Bringing a child into the world is one of the most profound and emotional moments for any family. For medical providers — midwives, obstetricians, and gynecologists, it’s both a privilege and a serious professional responsibility. Most deliveries end with healthy mothers and healthy babies. But complications, like birth defects or ectopic pregnancies, can still happen. When complications cause harm to a newborn or mother, families may take legal action through a birth injury lawsuit.
For healthcare professionals, these cases of potential medical malpractice can be especially challenging. Birth injury lawsuits are often high-stakes and high-cost, sometimes taking years to resolve. They can damage your professional reputation, increase malpractice insurance premiums, and cause significant stress. Prevention is always the best defense, but even the most skilled providers can face claims — which is why malpractice insurance remains a critical safeguard.
This guide will walk you through:
A birth injury lawsuit is a type of medical malpractice claim filed by parents or guardians when they believe a newborn or mother was harmed because of negligence, an error in judgment, or a failure to follow accepted medical standards.
These claims can involve events during pregnancy, labor, delivery, or the immediate postpartum period. A child's injury resulting from medical negligence is a common reason families pursue legal action.
A birth injury lawsuit may be filed against:
Some birth injuries heal with time. Others cause lifelong disabilities that require ongoing medical treatment and support. These severe birth injuries can be life-altering or even fatal, highlighting why legal action to seek justice and compensation is common, when negligence is believed to be the cause.
Common birth injury examples include:
Because these conditions can impact a child’s independence and quality of life, birth injury lawsuit settlements often seek millions of dollars to cover long-term care, therapy, and adaptive equipment.
For healthcare providers, a birth injury lawsuit is one of the most challenging types of claims to face. These medical malpractice cases are complex, emotionally charged, and often involve enormous financial stakes.
A single birth injury lawsuit can require:
Birth injury lawsuit settlements can be substantial, often covering:
These settlements provide financial compensation to help families manage the costs associated with birth injuries, including ongoing and future treatment needs.
Because these claims often result in multi-million-dollar payouts, OBGYN malpractice insurance premiums tend to be among the highest in medicine. For many providers, a single claim can reshape their career, finances, and reputation — making prevention and strong insurance coverage essential.
Every birth injury lawsuit is unique, but certain patterns appear again and again. Many birth injury lawsuits arise from preventable harm—injuries that could have been avoided with proper medical care during childbirth. Understanding these common causes can help you spot risks early, prevent harm, and protect yourself from future claims.
Giving birth moves quickly, and even small delays or missteps can have lasting consequences.
Examples include:
Labor and delivery nurses play a critical role in monitoring mothers and babies during childbirth, providing support, and alerting doctors to any complications. Their actions and vigilance can significantly impact the outcome for both mother and child.
OBGYN malpractice covers mistakes during prenatal care, labor and delivery, and postpartum recovery.
Common examples include:
Because obstetrics carries high risk, OBGYN malpractice insurance is critical for financial and legal protection.
Families affected by OBGYN malpractice may consult a medical malpractice attorney to pursue compensation.
Certain high-risk pregnancies require additional monitoring and specialized care. Proper medical care and timely referrals are essential to prevent complications and potential lawsuits in these situations.
Risk factors include:
Mistakes in high-risk pregnancies may include:
Even when care meets medical standards, poor communication can lead to a birth injuries lawsuit. Many families sue because they feel excluded or uninformed.
Examples include:
Families who feel excluded or uninformed during the birth process may seek legal guidance to better understand their rights and options.
If it’s not documented, it may as well not have happened in the eyes of a jury. Missing or incomplete records weaken your defense in a birth injury lawsuit. Thorough documentation is especially critical in cases where families seek to cover medical expenses through a lawsuit.
Common issues include:
Recognizing the patterns that lead to a birth injury lawsuit is the first step in protecting your patients — and your career. When you know the most common causes, you can take proactive steps to prevent harm and reduce your legal exposure.
By understanding these risks, you can:
While prevention is the ultimate goal, even the most skilled and careful providers can face a birth injury lawsuit. That’s why combining strong safety practices with comprehensive malpractice insurance is the best way to safeguard both your patients and your professional future.
Consulting an experienced legal team can also help you navigate complex legal risks and ensure you are fully prepared for any potential challenges.
While no provider can eliminate risk entirely, you can dramatically reduce it by focusing on patient safety, clear communication, and thorough documentation. Implementing effective disease control protocols can also help reduce the risk of birth injuries and associated lawsuits.
Here are proven strategies to help prevent birth injury lawsuits and protect your patients.
Good outcomes often start months before delivery. Use prenatal care visits to:
Strong prenatal care reduces complications and builds trust with patients — which can also reduce the likelihood of litigation.
Whether you work in a hospital, birth center, or private practice, standardized protocols are essential.
Consistent adherence to protocols not only improves outcomes but also strengthens your defense if a birth injury lawsuit is filed.
Time is critical under these circumstances. Minutes matter.
Quick, decisive action can prevent hypoxic brain injuries such as cerebral palsy — a leading cause of birth injury lawsuit settlements.
If there is an inadequate response to fetal distress, families may seek compensation through a lawsuit.
