Birth injuries can result from a wide range of failures by physicians, nurses, and other members of the medical team during pregnancy, labor, or delivery. Common causes include:

• Oxygen deprivation to the baby’s brain
• Failure to recognize fetal macrosomia (a baby measuring unusually large for gestational age or exceeding eight pounds, thirteen ounces)
• Use of excessive force during delivery
• Failure to perform a timely Cesarean section
• Improper use of forceps or vacuum extraction devices
• Failure to adequately monitor the mother and baby during labor

When any of these failures falls below the accepted standard of care and causes harm, the responsible parties may be held liable for medical malpractice.

A birth injury is harm caused to a baby during the physical process of labor or delivery. A birth defect, by contrast, is a congenital condition or developmental abnormality that occurs during pregnancy due to genetic factors or environmental exposure and is generally not caused by the actions of a medical team. The distinction is important because birth injuries may lead to a medical malpractice claim, while birth defects typically do not. If you are unsure whether your child’s condition resulted from a preventable medical error, a trusted New Jersey Birth Injury attorney can help you understand your legal options.

In New Jersey, the statute of limitations for birth injury claims depends on who is filing and on whose behalf. When a claim is brought on behalf of an injured child, the two-year filing period generally does not begin to run until the child turns 18. However, in cases involving birth injuries specifically, a claim must be filed before the child’s 13th birthday. If the birth injury resulted in the fatality of the mother or child, surviving family members have two years from the date of death to file a wrongful death claim.

Medical malpractice cases, including those involving birth injuries, require expert testimony. Under New Jersey law, a qualified medical expert must submit an affidavit of merit confirming that the healthcare provider’s conduct fell outside the accepted standard of care. Beyond this procedural requirement, expert testimony is essential to helping a judge or jury understand the complex clinical decisions made during labor and delivery and why a competent physician in the same specialty would have acted differently. Without a qualified expert to explain where and how the standard of care was breached, even a strong case can be difficult to prove. A compassionate New Jersey birth injury lawyer can help secure necessary medical experts.

Birth injury cases can involve substantial compensation, because the injuries are often permanent and the costs of care extend throughout a lifetime. In New Jersey, families may be entitled to recover both economic and non-economic damages.

Economic damages cover the quantifiable financial losses associated with the injury. This can include:

• Past and future medical expenses
• Surgeries
• Hospital stays
• Physical and occupational therapy
• Speech therapy
• Specialized equipment such as wheelchairs and braces
• Home modifications for accessibility
• Special education programs
• Academic support

If a parent has been forced to reduce work hours or leave employment entirely to care for an injured child, those lost wages are recoverable as well. When a birth injury prevents a child from being able to earn a living as an adult, damages for lost future earning capacity may also be pursued.

Non-economic damages address the profound personal toll the injury has taken on the child and their family, including pain and suffering, emotional distress, and loss of enjoyment of life.

Birth injury settlements and verdicts frequently reach significant amounts, reflecting the lifelong nature of conditions such as hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy, cerebral palsy, brachial plexus injuries, Erb’s palsy, and brain damage caused by oxygen deprivation.