Boca Raton Birth Injury Lawyer

A difficult delivery can leave parents with two very different stories: what they expected to happen and what the medical records eventually reveal. When a newborn experiences seizures, an HIE diagnosis, unexpected resuscitation, a serious nerve injury, or an extended NICU stay, a Boca Raton birth injury lawyer can investigate whether a preventable medical error contributed to the outcome.

Hollander Law Firm Personal Injury & Medical Malpractice Lawyers has represented people harmed by negligence in Florida since 1996, including patients and families affected by significant medical errors. Gregg Hollander understands that a birth injury case is not simply about a diagnosis. It is about determining what happened during pregnancy, labor, delivery, and newborn care, then establishing whether different medical decisions could have prevented or reduced the harm.

If you believe medical negligence harmed your child, we can review what happened and explain whether a malpractice claim or Florida’s birth injury compensation program may apply.

Please fill out our online form or call (561) 347-7770 today for a free consultation.

What Questions Should a Birth Injury Investigation Answer?

A serious birth injury investigation should reconstruct the medical timeline. In Boca Raton, that may mean reviewing records from pregnancy through delivery, neonatal treatment, and any transfer to a higher level of care.

A birth injury lawyer in Boca Raton should investigate questions such as:

• What did the fetal monitoring show? The tracing may reveal changes in baseline heart rate, variability, accelerations, or decelerations that required evaluation or intervention. The timing of those changes should be compared with contractions, medications, nursing responses, and physician notification.
• Were pregnancy risks recognized before labor? Maternal hypertension, previous uterine surgery, placental abnormalities, infection, fetal growth problems, diabetes, or other findings may affect how pregnancy and delivery should be managed.
• Did the medical team respond when the condition changed? A major issue may be the time between the first concerning finding, escalation to the obstetrician, the decision to deliver, and the actual birth.
• What caused the child’s injury? Cord blood gases, placental pathology, neonatal examinations, brain imaging, EEG findings, and other evidence may help distinguish an injury occurring around delivery from one caused by an earlier condition.
• What will the injury mean long-term? A permanent neurological injury may require years of therapy, specialized equipment, attendant care, educational support, and medical treatment. Those future needs must be evaluated as carefully as liability.

Ultimately, the investigation should show whether providers had a meaningful opportunity to prevent the injury and whether a failure to act caused the harm your child suffered.

What Serious Birth Injuries and Obstetric Complications May Lead to a Claim?

Not every poor birth outcome results from malpractice.

significant claims tend to arise when medical records show a complication that providers had an opportunity to recognize and address, yet the response fell below the accepted standard of care.

Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy

Hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy, or HIE, occurs when a newborn’s brain receives insufficient oxygen or blood. HIE may follow events such as placental abruption, uterine rupture, umbilical cord compression, or another interruption in oxygen delivery. Moderate or severe HIE can result in seizures, difficulty feeding, and abnormal breathing.

A viable malpractice claim may involve evidence that fetal monitoring showed significant deterioration, the underlying problem was not addressed, and delivery was not expedited when the circumstances required it. The investigation may also examine whether neonatal providers promptly recognized HIE and evaluated the baby for treatments intended to limit additional brain injury.

Cerebral Palsy

Cerebral palsy is a group of disorders caused by abnormal development of or damage to the developing brain that affects movement, balance, and posture. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, most cerebral palsy cases are congenital.

However, a malpractice claim may be viable when medical evidence shows that a preventable event during labor, delivery, or immediate newborn care caused or contributed to the brain injury. Fetal monitoring, cord gases, MRI findings, neonatal seizures, and early neurological assessments can help distinguish a birth-related injury.

Shoulder Dystocia

Shoulder dystocia happens when the baby’s head is delivered, but one or both shoulders become stuck against the mother’s pelvis, preventing the rest of the baby’s body from being delivered normally.

It is an obstetric emergency that requires the delivery team to recognize the problem quickly and use accepted maneuvers to free the shoulder. A malpractice claim may arise when providers use excessive force, fail to use appropriate maneuvers, or delay the response long enough to cause oxygen deprivation or other serious harm.

Brachial Plexus Injuries

The brachial plexus is a network of nerves that controls movement and sensation in the shoulder, arm, and hand. These nerves can be stretched or torn during a difficult delivery, particularly when excessive traction is applied to the baby’s head or neck.

Some injuries improve with time, while more severe cases can cause permanent weakness, loss of motion, or require surgery. In a malpractice case, the medical evidence must show that the nerve injury resulted from negligent delivery techniques.

Placental Abruption and Uterine Rupture

Placental abruption occurs when the placenta separates from the uterine wall before delivery. It can reduce the fetus’s oxygen supply while causing significant maternal bleeding. A uterine rupture is a tear in the uterine wall that can cause severe maternal bleeding and suddenly cut off the baby’s oxygen supply.

These cases often turn on recognition and whether the care team responded appropriately as those findings developed.