One of the strongest tools for preventing lawsuits is clear communication.
Patients who feel heard and respected are less likely to pursue a birth injury lawsuit, even if the outcome is not ideal.
However, families who do not feel adequately informed may seek legal guidance regarding their options.
In court, your notes are your best defense.
If you ever face a birth injury lawsuit, thorough documentation is the best evidence to show that your actions met the standard of care. Comprehensive medical records are also essential for both defending against and supporting a birth injury claim.
We wrote full blogs on charting with a jury in mind and charting by exception. Read them both today!
Many OBGYN malpractice insurance providers offer free or discounted risk management courses.
These programs not only improve care but can also help lower OBGYN malpractice insurance cost through premium discounts.
Often referred to as the birth injury lawsuit process—a series of steps families and providers must navigate after a birth injury is discovered, understanding this legal process is key. This process includes filing a complaint, gathering evidence, taking legal action against medical professionals, and seeking monetary compensation. It also covers how birth injury lawsuit settlements are reached, and the essential role malpractice insurance plays in protecting your career, finances, and peace of mind.
Whether you’re an OBGYN, nurse midwife, or another provider involved in childbirth, understanding this process can make a difficult situation a little less overwhelming.
The family’s attorney files a formal complaint in court, which initiates a medical malpractice lawsuit, alleging negligence, errors in judgment, or failure to meet the standard of care. The complaint outlines the injuries, the damages sought, and who is being sued. You — or your employer — are then formally served with this document.
Your first call should be to your medical malpractice coverage provider. Timely notification is crucial — delays can jeopardize your coverage. Your insurer will assign a defense attorney experienced in OBGYN malpractice cases. This legal team becomes your front line, handling filings, deadlines, and strategy from day one.
This is the fact-finding stage, and in a cerebral palsy birth injury lawsuit or other severe claim, it can be exhaustive.
Typical discovery includes:
Because of the complexity, discovery can last months — or even years — before the case can move forward to trial.
Attorneys on both sides may file motions to:
These motions can shape the strength of each side’s position.
The reality is that most birth injury lawsuits settle before trial. Settlement talks may begin early but often gain momentum after discovery, once the evidence is clear. Settlements can save both sides the cost, stress, and unpredictability of trial. These negotiations focus on reaching fair compensation for the injured parties.
If no settlement is reached, the case goes to trial. Trials in birth injury cases can last weeks and require extensive insurance expert witness testimony. Both sides present their case, and a judge or jury decides liability and damages, specifically examining whether medical professionals were negligent and whether they are responsible for any injury.
If the family wins, the jury awards damages, and your malpractice insurance pays up to your policy limits. Families often file birth injury lawsuits to obtain compensation for injuries caused by medical negligence. Even if the verdict goes in your favor, legal costs can be high — which is why coverage is essential.
Either side can appeal, potentially extending the process for months or years.
Birth injury lawsuit settlements are often substantial because they may cover decades of care. Settlements are designed to provide for the child's future care and well-being, ensuring financial stability and access to necessary treatments and therapies over their reasonably anticipated life expectancy. The amount depends on the injury’s severity, the cost of future treatment, and other damages.
According to one source, “When adjusted for inflation, the average payout is nearly $1.4 million.”
Even the most skilled provider can face a birth injury lawsuit. That’s why having the right medical malpractice coverage — especially OBGYN malpractice insurance — isn’t optional. Working with an experienced birth injury lawyer can also help families and providers navigate insurance claims and settlements.
Premiums for OBGYN malpractice insurance are among the highest in medicine — often $40,000 to $200,000 annually. Costs depend on:
Cases like wrongful life lawsuits, wrongful birth claims, ectopic pregnancy malpractice, and abortion malpractice bring additional legal and ethical complexities. These often require senior defense attorneys and careful coordination with your insurer because of heightened media and reputational risks. Here is a more detailed breakdown:
A wrongful life lawsuit is a legal claim brought on behalf of a child asserting that medical negligence—such as a misdiagnosis, failure to detect genetic abnormalities, or errors in prenatal testing—caused the child to be born into a life of suffering due to severe disability and/or deprived the parents of the choice to avoid or terminate the pregnancy.
In these cases, the focus is on the child’s harm from being born with severe disabilities or medical conditions that could have been prevented. Damages in wrongful life cases may include lifelong medical costs, specialized care expenses, and compensation for loss of quality of life.
A wrongful birth claim is a lawsuit filed by parents alleging that medical malpractice—such as failed prenatal screening, incorrect genetic counseling, or failure to diagnose congenital disabilities—deprived them of informed consent regarding moving forward with the pregnancy. Unlike wrongful life, the injury claimed is to the parents, centering on the loss of the right to make reproductive choices. Damages in wrongful birth cases may cover emotional distress, added medical and care expenses, and loss of autonomy in family planning decisions.
Ectopic pregnancy malpractice occurs when a medical professional fails to diagnose, misdiagnoses, or improperly treats an ectopic pregnancy. Ectopic pregnancies occur when a fertilized egg implants outside the uterus, most commonly in a fallopian tube, but in rare cases, implantation can happen in the abdominal cavity.
