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Recent Blog Posts
Signs of Nerve Damage from an Epidural
Epidurals are one of the most common forms of pain management during childbirth. For many families in Cook County, they are seen as a routine way to make delivery more manageable and less traumatic. But while most epidurals are given safely, there are cases where things go wrong.
Nerve damage from an epidural can be devastating, leading to lasting pain, mobility issues, or even permanent disability for a mother. Recognizing the signs of nerve injury early is critical, both for your medical care and for protecting your legal rights if the damage was caused by medical negligence.
Attorney Allen Schwartz and his team have decades of experience handling birth injury cases. He has secured many multi-million dollar verdicts and settlements for families whose lives were permanently altered by mistakes in labor and delivery. If your family has been affected by epidural-related nerve damage, experienced legal guidance can help you understand your options.
Is Poor Postnatal Care Considered Malpractice?
When a mother delivers a baby, the intense focus on labor and delivery can give the impression that the hard part is over. But serious medical complications can still happen in the hours, days, and weeks after a baby is born. If a hospital or healthcare provider does not monitor and treat those complications appropriately, the consequences can be life-altering and even fatal for the mother, the newborn, or both.
Families affected by negligent postnatal care may have grounds to bring a malpractice claim. These cases are complicated, and the emotional difficulty is often immense, but taking legal action can help hold providers accountable and get much-needed financial support for recovery. To understand whether you have a valid malpractice claim, speak with a Chicago, IL birth injury lawyer who can review your case and offer compassionate guidance.
Who Is Liable for a Birth Injury Caused by Hospital Understaffing?
When a mother goes to the hospital to give birth, she puts her trust in the medical team to care for her and her baby. If there are not enough nurses or doctors available, that trust can be shattered when something goes seriously wrong. Many mothers describe the heartbreak and rage of knowing something was wrong and being powerless to do anything about it.
In some cases, it is a lack of staffing that leads to serious harm. If your child suffered a birth injury due to delays or missed warning signs because there were not enough doctors or nurses available, the hospital may be legally responsible. A compassionate Cook County, IL birth injury lawyer can review the details of your case and explain your options.
How Can Hospital Understaffing Lead to Birth Injuries?
Labor and delivery are high-stakes situations. Both the mother and baby must be closely monitored, and staff need to be ready to act immediately if something goes wrong. When hospitals are understaffed, the level of appropriate care is often impossible to achieve. A single nurse may be assigned to too many patients, or a doctor may not be available when needed. These conditions can result in delayed C-sections, missed signs of fetal distress, and dangerous complications going untreated.
Can Not Having a Neonatologist Cause a Birth Injury?
Timing is critical during labor and delivery, especially when there are complications. Neonatologists are doctors who specialize in newborn care, and they are often needed immediately after delivery for high-risk births. When a hospital delays calling this specialist, a baby can suffer serious and lifelong harm. If your child was injured and you suspect a delay in care contributed to or caused this injury, you might have grounds for a medical malpractice claim.
Illinois law protects families harmed by medical negligence. If your baby suffered a birth injury due to a delay in involving a neonatologist, speak with a qualified Chicago, IL personal injury lawyer about your options for seeking accountability and financial compensation.
How Can a Delay in Calling a Neonatologist Harm a Newborn?
A neonatologist is often called when a baby is premature, shows signs of distress, or is at risk for birth complications such as low oxygen levels. If hospital staff wait too long to involve this specialist, it can lead to delayed diagnosis and treatment of serious conditions including neonatal hypoxia (lack of oxygen to the brain), brain bleeds, infection or sepsis, or cerebral palsy.
Can Failure to Monitor Fetal Heart Rate Cause Cerebral Palsy?
Cerebral palsy is a lifelong condition that can affect a child’s movement, posture, and muscle coordination. While some cases are unpreventable, others result from medical negligence during labor and delivery. One common cause of preventable cerebral palsy is the failure to properly monitor the baby’s heart rate during childbirth.
Fetal heart monitoring provides critical information about a baby’s well-being during labor. When doctors or nurses fail to respond to signs of fetal distress, serious brain injuries, including those that lead to cerebral palsy, can result. As of July 2025, Illinois law continues to allow families to pursue compensation when medical negligence causes or contributes to a birth injury. If your family has been impacted, speak with a Cook County, IL birth injury lawyer to understand your options.
