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Birth Injuries
The day your child is born should be remembered for the right reasons. When something goes wrong during pregnancy, labor, delivery, or the newborn period, families are often left trying to absorb two realities at once: the joy of welcoming a baby and the fear that a preventable medical mistake changed your child’s future. Birth injuries can create immediate medical emergencies, lifelong care needs, and a level of stress that touches every part of family life, including work, finances, and emotional wellbeing.
At Rightful Legal, we approach birth injury cases with the seriousness they demand and the compassion families deserve. Our firm is led by Massachusetts personal injury lawyer Tracy Paulsen, and we are built around the idea that strong advocacy and consistent communication matter, especially when the stakes are this high. We represent clients throughout Bristol County, Norfolk County, Boston and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and fight for people harmed by negligence, including medical malpractice.
If you suspect your child was injured because a doctor, nurse, hospital, or other provider failed to meet the appropriate standard of care, a birth injury claim may be a path to answers and financial recovery. While no legal case can undo what happened, a successful claim can help secure the resources your child needs and hold the responsible parties accountable.
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Understanding Birth Injuries
A birth injury generally refers to harm to a baby that occurs before, during, or shortly after delivery, often as a result of trauma, oxygen deprivation, infection, or delayed diagnosis and treatment. Some birth injuries resolve with time and proper care. Others can lead to permanent impairment and complex medical needs.
It is also important to distinguish between a birth injury and a birth defect. Birth defects are typically related to genetic or developmental conditions. Birth injuries are more often linked to the delivery process or failures in medical care. In real life, the line can be complicated, which is why careful medical record review and expert input are essential.
When a Birth Injury May Involve Medical Negligence
Not every adverse outcome is malpractice. Medicine involves risk, and even perfect care cannot guarantee a perfect outcome. A birth injury claim becomes more likely when evidence suggests that a provider failed to act reasonably under the circumstances, such as failing to respond to fetal distress, mismanaging shoulder dystocia, delaying a medically necessary C section, or missing maternal infections that place the baby at risk.
In Massachusetts, these cases are typically treated as medical malpractice claims against providers of health care, and special rules apply to how these lawsuits proceed.
Common Types of Birth Injuries Seen in Claims
Birth injury cases can involve a wide range of diagnoses and outcomes. Some injuries are visible immediately. Others are discovered over months or years as a child misses developmental milestones.
Brain Injuries and Oxygen Deprivation
One of the most serious categories involves reduced oxygen to the baby’s brain during labor and delivery. Depending on timing and severity, this may lead to lasting neurological injury, developmental delays, seizure disorders, or diagnoses such as cerebral palsy.
Brachial Plexus Injuries and Shoulder Dystocia
When a baby’s shoulder becomes stuck during delivery, providers may need to use specific maneuvers to safely deliver the baby. Excessive traction or improper technique can injure the brachial plexus nerves, potentially causing weakness or paralysis in the arm or hand.
Skull Fractures, Facial Nerve Injury, and Delivery Trauma
Improper use of assistive tools, rushed delivery decisions, or poor technique can cause trauma. Injuries can include fractures, nerve damage, and soft tissue injury, sometimes associated with vacuum extraction or forceps deliveries.
Infections and Untreated Maternal Conditions
A baby can be harmed when infections are not identified or treated promptly, when maternal fever is not addressed appropriately, or when warning signs of complications are missed. Timing matters. Delays during labor and the newborn period can turn manageable risks into severe outcomes.
Maternal Injuries That Also Matter
A birth injury case may also involve serious harm to the mother, including uncontrolled bleeding, uterine rupture, retained placenta, severe infection, or complications from anesthesia errors. When maternal injury and newborn injury arise from the same negligent care, both may be part of the claim.
How Birth Injuries Happen
Birth injury cases often involve a chain of events rather than a single mistake. The legal and medical questions usually focus on whether providers recognized risk factors, responded to warning signs, and made reasonable decisions at critical moments. This is why it is so important to contact a Massachusetts Birth Injury Lawyer as soon as possible after this devastating event. Attorney Tracy Paulsen has helped so many new parents fight for their child and the rights of the family.
Delayed Response to Fetal Distress
Fetal heart monitoring can reveal patterns that suggest the baby is not tolerating labor. Providers are expected to interpret the data and act when intervention is necessary. Delayed escalation or failure to obtain physician involvement can be central in many claims.
Failure to Perform a Timely C Section
A C section is a major surgery, but it can be lifesaving. When warning signs require urgent delivery, time is not a technicality. Unreasonable delay can increase the risk of oxygen deprivation and other complications.