Preeclampsia and Eclampsia

Preeclampsia is a pregnancy complication marked by high blood pressure and signs that organs such as the liver or kidneys may be under stress. It can reduce blood flow through the placenta, which may restrict fetal growth, contribute to placental abruption, or require an early delivery. 

For the mother, severe preeclampsia can cause liver or kidney injury, stroke, and other life-threatening complications. Eclampsia occurs when preeclampsia progresses to seizures, creating an immediate risk to both mother and baby.

A claim may arise when providers fail to recognize warning signs, monitor the pregnancy closely enough, control severe blood pressure, or deliver the baby when the condition becomes dangerous.

Maternal Hemorrhage, Maternal Injury, and Maternal Death

Severe bleeding during or after delivery can lead to shock, organ damage, emergency surgery, loss of fertility, or maternal death. Claims may arise when providers fail to recognize excessive bleeding, identify its cause, replace lost blood, or intervene quickly enough to control it.

Newborn Brain Injury

Intracranial bleeding, stroke, trauma, untreated seizures, severe infection, or complications associated with prematurity can also cause permanent neurological impairment.

These cases may require comparison of labor records with neonatal imaging and neurological findings. A newborn who deteriorates after an operative vaginal delivery, for example, presents different causation questions from a child whose MRI shows a pattern consistent with an earlier oxygen-deprivation event.

What Are Common Causes of Birth Injuries?

Common allegations in significant birth injury claims include:

• Failure to monitor fetal well-being during labor. Providers may fail to recognize concerning changes in fetal heart rate patterns, uterine contractions, maternal vital signs, or other signs that the baby is not tolerating labor well. Delayed recognition can postpone interventions or expedite delivery when needed.
• Failure to properly monitor a high-risk pregnancy. Conditions such as hypertension, growth restriction, placental abnormalities, or maternal disease may require additional surveillance before labor begins.
• Delayed C-section. A claim may arise when the evidence shows that circumstances required expedited delivery and an unreasonable delay prolonged fetal distress or maternal danger.
• Failure to address oxygen deprivation. Cord compression, placental separation, excessive contractions, maternal hypotension, and other conditions can compromise oxygen delivery and require prompt intervention.
• Failure to recognize uterine rupture. Sudden fetal deterioration, pain, bleeding, or other findings can require an emergency response, particularly in patients with relevant uterine surgery history.
• Breakdowns in communication. A nurse may identify a deteriorating tracing but fail to escalate it, an obstetrician may not receive critical laboratory results, or an operating team may not be mobilized promptly after an emergency delivery decision.
• Failure to diagnose pregnancy complications. Missed preeclampsia, placental problems, infection, fetal growth restriction, or other conditions can alter the decisions that should be made later in pregnancy.
• Failure to obtain or act on relevant medical history. A prior C-section, earlier shoulder dystocia, maternal disease, medication use, or past pregnancy complication may materially affect risk assessment and delivery planning.

The evidence must show more than a medical mistake in the abstract. It must establish that negligent care caused or substantially contributed to an injury for which Florida law permits recovery.

When Does a Birth Injury Become Medical Malpractice?

A birth injury becomes medical malpractice when a healthcare provider breaches the prevailing professional standard of care, and that breach legally causes injury. Florida defines the standard as the level of care, skill, and treatment recognized as acceptable and appropriate by reasonably prudent similar healthcare providers under the surrounding circumstances.

The case must identify what the provider should have done differently and establish that the difference probably mattered.

Why Should I Hire a Personal Injury Lawyer to Help with My Boca Raton Birth Injury Claim?

Birth injury claims often involve thousands of pages of medical records, several healthcare providers, and competing explanations for why a child was injured. A Boca Raton birth injury lawyer can organize that evidence around the questions that matter most: what should have happened, what went wrong, and whether that failure caused your child’s injury.

Reconstructing What Happened During Labor and Delivery

A lawyer can reconstruct the course of labor and delivery by reviewing the medical records in chronological order and identifying the key decisions made along the way. 

That includes:

• When complications first appeared,
• Which providers were involved,
• What interventions were attempted, and
• How quickly the medical team responded.

The timeline may reveal delays, missed warning signs, or communication failures that are difficult to see when records are reviewed separately. It can also help establish whether a different response could have prevented or reduced the injury.

Working with the Medical Specialists

A birth injury claim may involve questions about obstetric care, fetal monitoring, neonatal treatment, brain imaging, or the child’s long-term prognosis. A lawyer can determine which medical specialists are needed to address those issues and explain where the care fell below accepted standards. Those experts can also help connect the medical error to the injury and respond to other explanations offered by the defense.

Determining What Caused the Injury

Birth injuries can result from oxygen deprivation, infection, placental problems, prematurity, genetic conditions, or trauma during labor and delivery. A lawyer can work with medical specialists to compare those possibilities against the fetal monitoring, imaging, laboratory results, placental findings, and newborn records.

The goal is to determine when the injury occurred, what caused it, and whether negligent care played a substantial role in the outcome.

