Key Takeaways
- The legal doctrine of respondeat superior makes Illinois hospitals liable for birth trauma caused by hospital employees.
- You may be able to sue a hospital if you suffered birth trauma because of medical negligence, lack of informed consent, or administrative failures.
- Our nationally recognized Chicago birth injury lawyers can help you pursue substantial compensation for birth trauma.
You can sue a hospital for a traumatic birth if you or your child sustained a physical or psychological injury because hospital employees were negligent. Medical News Today defines traumatic birth as any physical, psychological, or emotional wound or damage that occurs from childbirth, whether it affects the mother or child. Birth trauma effects can last for months, years, or a lifetime. They can cause PTSD in the mother and lifelong disabilities such as cerebral palsy in the child due to traumatic brain injuries, oxygen deprivation, and other birth errors.
Doctors, midwives, and nurses can often prevent birth trauma by following medical guidelines and responding appropriately to emergencies. If you or your child is coping with birth trauma effects, our award-winning Chicago birth injury lawyers can help you recover substantial compensation.
Can Hospitals Be Held Liable for Traumatic Births?
Although you may have grounds to sue a doctor for traumatic birth compensation, the hospital’s liability will hinge on the relationship between the at-fault health care providers and the hospital. Some doctors and most midwives work as independent contractors, while most nurses are hospital employees. Under the doctrine of respondeat superior, employers are liable for negligent and intentional wrongdoing of employees.
Respondeat superior is a Latin phrase that means “let the master answer.” It holds that businesses must answer for their employees’ wrongful acts. This principle is known as vicarious liability and applies to hospitals whose employees commit medical malpractice. Hospitals are liable for birth trauma caused by the negligence of the following employees:
- OBGYNs
- Nurses
- Midwives
- Nurse practitioners
- Anesthesiologists
- Surgeons
- Laboratory technicians
- Emergency room staff
- Administrative personnel
To hold a hospital liable for medical malpractice by any of these health care providers, the provider must have acted in their capacity as licensed health care providers within the scope of their duties as hospital employees.
Our Exceptional Case Results Against Hospitals in Traumatic Birth Lawsuits
We have won outstanding birth injury settlements and verdicts in numerous birth trauma lawsuits against hospitals, including the following:
- $20 million verdict on behalf of a child who suffered preventable HIE and asphyxia injuries at birth, causing permanent cognitive and developmental impairments
- $40 million verdict awarded to a 19-year-old disabled teen who suffered a severe brain injury during birth due to a delayed C-section delivery
- $6.71 million verdict against a hospital because an inexperienced resident performed a vaginal delivery of a breech presentation resulting in shoulder dystocia and a crippling brachial plexus arm injury
When Can You Sue a Hospital for Traumatic Birth?
You may have grounds to sue a hospital if you have suffered measurable harm because of medical malpractice. Measurable harm can be a physical or psychological injury. However, your injuries and losses must be provable. They may include PTSD or physical harm to the mother or child. Often, physical harm to a child triggers additional losses by the parents, particularly the mother.
When your child has been injured at birth as a result of medical malpractice, oftentimes, the women have the charitable giving role in this situation. Women may find that because of the needs of their children and that the child who’s been injured or brain damaged, it’s not economically feasible to continue working. It may be that you feel that there needs to be specialized care provided to your disabled child, and you’re the only one who can give that care. Oftentimes, women are the ones who have to miss their job when children are experiencing illness or when children who have disabilities have doctor’s appointments or therapies.
You may be able to hold a hospital liable for various errors that cause birth trauma injuries.
Medical Negligence
Medical negligence by itself does not constitute medical malpractice. It becomes medical malpractice when it causes an injury. You must prove that a doctor, nurse, or other medical professional failed to provide a reasonable standard of care. Birth trauma often occurs from the following types of medical negligence:
- Undetected fetal distress
- Failure to diagnose maternal infections during pregnancy
- Misdiagnosed gestational diabetes
- Misdiagnosed preeclampsia
- Untimely Cesarean section
- Anesthesiology errors during a C-section
- Forceps delivery errors
- Vacuum extraction errors
- Failure to prevent shoulder dystocia
- Attempting a breech birth
- Mismanagement of a compressed umbilical cord
- Medication errors, such as excessive pitocin while inducing labor
- Radiology errors, such as failing to detect meconium in amniotic fluid
Hospitals may be liable for these errors when they employ negligent health care providers. Hospital employees may include radiologists, pharmacists, anesthesiologists, and doctors. Our attorneys at Levin & Perconti can investigate your birth trauma case and identify all of the responsible parties.
Failure To Obtain Informed Consent
Every medical procedure has risks, and patients have a right to know about the risks and to decide whether to receive treatments or medications. This process is known as informed consent. Doctors must explain the risks and benefits in plain language so you understand what will happen during treatment, what could go wrong, and why the treatment is necessary. Generally, you will sign an authorization form confirming your informed consent.
If you or your baby has experienced birth trauma from a procedure or medication provided without your informed consent, you may be entitled to compensation, even if no other negligence was involved. If the provider responsible for obtaining consent was a hospital employee, the hospital is also liable.
Administrative Failures
Sometimes, a hospital could be liable for birth trauma due to administrative errors. Hospitals are bound to implement and execute policies and procedures that ensure patient safety. This duty includes ensuring mothers and infants receive timely, appropriate care during labor and birth. The following administrative failures could cause birth trauma:
- Inadequate communication among hospital staff, which delays an emergency C-section
- Lack of operating room space
- Failure to implement or enforce infection control procedures
- Understaffing of nurses, laboratory technicians, anesthesiologists, and other medical staff
- Hiring unqualified staff
- Charting errors that cause patients to receive incorrect medications or treatments
- Inefficient triage procedures
How Experienced Chicago Birth Injury Attorneys Can Help
If you or your baby experienced a traumatic birth, our experienced Levin & Perconti birth injury attorneys can help you recover the compensation you deserve. We have stood up to hospitals and large medical malpractice insurance companies since 1992 and have developed the most aggressive and effective approach to handling birth trauma cases.
Our adversaries respect our nationwide reputation, and we leverage this clout to help our clients recover maximum compensation. Contact us online today or call (312) 332-2872 to schedule your free consultation.
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Related Pages
- Birth Injury Lawyer
- Birth Asphyxia
- Brachial Plexus Injury
- Breech Birth Complications
- Cerebral Palsy
- Erb's Palsy
- Gestational Diabetes Misdiagnosis
- Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy (HIE)
- Neonatal Seizures
- Oxygen Deprivation
- Preeclampsia Misdiagnosis
- Shoulder Dystocia
- Statute of Limitations by State
- Stillbirth Lawsuit
- Umbilical Cord Compression
- Untimely C-Section
- Vacuum Extraction Injury
Notable Results
SETTLEMENT
for the family of a child who suffered brain injury due to lack of oxygen during her birth
SETTLEMENT
for a child who suffered brain damage causing cerebral palsy as a result of a family practice physician's failure to perform a timely C-section
VERDICT
for a child who died as a result of a doctor’s failure to diagnose the mother with an immune disorder while pregnant
Birth Injury Awards
In 2024, Michael Bonamarte, Seth Cardeli, and Cari Silverman won the Trial Excellence award at the Jury Verdict Reporter reception and awards ceremony for their groundbreaking $40 million verdict on behalf of a client who suffered a birth injury. This is the highest ever reported medical malpractice verdict outside of Cook County, IL at the time of reporting and the highest ever verdict in Coles County.
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