Medication and Labor Management Errors
Improper dosing of labor inducing medications, failure to monitor uterine hyperstimulation, or inadequate response to abnormal contractions can place the baby at risk. Documentation, nursing notes, and fetal monitoring strips often become key evidence.
Communication Breakdowns
Labor and delivery is a team environment. A communication failure between nurses and physicians, delayed reporting of symptoms, or incomplete handoffs can result in dangerous delays.
Who Can Be Held Responsible
Birth injury cases can involve individual clinicians, institutions, and sometimes multiple defendants. Liability depends on the facts, the roles involved, and the medical standard of care.
Doctors, Nurses, and Specialists
Obstetricians, residents, midwives, anesthesiologists, neonatologists, and labor and delivery nurses can all play roles in decisions that lead to injury. The issue is whether each provider acted reasonably within their scope and responsibilities.
Hospitals and Health Systems
Hospitals may be responsible for negligent policies, staffing failures, inadequate training, or failures to follow safety protocols. In some cases, hospitals may also be liable for the acts of employed clinicians.
Public Hospitals and Government Entities
If care occurred at a public facility or involved a public employer, special notice requirements and procedural rules under the Massachusetts Tort Claims Act may apply, including presentment requirements.
What Must Be Proven in a Massachusetts Birth Injury Case
A successful malpractice claim generally requires proof of duty, breach, causation, and damages. That sounds simple until you see how hard the causation piece can be in a medical case.
You typically need to show that the provider failed to meet the appropriate standard of care, and that this failure was a substantial cause of the injury. Medical records alone rarely tell the whole story, which is why expert review is almost always necessary. In practice, proving causation can mean reconstructing the timeline minute by minute, comparing documented decisions to accepted practices, and addressing alternative explanations raised by the defense.
This is why it’s so important to have an experienced empathetic and supportive legal team by your side. At Rightful Legal, Tracy Paulsen and her team of birth injury attorneys have helped clients through the most complex and difficult situations to prove and forge fair and equitable settlements that have helped to compensate the family and bring them a sense of justice.
Massachusetts Laws That Often Matter in Birth Injury Claims
Massachusetts has several statutes that directly shape how medical malpractice cases proceed, how long you have to file, and what damages may be available.
Time Limits to File
For malpractice claims against health care providers, Massachusetts generally requires filing within three years after the cause of action accrues, and the statute includes a separate outside limit.
When the injured patient is a child, Massachusetts has a specific limitations rule for minors in malpractice claims against health care providers. A child under age six generally has until their ninth birthday to bring the action, and the statute also references an outside time limit.
Massachusetts also has a broader tolling statute that can apply to minors and certain incapacitated persons, though malpractice specific rules for minors can control in provider cases.
Deadlines can be complicated by factors like delayed discovery of injury, questions about who qualifies as a provider under the statute, and whether a public employer is involved. Because missing a deadline can bar the case entirely, it is worth getting legal advice as early as you can, even if you are still gathering medical information.
The Medical Malpractice Tribunal
Massachusetts requires malpractice cases against health care providers to be reviewed by a tribunal, where the plaintiff must present an offer of proof and the tribunal determines whether the evidence raises a legitimate question of liability appropriate for judicial inquiry.
This step has real consequences. If the tribunal finds the offer of proof insufficient, the case can be dismissed unless the plaintiff posts a bond. Preparing the tribunal submission is one reason early investigation and expert involvement matter in serious birth injury claims.
Pleading Rules in Malpractice Cases
Massachusetts law also limits certain pleading practices in malpractice complaints, including rules about including a specific monetary amount claimed in the complaint.
Damages Limits in Certain Cases
Massachusetts places a limitation on certain categories of general damages in many malpractice cases against health care providers, with important exceptions that may apply in catastrophic injury cases.
Because birth injuries can involve substantial or permanent loss of bodily function or other severe circumstances, the details matter. A careful damages analysis should be built around the child’s real, lifelong needs, supported by medical opinions and life care planning where appropriate.
Compensation in a Birth Injury Claim
Every family’s situation is different, and no ethical lawyer should promise a specific outcome. That said, the purpose of a birth injury claim is to recover compensation that reflects both the harm and the practical costs the family will face.
Common categories of damages can include medical expenses, therapy and rehabilitation, assistive technology, in home care, specialized education supports, future lost earning capacity in appropriate cases, and the human losses that come with pain, suffering, and loss of enjoyment of life. In severe cases, families may also need home modifications, accessible transportation planning, and long term care coordination.
When a birth injury results in death, Massachusetts has a wrongful death statute that governs liability and damages, and these cases require special handling and sensitivity.
