The birth of a child should be one of the most joyful moments of a family's life. When something goes wrong in the delivery room and a baby is injured, the emotional reality that follows is almost impossible to put into words. Parents are simultaneously grieving, frightened, exhausted, and desperately searching for answers while still trying to care for a newborn who needs them.
Many families in this situation are told by the hospital or delivering physician that what happened was unavoidable. That it was a complication of a difficult labor. That these things sometimes happen despite everyone doing everything right. Some of the time, that is true. But not always. Many birth injuries are the direct result of preventable medical errors, and when that is the case, the medical providers responsible can and should be held accountable.
At Hamo Law Firm, we understand the weight of what your family is carrying. We help birth injury families evaluate what happened, connect them with elite Michigan birth injury specialists from our trusted referral network, and stay involved to make sure every family we work with receives the quality of representation their case demands.
What Is a Birth Injury Claim Under Michigan Law?
A birth injury claim is a form of medical malpractice based on harm caused to a baby or mother during pregnancy, labor, or delivery as a result of a medical provider's failure to meet the accepted standard of care. The standard of care requires physicians, nurses, and other medical staff to exercise the level of skill and judgment that a reasonably competent provider in the same specialty would have exercised under the same circumstances.
Who Can Be Held Liable?
Liability in a birth injury case can extend to multiple members of the care team and the institution where the delivery took place. Potentially responsible parties include:
- Delivering physicians and OB/GYNs whose clinical decisions during labor and delivery fell below the standard of care
- Labor and delivery nurses who failed to properly monitor the mother or baby or communicate critical information to the physician
- Anesthesiologists who made errors in administering or managing pain relief during labor or a cesarean section
- Midwives and birthing center staff who lacked the training or resources to manage complications that arose
- The hospital or birthing facility, which may bear institutional responsibility for staffing decisions, protocol failures, or inadequate equipment
- Neonatologists who failed to recognize or respond to signs of distress in the newborn immediately after delivery
Common Birth Injuries We Help Families Pursue
The injuries that result from negligent obstetric care range from conditions that resolve over time to those that permanently alter the course of a child's life. The cases we help families pursue include claims involving:
- Cerebral palsy resulting from oxygen deprivation to the brain during labor or delivery, a condition that affects movement, muscle tone, and motor development and typically requires lifelong care
- Brachial plexus injuries (Erb's palsy) caused by excessive force during delivery that damages the network of nerves controlling the arm and hand, sometimes resulting in permanent weakness or paralysis
- Brain damage from prolonged oxygen deprivation, which can range from cognitive and developmental delays to severe and permanent neurological impairment
- Skull fractures and intracranial hemorrhage resulting from delivery instrument misuse or excessive force
- Spinal cord injuries that may affect movement, sensation, and bodily function
- Facial nerve damage caused by improper instrument use during delivery
- Maternal injuries, including uterine rupture, severe hemorrhage, and other serious complications resulting from substandard obstetric care
- Neonatal wrongful death and maternal wrongful death, when negligent care during delivery results in the loss of a baby or a mother's life
What You Must Prove in a Michigan Birth Injury Case
Successfully pursuing a birth injury claim requires establishing several elements, all supported by thorough medical records review, qualified expert testimony, and careful legal strategy. The core elements are:
- A doctor-patient relationship existed between the medical provider and the mother or child
- The medical provider deviated from the accepted standard of care during the pregnancy, labor, or delivery
- That deviation directly caused the birth injury the child or mother sustained
- The child or mother suffered measurable damages as a result of the deviation
Michigan law also imposes specific procedural requirements that must be satisfied before a lawsuit can even be filed. A claimant must first serve a Notice of Intent on each potential defendant, which triggers a mandatory 182-day waiting period. During this period the parties may attempt to resolve the matter before litigation formally begins.
Following that waiting period, the case must be accompanied by an Affidavit of Merit from a qualified medical expert who can attest that the standard of care was breached. That expert must be a licensed physician in the same or a substantially similar specialty as the defendant. The defense will have its own experts prepared to argue that the care provided was within acceptable limits, and the quality and credibility of the experts on each side often determines the outcome.
Michigan also provides special statute of limitations protections for minor children. While the general malpractice limitation period is two years, a minor child's claim may be tolled until they reach the age of majority in certain circumstances.
How Hamo Law Handles Birth Injury Cases
Birth injury litigation is among the most demanding work in all of personal injury law. It requires attorneys with deep knowledge of obstetric medicine, access to highly credentialed medical experts, substantial litigation resources, and a specific track record going up against hospital systems and their defense teams. These cases are not won by generalists.
Hamo Law works with a trusted network of elite Michigan birth injury specialists and connects families with the right attorney for their specific case. When you contact us, we listen carefully to what happened, help you understand whether you may have a viable claim, and make sure your case is placed with an attorney who has the expertise it demands. We stay involved throughout the process so your family always has a point of contact who knows your story and is paying attention to your case.
Our referrals are based on genuine professional relationships built over years of working alongside Michigan's best medical malpractice attorneys. When we connect a family with a specialist, it is because we would trust that attorney with our own. That standard does not waver.
What Compensation Can a Birth Injury Case Recover?
Birth injury cases can involve some of the most significant damages of any personal injury claim, reflecting the lifelong consequences these injuries carry. A thorough claim pursues every category of loss, including:
- Past and future medical expenses, covering all treatment from the initial hospitalization through a lifetime of ongoing medical care related to the birth injury
- Physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy costs, which are often ongoing and substantial for children with neurological birth injuries
- Special education costs and the expenses associated with individualized educational programs and support services
- Assistive technology and adaptive equipment, including wheelchairs, communication devices, and home modifications
- In-home care and attendant care, for children who require full or part-time support with daily living activities
- Lost future earning capacity for the child, reflecting the impact of the birth injury on their ability to support themselves as an adult
- Pain and suffering for both the child and the parents who have endured the trauma of the injury and its aftermath
- Emotional distress as a distinct category of damages in cases involving particularly egregious failures
- Maternal injury damages and wrongful death damages when negligent care during delivery caused serious harm or death to the mother
Your Family Deserves Answers, Accountability, and the Resources to Move Forward.
Your child's life matters. The circumstances surrounding their birth matter. If negligent medical care caused harm that your family will carry for the rest of your lives, you deserve to know what happened and you deserve to have someone fight for you. Hamo Law is here to make sure that happens.
Call us today at 810-234-3667, email us at ahamo@hamolaw.com, or visit our office at 614 S. Grand Traverse Street, Flint, Michigan 48502. Consultations are free, there is no obligation, and you pay nothing unless your case results in a recovery.
Relentless Advocacy. Compassionate Counsel.
