Your Child's Injury During Delivery May Be Someone Else's Fault

If your child was diagnosed with cerebral palsy, Erb's palsy, hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy, or another serious condition after a difficult birth, you may be asking whether what happened was preventable — or whether it was simply something that went wrong. That question deserves a real answer, not a guess. Birth injuries are not the same as birth defects. A birth defect is a congenital condition present before delivery. A birth injury is damage caused during labor and delivery by a medical error, a delayed decision, or a failure to act when action was required. If your child was harmed by what happened in that delivery room, you may have a legal claim — and we can help you find out.

What Counts as a Birth Injury — and Why the Distinction Matters

Parents who receive a serious diagnosis after delivery often assume the condition was inevitable. Hospitals rarely volunteer a different explanation. But many of the most serious neonatal diagnoses — cerebral palsy, HIE, Erb's palsy, brachial plexus damage — are not congenital. They result from identifiable events during labor and delivery that a competent medical team should have anticipated or prevented. The distinction between a birth injury and a birth defect determines whether a legal claim exists. If the harm occurred because of something that happened during delivery, not something that developed before it, your child's rights under New York law may be very different from what you've been told.

Birth Injuries We Handle

The families we represent come to us after their children receive diagnoses that will shape the rest of their lives. These are the birth injury claims we evaluate and pursue.

• Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy (HIE): Brain damage caused by oxygen deprivation during labor or delivery, often linked to delayed C-section decisions, umbilical cord complications, or failure to monitor fetal distress.
• Cerebral Palsy: When caused by oxygen deprivation at birth rather than a congenital condition, cerebral palsy may be the direct result of a preventable delivery error.
• Erb's Palsy and Brachial Plexus Injuries: Nerve damage to the shoulder and arm, frequently caused by excessive force during delivery or mismanagement of shoulder dystocia.
• Shoulder Dystocia Injuries: When a baby's shoulder becomes trapped during delivery, improper technique can cause permanent nerve damage or fractures.
• Birth Asphyxia: Oxygen deprivation during labor that causes brain damage, organ damage, or death — often traceable to a failure to perform an emergency C-section in time.

If your child's diagnosis is not on this list, contact us anyway. We evaluate every case individually.

You Don't Have to Know If It Was Preventable — We Find Out

This is the question we hear most often from families: "How do we even know if something went wrong?" You don't — and you shouldn't have to. Determining whether a birth injury resulted from a violation of the medical standard of care requires a review of the full delivery record by qualified medical experts. That is exactly what we do.

When we take a birth injury case, we retain independent specialists — including obstetric experts and pediatric neurologists — to evaluate what happened during labor and delivery and whether the care your child received met the accepted standard. If it did not, we build the case from that foundation. Families should never have to make this determination on their own, and the hospital's version of events is not the only version.

The Injuries That Require the Strongest Advocacy

Birth injury cases carry some of the highest damages available in personal injury law — because the consequences are lifelong. A child who suffers significant brain damage at birth may require round-the-clock care, specialized therapies, adaptive equipment, and lifetime medical supervision. The legal system accounts for all of it.

How the Statute of Limitations Works for Birth Injury Claims in New York

What to Expect When You Contact Us

When a family reaches out about a birth injury, we begin with a confidential consultation — no pressure, no commitment. We listen to what happened, ask questions about the delivery and your child's diagnosis, and give you an honest assessment of whether a legal claim is worth pursuing. If we take the case, we handle every aspect of the investigation and litigation personally. You will not be handed off to a paralegal or a junior associate. We engage the medical experts, manage the discovery process, and keep you informed at every stage.

A Fighter Who Answers the Phone — and Handles Your Case Personally

For more than 30 years, I have represented families in the most serious personal injury and medical malpractice cases in New York. Gottfried Law Group has been recognized by Super Lawyers every year from 2009 through 2026 — one of the longest consecutive streaks of any Bronx-area personal injury attorney. We have been named among the Top 50 Lawyers in America. Our results include settlements of $4,200,000, $2,950,000, and $1,500,000 in complex injury cases. When you work with us, I handle your case — not a team of associates you've never met. If you have questions about your child's birth injury, call 888-LAW-FIRM. We answer.

Frequently Asked Questions About Birth Injury Claims in New York