When your baby needs unexpected medical care, it can be difficult to make sense of what happened during pregnancy, labor, or delivery. You may be managing hospital visits, treatment decisions, and time away from work while wondering how your family will afford ongoing medical expenses, mounting medical bills, and the care ahead. A Cherry Hill birth injuries attorney can help you investigate those concerns and understand your legal options.
The Rothenberg Law Firm represents injured children and families in birth injury and medical malpractice matters. With more than 55 years of personal injury experience, we bring careful preparation, substantial resources, and a client-centered approach to serious cases. We work to pursue compensation that reflects the harm your child has suffered and the needs your family faces.
Help for Cherry Hill Families After a Birth Injury
A birth injury can change everyday life. Parents may need to learn new care routines, coordinate specialists, or arrange therapy while caring for other children. Legal questions often arrive before a family has had time to process the medical information.
Our role is to listen, explain the available steps, and investigate whether medical negligence or failures in medical care caused your child's injuries. We can help identify the records needed, arrange appropriate medical review, and assess potential claims against responsible providers or institutions.
Learn more about The Rothenberg Law Firm and our commitment to representing injured people and families. Our Cherry Hill office is at 900 North Kings Highway, Suite 307, Cherry Hill, NJ 08034.
When Birth-Related Medical Care Needs Review
Concerns may arise during prenatal care, labor, delivery, or a newborn's treatment after birth. A legal review looks at the care provided, the information available to the medical team, and the response required under accepted medical standards.
Examples of issues that may warrant investigation include:
- Delayed recognition of or response to fetal distress and signs that a baby was in distress.
- Failures to evaluate or address significant maternal or fetal health concerns.
- Delays in obtaining necessary obstetric assistance or arranging delivery, including an emergency c-section or cesarean section.
- Improper use of delivery instruments, such as forceps leading to facial paralysis, or improper delivery techniques.
- Medication errors involving the mother or newborn.
- Failures to recognize or treat a newborn's urgent medical needs.
Parents often remember something that deserves closer attention: a request for help, a change in monitoring, or an explanation that left important questions unanswered. Your account helps guide the review. You do not need to identify the precise medical error or know which provider may be responsible.
Brain Injuries and Developmental Effects
Hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy, or HIE, is a type of brain damage and brain injury associated with oxygen deprivation or reduced blood flow around the time of birth. Families may hear this term during neonatal treatment or later medical appointments. An investigation examines the clinical records and whether timely, appropriate care could have prevented or reduced the injury.
Cerebral palsy describes a group of conditions affecting movement, balance, and posture. A child's abilities and support needs vary. When a family has concerns about care surrounding birth, medical review can help evaluate whether an injury linked to that care contributed to the child's condition.
Brachial Plexus and Other Physical Injuries
The brachial plexus is a network of nerves involved in shoulder, arm, and hand function. Injury to these nerves during birth can affect movement or sensation. Erb's palsy involves the upper part of this nerve network, often occurring after complications like shoulder dystocia.
Our review may also address brachial plexus injuries, fractures, nerve damage, and other physical injuries or birth trauma associated with delivery. Treatment records, the delivery notes, and qualified medical opinions help explain the injury and its relationship to the care provided.
How We Investigate a Birth Injury Claim
Birth injury cases require a detailed understanding of both the medical events and their effect on a child. Through our medical malpractice practice, we examine the evidence needed to establish what should have happened, how the care departed from accepted standards, and how that departure caused harm.
Build a Complete Medical Timeline
With the appropriate authorization, we can seek relevant prenatal records, labor and delivery notes, fetal monitoring records, medication records, and operative reports. Newborn and neonatal intensive care records, imaging, specialist assessments, and follow-up treatment may also be important.
Putting these materials together helps show the sequence of events across different providers and departments. We also listen to your recollection of conversations and changes in your child's condition. You can tell us where care took place even if you do not know every clinician's name.
Obtain Qualified Medical Review
Qualified medical experts can evaluate the standard of care that applied and whether the evidence supports a malpractice claim. Their review can also help explain the consequences of the injury and the child's anticipated care needs.
New Jersey medical malpractice cases generally require an affidavit of merit from a qualified medical professional. Our lawyers address this requirement as part of preparing the birth injury lawsuit and guide you through the legal process.
Identify the Responsible Parties
A child's care may involve an obstetrician, nurses, other specialists, and a hospital or medical practice. We examine each relevant provider's role and the relationships between providers and institutions. That investigation helps identify the parties legally responsible for the injury and the claims supported by the evidence.