Has Your Child Suffered an Injury at Birth?
Contact Attorney Tracy Paulen Today for a Free Case Evaluation
Call 617-821-5856
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How Rightful Legal Builds a Birth Injury Case
Birth injury litigation is evidence driven. It is also emotionally intense. Families deserve a process that is thorough, clear, and respectful.
Step One: Listening and Identifying the Red Flags
We start by hearing your story and understanding what you were told during pregnancy and delivery, what happened in the hospital, and what your child is experiencing now. We focus on the timeline because the timeline is often where negligence becomes visible.
Step Two: Collecting and Preserving Records
Birth injury cases rely on a complete record set. That can include prenatal records, labor and delivery records, fetal monitoring strips, operative reports, NICU records, imaging, pediatric follow ups, and therapy documentation.
Step Three: Medical Review and Expert Analysis
Massachusetts malpractice claims typically require expert support to establish standard of care and causation. We work to identify qualified experts who can explain what should have happened, what did happen, and how the difference caused harm.
Step Four: Tribunal Preparation and Litigation Strategy
Because the tribunal is built into the process, we approach the case with that early evidentiary hurdle in mind. A strong offer of proof is not just a formality. It is often the first major test of the case.
Step Five: Pursuing Full and Fair Compensation
Many cases resolve through negotiation, mediation, or settlement. Others require litigation through trial. Either way, Our goal at Rightful Legal is the same for each and every client: to secure the financial support you and your child needs and to demand accountability for preventable harm.
Why Families Choose Rightful Legal
Rightful Legal is a Massachusetts personal injury firm built to stand up to powerful defendants and insurance companies, while keeping clients supported and informed. Our firm emphasizes empathy, communication, and advocacy, and we make ourselves accessible, including by phone and video conferencing for clients.
Tracy Paulsen brings experience that includes medical malpractice and has seen how large organizations and insurers respond when serious claims arise. That perspective matters in a birth injury case, where defendants often have significant resources and legal teams.
Attorney Paulsen has fought tirelessly for clients whose child was injured or lost as a result of the negligence of a medical provider at birth. She understands your pain, and clients say having her empathetic support and advocacy was pivotal during such difficult times.
What to Do If You Suspect a Birth Injury
You do not need to have every answer before talking to a lawyer. In many cases, families sense early that something was not right but do not yet have a full diagnosis or clear explanation. If your child required unexpected resuscitation, NICU admission, seizure treatment, cooling therapy, or has unexplained developmental delays, it is reasonable to ask questions.
If possible, write down what you remember about key moments, including what staff told you, when decisions were made, and any sudden changes during labor. Continue with your child’s recommended medical care and follow ups. Legal action is not a substitute for treatment, but the treatment record often becomes part of proving the full impact of the injury.
Frequently Asked Questions About Massachusetts Birth Injury Claims
How long do I have to file a claim in Massachusetts?
Time limits depend on the facts, including whether the claim is against a health care provider and the child’s age. Massachusetts has specific limitation rules for malpractice cases and special rules for minors in claims against health care providers.
Do all malpractice cases go through a tribunal?
In Massachusetts, malpractice cases against health care providers generally go through the tribunal process described by statute.
What if the hospital says the outcome was unavoidable?
Hospitals and insurers may describe an outcome as a known risk of childbirth. That does not end the analysis. The key questions are whether warning signs were missed, whether the response was timely and appropriate, and whether a different course of care would likely have prevented the injury or reduced its severity.
Can we bring a claim if we are not sure what caused the injury?
Many families begin with uncertainty. A claim often starts with investigation and medical review. If the evidence does not support negligence, a responsible attorney should tell you that clearly. If it does, early action can protect your rights and help preserve critical information.
Talk With a Massachusetts Birth Injury Lawyer at Rightful Legal
If your child suffered a serious injury during birth and you believe it may have been preventable, you deserve answers grounded in evidence, not assumptions. Rightful Legal represents families throughout Boston, Bristol County, Middlesex County and Massachusetts and approaches birth injury claims with careful investigation, experienced advocacy, and steady communication.
Speaking with a lawyer can also help you understand whether what happened reflects an accepted medical complication or a deviation from the standard of care. Even if you ultimately decide not to pursue a claim, having your records reviewed and your questions addressed can bring clarity during an overwhelming time. Rightful Legal is committed to helping families make informed decisions and to pursuing justice when preventable harm has occurred. Call Attorney Paulsen Today at 617-821-5856. She will speak with your confidentially and with support and empathy. You can also schedule a free consultation online.
