Birth injuries can shatter dreams in an instant. When medical professionals make preventable mistakes during childbirth, families face an altered reality filled with extraordinary medical bills, specialized care needs, and countless unanswered questions about their child’s future. 

At Schochor, Staton, Goldberg and Cardea, P.A., our attorneys help Prince George’s County families uncover the truth about what happened during delivery, identify those responsible, and secure the financial resources needed for both immediate treatment and lifetime care. 

Role of a Birth Injury Lawyer

Compassionate Legal Guidance

Families facing the reality of a birth injury need more than cold legal advice—they need understanding advocates who recognize both the emotional and practical challenges ahead. 

Our attorneys take time to listen to your concerns, explain your options in straightforward terms, and develop legal strategies aligned with your family’s specific needs and values. 

Investigating and Determining Liability

Attorneys with specialized experience in these cases know exactly what to look for when reviewing medical records, including subtle warning signs that healthcare providers may have missed or ignored during labor and delivery.

This process involves:

  • Obtaining and analyzing complete prenatal, labor, delivery, and postnatal records
  • Consulting with respected medical experts who can identify deviations from the standard of care
  • Interviewing witnesses, including other healthcare providers who were present
  • Examining hospital protocols and comparing them to actions taken during your child’s birth

Explaining Rights Under Maryland Law

Maryland maintains specific legal frameworks for addressing birth injuries that Bowie families must understand to protect their rights fully. 

Managing Insurance and Legal Procedures

Birth injury attorneys handle all procedural aspects of your claim, allowing you to focus on your child’s care rather than paperwork and legal deadlines. This includes:

  • Filing Insurance Claims: Attorneys communicate directly with malpractice insurers, preventing common tactics used to minimize compensation.
  • Managing Legal Documents: From the initial filing with the HCADRO to discovery requests and motions, birth injury cases involve substantial documentation that requires precision and attention to detail.
  • Certificate of Merit: Maryland Courts and Judicial Proceedings § 3-2A-04 requires obtaining a certificate from a qualified medical expert confirming that healthcare providers failed to meet accepted standards and directly caused the injury. This certificate must be filed within 90 days of the initial claim.

Building a Strong Negligence Case

Experienced attorneys build persuasive cases by:

  • Gathering Compelling Evidence: Beyond medical records, attorneys collect fetal monitoring strips, hospital policies, staffing records, and other documentation that helps demonstrate exactly how and why care fell below acceptable standards.
  • Securing Expert Testimony: Medical specialists explain technical aspects of proper care during childbirth, identifying precisely where healthcare providers made mistakes and how these errors caused specific injuries. 

Negotiating Settlements or Litigating Aggressively

While many birth injury cases may be resolved through settlement negotiations, achieving fair compensation requires attorneys prepared to take cases to trial when necessary. This dual approach includes:

  • Strategic Settlement Negotiations: Attorneys present compelling evidence and damages calculations to insurance representatives, positioning your case for maximum compensation without prolonged litigation.
  • Effective Courtroom Advocacy: When settlement offers prove inadequate, experienced trial lawyers present your case persuasively to judges and juries, humanizing your family’s experience while explaining medical evidence clearly and convincingly.

Providing Emotional and Legal Support

Throughout the legal process, birth injury attorneys serve as both legal advocates and supportive allies. They understand the unique challenges families face when caring for children with birth injuries and provide resources, connections to support groups, and regular updates that help reduce stress during an already difficult time.

Common Causes of Birth Injuries in Maryland

Delayed Emergency C-Section

When complications arise during labor, timely cesarean delivery often prevents permanent injury. Delays typically occur when hospital staff fails to recognize urgent situations, communication breakdowns occur between nurses and physicians, or facilities lack adequate surgical resources. 

These preventable delays can result in hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE), a serious brain injury caused by oxygen deprivation that often leads to cerebral palsy, intellectual disabilities, or seizure disorders.

Improper Use of Delivery Tools

When labor progresses slowly, physicians sometimes employ forceps or vacuum extractors to assist delivery. While these instruments can be necessary in certain situations, improper application causes numerous preventable injuries.

Forceps applied with excessive force can fracture an infant’s skull, damage facial nerves, or cause intracranial bleeding. Vacuum extractors used incorrectly may lead to scalp injuries, subgaleal hematomas (blood collection beneath the scalp), or brain hemorrhages. 

Excessive Force or Shoulder Dystocia Mismanagement

Shoulder dystocia occurs when an infant’s shoulder becomes lodged behind the mother’s pubic bone during delivery. This emergency requires specific maneuvers to free the baby without causing injury. 

When physicians apply excessive traction to the head and neck rather than following established protocols, brachial plexus nerves can tear or stretch, resulting in Erb’s palsy or similar conditions.

Failure to Monitor Fetal Vital Signs

Throughout labor, medical staff must vigilantly track fetal heart rate patterns to detect signs of oxygen deprivation or distress. 