Compensation Should Account for Your Child's Future
The financial consequences of a serious birth injury can extend well beyond the initial hospital stay. A claim should consider the child's current condition, likely treatment needs, and the practical support required as the child grows.
Depending on the evidence and applicable law, compensation may address:
- Medical treatment, hospital care, and necessary future procedures.
- Physical, occupational, speech, or other prescribed therapies.
- Medication, mobility equipment, and assistive technology.
- Home modifications and appropriate personal care assistance.
- The child's pain and suffering, and effects on daily life.
- A supported loss of future earning capacity.
We work to document these losses with medical records, financial information, and appropriate professional assessments. There is no single settlement figure that fits every family. The nature of the injury, its lasting effects, and the evidence of future needs shape the value of a claim.
Planning for Care as a Child Grows
Some needs become clearer as a child reaches new developmental stages. Equipment may require replacement, therapy goals may change, and a family may need additional help with daily activities. Where appropriate, life-care planning can help identify expected services and estimate their costs over time.
Parents' observations matter, too. The help your child needs with dressing, eating, moving around, or communicating can explain the everyday consequences of an injury. We consider those details alongside medical and other professional evidence when preparing a claim.
Practical Steps Parents Can Take Now
Your child's care comes first. Continue working with the treating team and ask medical questions about treatment, follow-up, and recommended support. A legal consultation can take place alongside that care.
If you can, keep discharge instructions, appointment summaries, bills, and correspondence together. Write down questions you want answered and the names of facilities where you and your child received care. Save receipts for injury-related expenses and records of services your child needs.
You do not have to organize a complete medical file before calling. Tell us what you know and what concerns you. We can explain which records may be useful and how they can be requested. If you are contacting us on behalf of a parent who is overwhelmed or still recovering, we can discuss how to begin.
Time Limits for New Jersey Birth Injury Claims
New Jersey has a specific filing rule for medical malpractice claims brought on behalf of minors for injuries sustained at birth. Under the applicable statute of limitations in N.J.S.A. 2A:14-2, those actions generally must begin before the child's 13th birthday.
Other claims, including a parent's own injury claim, may have different deadlines. Additional notice requirements can also apply depending on the parties involved. A lawyer should review the dates, circumstances, and potential claims to determine the applicable requirements.
Reaching out early gives your legal team time to obtain records, investigate the care, and arrange medical review. If a diagnosis came later or you are uncertain about the timing, contact us for an assessment of your situation.
What to Expect When You Contact Our Firm
The first conversation is an opportunity to explain your concerns and ask questions. We may discuss where the care occurred, what you have been told about the injury, and how your child is doing now. We explain the next steps for evaluating a potential case and what additional information may be needed.
If we undertake representation, we work to develop the medical and financial evidence, communicate with the parties involved, and prepare the claim. Settlement discussions should reflect a documented understanding of the injury and its consequences. When necessary, we prepare to pursue the case at trial.
You can review our case process and learn about our attorneys before speaking with us. Our approach centers on careful preparation and clear explanations so families understand the decisions ahead.
Free Evaluation and Contingency Fees
The Rothenberg Law Firm offers free case evaluations and handles injury matters on a contingency-fee basis. Attorney fees depend on obtaining a recovery. Before representation begins, we explain the fee agreement and how case expenses are handled so you can make an informed decision.
Speak With a Cherry Hill Birth Injuries Attorney
If you have questions about medical care that may have harmed your child, The Rothenberg Law Firm can help you explore the next step. A Cherry Hill birth injuries attorney can review your concerns, explain the investigation process, and discuss pursuing financial compensation for your child's needs.
Cherry Hill Birth Injury Frequently Asked Questions
Can I speak with a lawyer while my baby is still in the hospital?
Yes. You can contact us while treatment continues. An initial conversation can help identify concerns, explain the review process, and determine what information is needed without requiring you to wait for your child's care to be complete.
What if my child's condition was diagnosed months after birth?
A later diagnosis may raise questions about earlier medical care. A lawyer can review the birth records, later findings, and applicable deadlines. You do not need to determine the medical connection yourself before requesting a case evaluation.
Do I need to obtain all the medical records first?
No. Bring or share what you already have. With appropriate authorization, our legal team can help seek relevant records. Knowing where prenatal care, delivery, and newborn treatment occurred is a useful starting point.
Can a parent contact a birth injury lawyer for a child?
Yes. Parents can contact our firm to discuss a child's injuries and potential claim. We can explain the steps for pursuing a case on the child's behalf and address the family's questions about the process.
How much does it cost to have my concerns reviewed?
The initial case evaluation is free. If we represent you, attorney fees are contingent on a recovery. We explain the written fee agreement and treatment of case expenses before representation begins.