Ectopic pregnancies are a significant cause of maternal morbidity and mortality in the first trimester. Symptoms such as abdominal pain, vaginal bleeding, and shoulder pain are key warning signs, as internal bleeding may radiate to the shoulder. If a ruptured ectopic pregnancy is not promptly identified, it becomes a medical emergency with life-threatening consequences.
Failure by a medical professional to recognize or treat these symptoms can result in severe internal bleeding, infertility, or maternal death. Malpractice claims may involve misdiagnosis in emergency care, failure to order ultrasound or hCG testing, delayed surgical removal, or improper medication management for ectopic pregnancies.
Abortion malpractice refers to medical negligence during or after an abortion procedure, including surgical abortion errors, incomplete abortion, failure to detect pregnancy complications, or failure to obtain informed consent. Claims can also involve unsafe abortion practices, improper anesthesia use, or inadequate post-procedure follow-up leading to infection, hemorrhage, or loss of fertility. Damages in abortion medical malpractice cases may include physical injury, emotional trauma, and long-term reproductive health complications.
Without medical malpractice coverage, defending a birth injury lawsuit can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees — even if you win. With coverage, you get:
Protecting yourself requires a two-part strategy:
Families affected by birth injuries rely on both prevention and legal protection to secure their child's well-being.
While prevention is always the goal, birth injury lawsuits continue to make headlines — often with verdicts and settlements in the millions. These cases highlight the devastating impact of medical errors occurring during childbirth, showing how patients have suffered harm because of preventable medical mistakes. They also illustrate the financial realities of birth injury lawsuit settlements, and the importance of both prevention and medical malpractice coverage.
By examining real outcomes from U.S. courtrooms, healthcare providers can better understand how decisions, documentation, and protocols are scrutinized in birth injury lawsuit claims. Below are five recent, high-profile cases and the lessons they offer for minimizing risk in obstetric care.
An Iowa jury awarded nearly $98 million to parents after their newborn child suffered severe brain damage from lack of oxygen during delivery. The birth injury lawsuit alleged providers failed to respond to clear distress and did not perform a timely C-section. Jurors accounted for lifelong care needs, therapy, and equipment. This case underscores how documentation, fetal monitoring, and escalation protocols shape birth injury lawsuit settlements.
A Philadelphia judge upheld—and later increased with delay damages—a record birth injury lawsuit verdict against the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, bringing the total to $207.6 million. The jury found negligent care led to catastrophic, lifelong disabilities requiring extensive support. This outcome shows how juries weigh life-care plans, future costs, and pain and suffering in birth injury lawsuit settlements.
Reading Hospital agreed to pay $32.5 million to settle a birth injury lawsuit involving a boy who suffered brain damage from his 2018 delivery. Reporting indicates the settlement covers lifelong medical care, therapy, and adaptive needs—illustrating how damages escalate when injuries limit independence. For clinicians, recognition of maternal and neonatal red flags in a timely manner and thorough charting can prevent similar birth injury lawsuits. This case is a practical benchmark for large birth injury lawsuit settlements tied to alleged failure to prevent hypoxia.
A Racine County jury awarded $10 million to a family after their daughter suffered lasting brain damage at birth. News coverage highlighted negligent use of Pitocin, contributing to distress and delayed intervention—classic factors in a birth injury lawsuit. The verdict reflects juror focus on monitoring responsiveness, escalation pathways, and drug-induction protocols. For providers, clear communication and documented rationale for dosing decisions are critical.
The University of Chicago Medical Center was ordered to pay $14 million after a jury found delays and negligence around a 2016 delivery led to severe neurological injury and the child’s death at age four. While framed as wrongful death, it centers on preventable birth-related harm—squarely within birth injury lawsuit territory. Coverage shows how emergency department delays, triage decisions, and handoffs can drive outcomes and liability.
Birth injury lawsuits are some of the most emotionally charged and financially significant cases in medicine. They demand not only strong clinical skills but also proactive prevention and robust protection.
By refining your safety protocols, documenting care thoroughly, and maintaining comprehensive OBGYN malpractice insurance, you safeguard your patients — and your future in medicine. How much is malpractice insurance? It depends on your field.
If you’re an OBGYN or any provider in labor and delivery, now’s the time to:
Taking these steps ensures you’re prepared for anything — and keeps you focused on what matters most: safe, compassionate care for every mother and child.
If you have questions about birth injury lawsuits or your legal options, consider reaching out to a legal professional for a free consultation.
Want to learn more about medical risks? Check out our blog on the most common medical mistakes and 10 common emergency room errors.
Medical malpractice coverage offers crucial coverage and support for physicians navigating medical malpractice claims. Indigo makes it easier to get medical malpractice coverage. This lets you focus on what you do best—seeing patients.
Indigo uses strong data sets and artificial intelligence in its unique underwriting model. This helps analyze thousands of data points quickly. As a result, it offers personalized pricing to doctors in all medical fields. Indigo rewards physicians that practice good medicine with better insurance costs.
Connect with us today and protect yourself against these increasing risks by investing in the right medical malpractice insurance coverage now.
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