Documenting Your Child’s Future Needs

A lawyer can help determine how the injury may affect your child years into the future, not just what care is needed today. That may involve working with treating physicians, therapists, life care planners, and other professionals to document expected medical treatment, rehabilitation, equipment, in-home assistance, and other long-term needs.

The attorney can then use that evidence to show the full financial impact of the injury and pursue compensation that accounts for future care as well as current expenses.

Preparing the Case with Trial in Mind

A birth injury lawyer should develop the case as though the disputed medical issues may ultimately need to be presented in court. That means organizing the medical evidence, working with qualified experts, preparing for challenges to causation and damages, and helping the case withstand scrutiny by the defense.

Gregg Hollander’s trial experience helps shape that preparation from the outset, strengthening the firm’s position in both settlement negotiations and litigation.

Frequently Asked Questions

What Evidence Is Used to Prove a Birth Injury Claim?

Birth injury claims often depend on medical records that show what happened before, during, and immediately after delivery. 

Important evidence may include:

• Prenatal records,
• Fetal monitoring records,
• Labor and delivery records,
• C-section and operative reports,
• Newborn records,
• Imaging and neurological testing,
• Placental pathology, and
• Medical expert opinions.

The strongest cases usually come from connecting these records into a clear timeline that shows when the problem developed, what providers knew, how they responded, and how those decisions affected the outcome.

How Long Do I Have to File a Birth Injury Lawsuit in Florida?

Florida law generally gives you two years to file a medical malpractice lawsuit from the date the malpractice occurred or from when the injury was discovered, or reasonably should have been discovered.

Florida also has a four-year statute of repose, which generally bars a medical malpractice claim filed more than four years after the incident that caused the injury, even if the injury was not discovered until later. For claims brought on behalf of a child, that four-year cutoff does not bar an action filed on or before the child’s eighth birthday.

If the applicable deadline expires, the court can dismiss the claim, and your family may lose the right to pursue compensation through a medical malpractice lawsuit.

Who Can Be Held Liable If My Child Was Hurt During Labor and Delivery?

Responsibility depends on who owed a duty of care, what each person or entity did, and whether that conduct contributed to the injury. 

Potentially responsible parties may include:

• Obstetricians,
• Maternal-fetal medicine specialists,
• Surgeons,
• Anesthesiologists,
• Nurses,
• Midwives,
• Neonatologists,
• Radiologists,
• Laboratory personnel,
• Medical practices, and
• Hospital or facility administration.

A birth injury may involve separate failures by several providers. A lawyer can determine what each person or facility was responsible for, identify whose negligence contributed to the injury, and pursue claims against the legally responsible parties.

What Is NICA?

NICA stands for the Florida Birth-Related Neurological Injury Compensation Association. NICA is a no-fault program that provides benefits for certain severe brain or spinal cord injuries caused by oxygen deprivation or mechanical injury during labor, delivery, or immediate resuscitation after birth.

To qualify, the injury must meet specific requirements under Florida law, including birth-weight and permanent impairment criteria.

NICA can pay for medically necessary care, therapy, medications, special equipment, custodial care, and other expenses related to a qualifying injury.

Whether NICA applies is important because, for covered injuries, it generally replaces a traditional medical malpractice claim against providers directly involved in the labor, delivery, or immediate postdelivery resuscitation.

Talk to a Birth Injury Lawyer in Boca Raton About Your Child’s Future

A serious birth injury deserves a careful review of what providers knew, what they did in response, whether the injury could have been prevented, and what the consequences will mean for your child over the years ahead.

Gregg Hollander brings substantial litigation experience to significant medical malpractice cases and has recovered millions of dollars for clients through settlements and jury verdicts. As a trial lawyer, he understands how to develop the medical evidence, causation issues, and long-term damages that can determine the outcome of a significant birth injury case.

If your child was seriously injured during pregnancy, labor, delivery, or newborn care, contact us online or call (561) 347-7770 for a free consultation to discuss your child’s injury and your legal options. We can review what happened, explain whether Florida law gives your family a path forward, and help you decide what to do next.

Legal References Used to Inform This Page

To ensure the accuracy and clarity of this page, we referenced official legal and other resources during the content development process:

• Limitations other than for the recovery of real property, Fla. Stat. § 95.11 (2026).
• Medical negligence, Fla. Stat. § 766.102 (2026).
• Florida Birth-Related Neurological Injury Compensation Plan, Fla. Stat. § 766.303 (2026).
• Definitions, Fla. Stat. § 766.302 (2026).
• Mayo Clinic, Preeclampsia (Apr. 2022).
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, About Cerebral Palsy (June 2026).
• Johns Hopkins Medicine, Brachial Plexus Injury. 
• Cleveland Clinic
  • “Uterine Rupture.” (Last updated November 2022).
  • “Placental Abruption.” (Last updated March 2024).
  • “Shoulder Dystocia.” (Last updated January 2022).
  • “Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy (HIE).” (Last updated September 2023).