Are You Eligible to File a Birth Injury Lawsuit?

May 7, 2026

Video Transcript: 

Medical providers could be held financially liable when their negligence contributes to birth injuries, but are you eligible to file a birth injury lawsuit? Hi, I’m speaking on behalf of Hensley Legal Group, a personal injury law firm based out of Indiana. I’d like to discuss the requirements for pursuing litigation over a child’s birth injuries. Your ability to file a birth injury lawsuit is largely determined by your relationship to the injured child. Each state has its own rules governing birth injury cases, but the plaintiffs are almost always the child’s parents or guardians. While you may care deeply for a young relative or family friend who suffered a significant injury at birth, if you are not the parent or legal guardian, you may not be authorized to file suit on the child’s behalf. Next, is there enough time left for you to file? This will depend on your state’s Statute of Limitations, which sets how long you have to initiate legal proceedings after an incident. Once the statute for a legal action has expired, you can’t take that action. There are different statutes for different legal actions, and birth injury lawsuits are no exception. In Indiana, for instance, you have until the minor’s eighth birthday to file a birth injury lawsuit, after which you could be barred from doing so. Finally, most birth injury lawsuits are actually medical malpractice lawsuits, so you will need to demonstrate that medical malpractice has occurred. However, a birth injury in and of itself is not proof of medical malpractice. Instead, malpractice is said to occur when a medical practitioner exhibits negligence by deviating from the established protocols of the medical community, known as the “standard of care.” The practitioner deviates from the standard of care by not treating a patient the same way that another competent practitioner would have under the same circumstances. When medical negligence causes direct harm to a patient, it could justify a medical malpractice case. Therefore, if you can show that your child’s birth injury was caused by medical malpractice, you may have a valid birth injury case. But if you can’t, your birth injury case will likely fail. If you found this video useful, please hit the “like” and “subscribe” buttons. And if you are struggling to get justice for your injured child, reach out to Hensley Legal Group, where we have been standing up for the innocent victims of negligence for more than 25 years.