A birth injury is the last thing you want to hear your child has suffered after giving birth. Unfortunately, this is how thousands of families welcome their newest additions – with news of something that went wrong during labor or delivery. When birth injuries trace back to medical malpractice or health care negligence, parents in Texas have the right to seek justice and restitution through civil lawsuits. Contact the San Antonio birth injury lawyers at the Law Offices of Maloney & Campolo for a free discussion about your birth injury case.

What Makes Us the Right Choice for You?

  • We only charge legal fees if we win financial compensation. Our fees will come directly from any settlement or verdict we secure on your behalf, never out of your wallet.
  • We can prove our history of success. Our firm has recovered over $150 million in results for past personal injury clients. We have a 95% success rate.
  • We built our firm out of compassion for personal injury victims. Tim Maloney and Paul Campolo work hard for their clients out of genuine passion for their craft.

Do You Need a Birth Injury Lawyer in San Antonio?

Birth injury claims may involve a physician or hospital as the defendant. Going up against major healthcare entities in San Antonio will not be easy alone. They are not on your family’s side. While they may have sympathy for what happened to your child, they will most likely try to undervalue your claim to save money. A San Antonio birth injury lawyer, on the other hand, works for you and you alone. You can trust your attorney to serve your best interests throughout your medical malpractice lawsuit. Your trial attorney will take care of your birth injury claim while you spend quality time with your family.

Seeking Damages for a Birth Injury in Texas

Birth injuries qualify as medical malpractice if the at-fault party reasonably should have prevented the infant’s injury, yet failed to do so because of some negligent act or omission. If a reasonably skilled and qualified physician would have behaved differently under the same circumstances, parents may have grounds to hold the doctor accountable for damages.

Available compensation may include:

  • The infant’s past, current, and lifelong medical expenses
  • Disability costs, both economic and noneconomic
  • The parents’ lost wages because of the incident
  • The infant’s pain and suffering
  • The family’s mental anguish
  • Punitive damages

A birth injury can affect a child and his or her family for life. A successful medical malpractice claim will not reverse these damages, but it can provide for the infant’s future financial needs. Your family could qualify for significant compensation. A San Antonio birth injury attorney will fight on your family’s behalf for the best possible case results.

Proving a Birth Injury Claim in San Antonio

Birth injury claims require proof of professional negligence by a health care provider or medical facility. “Negligence” in the context of a medical malpractice claim means a failure to adhere to the correct standard of care, or to behave in a manner that a reasonably prudent physician in the same position would not have. There are four main elements of proof needed for a birth injury claim:

  1. A doctor-patient relationship existed. The party named as the defendant must have been held to certain standards of care as the injured infant’s health care provider.
  2. The doctor deviated from the standard of care. The physician or defendant committed a negligent act or omission that fell short of the professional duty of care.
  3. The deviation caused the birth injury. Something the doctor did – or did not do – is what caused the child’s birth injury.
  4. Damages were sustained. The plaintiff or filing party suffered compensable losses, such as medical costs and pain and suffering.

The burden of proof that must be met to win a birth injury case in Texas is “based on a preponderance of the evidence.” The evidence must show that the claim being made by the plaintiff is more likely to be true than not true. Evidence that may be available to prove a birth injury claim is medical expert testimony, medical records, photos, videos and witness statements.

Who Can Be Held Liable for a Birth Injury?

Assigning liability, or naming who is responsible for your child’s birth injury, requires an investigation of the event. Any individual or entity that played a role in caring for your child could potentially be held liable for a birth injury if that party fell short of the standard of care. This includes:

  • A physician or surgeon
  • An obstetrician or gynecologist (OB-GYN)
  • A nurse or physician’s assistant
  • A midwife or doula
  • An anesthesiologist
  • A hospital or birthing center
  • A clinic or medical corporation
  • A pharmaceutical company
  • A medical product manufacturer

If the at-fault party was an employee of a medical facility at the time of the incident, the medical center will most likely absorb vicarious liability for the actions of its agent. Identifying all liable parties in your San Antonio birth injury claim can grant you access to the greatest possible amount of insurance coverage.

How Long You Have to File a San Antonio Birth Injury Claim

If you wish to seek justice for your child’s serious birth injury in San Antonio, it’s important to act sooner rather than later. If you wait, you run the risk of missing the statute of limitations or deadline for filing. In Texas, claimants have no more than two years to file most medical malpractice lawsuits. When a malpractice claim involves an injured child under the age of 12, however, a lawsuit can typically be filed until their 14th birthday – even if this is longer than two years from the date of malpractice. If the birth injury isn’t discovered right away, the clock on the statute of limitations is paused until the date of discovery (or when the injury reasonably should have been discovered). Regardless of when a birth injury is discovered, however, there is a statute of repose (final deadline) of 10 years from the date of the malpractice to file a related lawsuit in Texas.

Types of Birth Injuries

A birth injury can refer to any injury a child suffers before, during, or shortly after birth. An infant can suffer injuries at any stage during gestation, labor, or delivery – especially if the mother is under the care of negligent health care workers. Certain types of injuries occur more commonly in medical malpractice claims.

  • Brachia plexus injuries
  • Shoulder dystocia
  • Erb’s palsy
  • Klumpke’s palsy
  • Head and brain injuries
  • Brain hypoxia
  • Cerebral palsy
  • Bone fractures
  • Lacerations
  • Facial paralysis
  • Coma or death

Birth injuries can injure or maim a child for life. Cerebral palsy, for example, is a lifelong motor function disability a child can sustain due to loss of oxygen during birth. Failure to monitor an infant’s vital signs could lead to the development of this permanently disabling condition. As a parent, it is within your rights to seek compensation from the party most at fault for your baby’s injuries.

Contact Us for a Free Birth Injury Case Consultation

The lawyers at the Law Offices of Maloney & Campolo care about the San Antonio community. They want to give voices to victims who cannot speak on their own. Let our San Antonio birth injury attorneys stand up for your child’s rights after a tragic birth injury. Hold those responsible for medical malpractice accountable for your damages. Call us at (210) 922-2200 or give us details about your case through our confidential online form for a free consultation.