injury compensation typically includes several categories of damages:
- Medical expenses for emergency treatment, specialized therapy, and ongoing care
- Adaptive equipment costs, including wheelchairs, communication devices, and home modifications
- Prescription medications and medical supplies are needed throughout your child’s lifetime
- Lost wages when parents must reduce work hours to provide care
- Future earning capacity losses occur when the injuries prevent children from reaching their potential
Medical expenses represent the most immediate financial impact of birth injuries. Severe injuries often require decades of medical intervention, making accurate calculation of future expenses crucial to your case. Lost wages affect families when parents must leave employment entirely to provide care for injured children.
Proving Negligence in Charlotte Birth Injury Cases
Successful birth injury claims require clear evidence that medical professionals breached their duty of care and caused preventable harm. Our Charlotte birth injury attorneys use their insurance industry experience to identify the strongest arguments for your case while anticipating defense strategies.
Hospital policies and procedures often establish internal standards that exceed legal minimums for patient care. When facilities fail to follow their own protocols, we use this evidence to strengthen negligence claims. Staff training records, equipment maintenance logs, and quality assurance reports can reveal systematic problems that contributed to your child’s injury.
Key evidence in birth injury cases includes:
- Electronic fetal monitoring strips showing distress signals that were ignored
- Nursing notes documenting delays in medical response times
- Medication administration records revealing dosage errors or timing mistakes
- Hospital incident reports filed after complications occurred
- Expert testimony explaining how proper care would have prevented the injury
Witness testimony, as stipulated under N.C.G.S 8C-1, Rule 702, from nurses, residents, and other medical staff present during your care can provide crucial evidence of negligence. These professionals often observe problems that do not appear in official records.
Areas We Serve in Charlotte and Surrounding Communities
Horton & Mendez represent birth injury victims throughout the Charlotte metropolitan area and the surrounding regions of North Carolina. Our Charlotte birth injury lawyers are familiar with local hospitals, medical providers, and court systems that affect your case outcome.
Charlotte Area Zip Codes: 28201, 28202, 28203, 28204, 28205, 28206, 28207, 28208, 28209, 28210, 28211, 28212, 28213, 28214, 28215, 28216, 28217, 28218, 28219, 28220, 28221, 28222, 28223, 28224, 28226, 28227, 28228, 28229.
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Contact Our Charlotte Birth Injury Lawyers
You have limited time to protect your legal rights, and important evidence may be lost if you delay taking action. Contact our experienced attorneys at Horton & Mendez today to schedule your consultation and learn how our experience working for insurance companies can benefit your family’s birth injury claim. We are ready to fight for the compensation your child deserves.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much time do you have to file a birth injury lawsuit in North Carolina?
Most birth injury claims must be filed within three years of when the injury was discovered or should have been discovered.
Can I sue if my child’s birth injury was not immediately obvious?
You can sue even if your child’s birth injury was not immediately obvious. Many birth injuries, particularly neurological damage and developmental delays, may not become apparent until months or years after birth. North Carolina law typically begins the statute of limitations from the date of discovery rather than the date of birth.
What if the hospital claims the birth injury was unavoidable?
Hospitals and medical providers often argue that injuries resulted from unavoidable complications rather than negligence. Our birth injury lawyers in Charlotte use medical experts to evaluate these claims and determine whether proper care could have prevented the harm.
