Birth Injury Malpractice Attorneys Serving the South Florida Community Since 1991

Panter, Panter & Sampedro

There are 1.9 birth injuries for every live birth in the United States. For many people, this is a traumatic event. Just when you expect to have a newborn baby, you are shocked to learn that the baby is not healthy due to a medical professional’s mistake.

Because any serious birth injury can result in a lifetime of medical needs, strong efforts must be made toward maximizing compensation so people will have the resources they need to deal with these issues. That is where we step in.

At Panter, Panter & Sampedro in Miami, our birth injury lawyers understand what’s at stake, and we will fight aggressively to make certain your rights and interests are protected. Our experienced personal injury legal team has what it takes to ensure that you are treated fairly by the justice system.

If your child has suffered a serious birth injury or been a victim of infant medical malpractice, our expert medical malpractice attorneys can help you. Trust a leading malpractice law firm that has obtained verdicts and settlements in excess of $100 million.

Call us now at 305-662-6178 for a FREE CONSULTATION.

Causes of Birth Injuries

According to the Stanford Children’s Health Hospital, birth injuries are more common when:

• The baby is big
• The baby is feet-first in the birth canal
• The baby is born prematurely
• The mother’s pelvis or birth canal makes it difficult for a vaginal birth
• Labor is long
• Labor is difficult
• The mother is overweight
• There is a c-section
• The doctor uses a vacuum or forceps

Types of Birth Injuries

Birth injuries come in many different forms. Below are some examples.

• Hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy
• Cerebral palsy
• Kernicterus
• Brachial plexus injuries
• Erb’s palsy
• Periventricular leukomalacia
• Developmental disabilities
• Intracranial hemorrhages
• Hydrocephalus
• Traumatic birth injuries

Medical Negligence & Birth Injuries

The criteria for medical malpractice in birth injuries is fairly similar to medical malpractice as a whole. That is to say, you have to legally establish a few different facts for your case to proceed. They are as follows:

• A doctor-patient relationship
• A doctor who acted wrongly
• The mistake caused physical harm to the patient

Establishing a doctor-patient relationship means that the physician was seeing the patient throughout the pregnancy, or was overseeing the birth. 

A doctor who uses poor judgment, and makes a mistake, may be found to be negligent. This can take a few different forms. As it relates to birth injury, this may include prolonging labor, yanking, or using forceps to deliver the child. In addition, a doctor who has worked long hours may make a mistake due to fatigue. In a court of law, you must prove that the doctor’s care was substandard, which means that they were not acting in a way that a similar doctor would. In order to prove this, usually you need to call in an expert witness.

Finally, you need to prove that the mistake led to harm. For this, you need to prove that there was an injury to the baby. In order to satisfy this step, you need to have a lot of documentation.

Birth Injury Medical Mistakes & How To Prove It

Some medical mistakes that can lead to birth injury or infant death can include:

• Failure to diagnose fetal distress
• Failure to perform a C-section
• Failure to diagnose preeclampsia/eclampsia in the mother
• Injuries to the mother

With any medical malpractice claim, our job is to prove that accepted standards of care were violated and that those violations led to injury or death. Our legal team seeks out the most respected medical experts to establish and clearly demonstrate exactly how the tragic medical mistake could have been avoided with appropriate care.

As in all other areas of litigation, our Miami birth injury lawyers use technological resources such as realistic anatomical models, computer-generated re-creations of surgical procedures, real-life depictions of operations and whatever else is needed to make complex medical issues understandable to a judge or jury.

Birth Injury Malpractice Lawyers You Can Trust

We Strive To Deliver A Better Future For Our Clients & Their Families

Panter, Panter & Sampedro has a team of accomplished birth injury attorneys on staff who are ready to help you with your case. Our firm also has an on-staff critical care nurse to assist in evaluating injuries and arranging for the best birth injury medical care available. If you think that you have a case, you need to take action now. Keep in mind that Florida has a birth injury statute of limitations, which means that you have a limited amount of time where you can present your case.

We understand what you have been through, and have already helped many people throughout the state of Florida deal with very difficult cases involving birth injury medical malpractice.

Don’t hesitate to contact our office at 305-662-6178 for a FREE CONSULTATION.

*On March 24, 2023, Governor Ron DeSantis signed House Bill (HB) 837 reducing Florida’s statute of limitations for general negligence cases from four years to two years. In other words, a lawsuit alleging negligence which accrued after March 24, 2023 must now be filed within two years of the date of the alleged negligence or the claim will be forever barred.