When healthcare providers miss warning signs on fetal monitoring equipment or fail to communicate concerns promptly, babies may suffer preventable brain damage resulting in birth asphyxia.

Medication or Anesthesia Errors

Mistakes in medication administration during labor or delivery can cause severe injuries. Improper dosing of labor-inducing drugs like Pitocin can cause excessive contractions that restrict fetal oxygen supply. 

Similarly, anesthesia errors may compromise maternal blood pressure, affecting placental blood flow and fetal oxygenation.

Untreated Infections or Maternal Complications

Failure to identify and address maternal conditions like preeclampsia, gestational diabetes, or infections can lead to serious complications during delivery. When physicians miss these conditions or fail to appreciate their severity, both mothers and babies face preventable risks.

Proving Negligence and Establishing Liability

Medical negligence occurs when healthcare providers fail to deliver care that meets established professional standards—the level of care that a reasonably competent practitioner with similar training would provide under comparable circumstances.

Successful claims must establish a direct link between the provider’s negligence and the resulting birth injury. This causal connection requires addressing defense arguments that the injury resulted from unavoidable complications, genetic factors, or other causes unrelated to the care provided.

Identifying Liable Parties

Birth injury cases often involve multiple responsible parties:

  • Individual Providers: Obstetricians, nurses, anesthesiologists, and other healthcare professionals may share responsibility for negligent care.
  • Medical Facilities: Hospitals may bear liability for systemic failures, inadequate policies, or supervision issues. Additionally, hospitals often have vicarious liability for employee negligence under the legal principle of respondeat superior.
  • Medical Groups: When physicians work as part of a practice rather than as hospital employees, the group itself may share responsibility for improper training, inadequate supervision, or flawed safety protocols.

Defense Tactics and Maryland’s Contributory Negligence Rule

Maryland follows a contributory negligence rule, meaning if a plaintiff is found even 1% at fault, they may be barred from recovery. In birth injury cases, defense attorneys sometimes argue that a mother’s actions during pregnancy or labor contributed to the injury.

Skilled birth injury attorneys counter these arguments by demonstrating that healthcare providers had the “last clear chance” to prevent harm regardless of any patient actions. 

Maryland Laws and Statutes Impacting Birth Injury Claims

Statute of Limitations

Maryland Courts and Judicial Proceedings § 5-109 establishes that medical malpractice claims must be filed within the earlier of:

  • Five years from when the injury occurred; or
  • Three years from when the injury was reasonably discovered

For minors, Maryland law extends certain deadlines. Claims for birth injuries may be filed until the child’s 11th birthday in some circumstances, recognizing that some neurological injuries become apparent only as developmental delays emerge.

Wrongful Death Statute

When birth injuries prove fatal, Maryland’s wrongful death statute (§ 3-904) allows parents to seek compensation for:

  • Mental anguish and emotional pain
  • Loss of companionship and guidance
  • Financial losses related to the death

These claims must typically be filed within three years of the date of death and follow specific procedural requirements that differ from standard injury claims.

Damage Caps in Maryland

Maryland Courts and Judicial Proceedings § 3-2A-09 limits non-economic damages (pain, suffering, emotional distress) in medical malpractice cases. As of 2025, this cap stands at approximately $905,000 for most cases, with annual adjustments for inflation.

Importantly, Maryland places no restrictions on economic damages like medical expenses and lost income, allowing families to recover the full amount of these quantifiable losses.

Medical Malpractice Claim Requirements

Maryland law requires initial filing with the HCADRO before proceeding to court. Within 90 days of this filing, plaintiffs must submit a certificate from a qualified medical expert confirming that care violated professional standards and caused the injury.

Types of Damages Available

Economic Damages

Economic damages cover quantifiable financial losses resulting from birth injuries:

  • Medical and Care Expenses: Birth injuries often require extensive healthcare interventions, including hospital stays, surgical procedures, medications, therapeutic services, specialized equipment, and home modifications. 
  • Lost Income: When parents must reduce work hours or leave employment to care for an injured child, these lost wages form part of economic damages. Claims may also address diminished earning capacity when injuries affect the child’s ability to work as an adult.

Non-Economic Damages

Non-economic damages address intangible but genuine suffering caused by birth injuries:

  • Pain and Suffering: Physical pain experienced by the injured child through both initial trauma and subsequent medical procedures deserves recognition and compensation.
  • Emotional Distress: Birth injuries cause significant psychological trauma for both children and their families. Parents often experience grief, anxiety, and depression while caring for children with preventable disabilities.
  • Quality of Life: Many birth injuries result in permanent disabilities that prevent children from experiencing normal childhood activities, educational opportunities, and future independence. 
  • Contact a Bowie Birth Injury Lawyer Now

A Bowie birth injury attorney brings medical knowledge, legal expertise, and genuine compassion to your case, fighting tirelessly for the resources your child needs while allowing you to focus on their care and well-being.

Contact our team today for a free, confidential consultation. We’ll evaluate your case, explain your options, and stand by your family every step of the way as you seek the justice and support your child deserves.