What if Delayed Diagnosis Caused a Birth Injury?
Whether you are someone who experiences pregnancy as a magical, miraculous time or a time of swollen ankles, strange cravings, and seemingly endless aches and pains, all pregnancies have one thing in common: they require careful monitoring and medical oversight. With strict schedules of tests and scans that need to be done, many people feel like they spend more time at their clinic than at their job. However, some women still do not receive the thorough medical care they deserve.
When doctors fail to recognize or respond to signs of distress or complications during pregnancy, it can result in devastating consequences for the baby and the mother. A delayed diagnosis may lead to serious birth injuries, lifelong disabilities, or even loss of life. If you or your child suffered harm because of a delayed diagnosis, speak with a Chicago, IL birth injury lawyer to understand your options.
What Compensation Can I Collect in a Birth Injury Claim?
When a birth injury changes the course of your child's life, the emotional and financial burden can be overwhelming. In many cases, these injuries could have been prevented with proper medical care. If medical negligence played a role in your child’s birth injury, you may be able to pursue compensation through a birth injury claim. However, these cases can be challenging. Making a mistake can be costly. The assistance of a competent lawyer is invaluable.
Our compassionate Chicago, IL birth injuries attorneys understand how these injuries can affect your child’s and your family’s long-term well-being. We will pursue maximum compensation that addresses all your damages and holds the at-fault medical providers accountable.
What Are Common Birth Injuries, and What Special Care Might Be Needed?
Medical negligence is the failure to provide the same level of care that another healthcare professional with similar qualifications would provide in the same situation. Some of the most common birth injuries that can result from medical negligence include cerebral palsy, brachial plexus injuries, brain damage, and skull or spinal trauma. Common causes include:
If My OB Did Not Perform a Necessary C-Section, Can I Sue?
When a vaginal birth would be too risky for the mother or child, a C-section delivery may be necessary. In 2023, 32.3 percent of babies born in the U.S. were delivered by C-section. While C-sections can save lives, the timing of the procedure is important. If an obstetrician delays or fails to perform a necessary C-section, the consequences can be devastating. In some cases, this failure may be considered a form of medical malpractice.
Doctors are expected to monitor labor carefully and recognize signs that a C-section is the safest option. If warning signs are present and no action is taken or the action is delayed, that failure could indicate medical negligence, which may give you grounds for a claim for compensation. Our knowledgeable Cook County, IL maternal injuries lawyers can provide invaluable assistance.
Can I Sue If My Baby’s Preterm Birth Led to Birth Injuries?
It takes 40 weeks of pregnancy for a human baby to fully develop. A birth occurring before 37 weeks is considered premature. Babies born too early are likely to suffer various birth injuries that can lead to lifelong serious conditions. Some preterm births happen spontaneously with no clear cause. Sadly, others can happen due to medical negligence.
If negligent medical care contributed to your child’s premature birth and he or she has birth injuries as a result, you could be entitled to compensation. This type of case can be extremely complex, but our knowledgeable Cook County, IL birth injuries attorneys can handle yours skillfully.
What Is Medical Negligence?
When a doctor, nurse, or other healthcare provider fails to meet the standard of care expected in their profession, that is medical negligence. If that failure causes harm to a patient, it may be considered malpractice. Subpar medical care can sometimes lead to premature birth. In turn, that early birth can directly harm the newborn.
Does a Low Apgar Score Indicate a Birth Injury?
Many people are aware that an Apgar score is an assessment of a baby’s condition shortly after birth, but they may not understand what this method entails or exactly what an Apgar score means. Created by Dr. Virginia Apgar in 1952, the Apgar assessment is performed at one minute and five minutes after a child is born. Although this test does not diagnose specific issues, it can tell medical providers that a baby needs immediate attention.
Receiving the prompt and correct treatment can reduce the adverse effects of some birth injuries. If your doctor or midwife ignored low Apgar scores and your baby suffered harm, our dedicated Cook County, IL birth injuries lawyers can help you hold the negligent party accountable.
What Are Apgar Scores?
Midwives, nurses, and doctors evaluate five functions using the Apgar test, with each function receiving a score of zero, one, or two. Appearance refers to skin color, which can range from pale blue to healthy pink. Pulse is the number of heartbeats per minute. Grimace is a response to a stimulus. Activity refers to muscle movement, and respiration assesses breathing and crying.
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