Indiana Birth Injury Lawsuits

• Thousands of babies and their mothers throughout the United States suffer serious injuries during childbirth every year, and the physical, emotional, and financial toll they take can be enormous.
• Fortunately, a lawsuit might be possible when somebody else is at fault for a birth injury in Indiana, although medical malpractice will usually need to be shown for the suit to be viable.
• For help with your Indiana birth injury lawsuit, turn to Hensley Legal Group, PC, which has a history of success with major injury cases, like a $25 million verdict* for a collision with an ambulance.

*SPECIFIC CASE RESULTS. NO TWO CASES ARE EXACTLY ALIKE.

The birth of a child should be one of the happiest days in any parent’s life, making it heartbreaking whenever an unforeseen complication arises, something that happens much more often than many people might imagine. Every year, around 30,000 babies nationwide are injured during childbirth, and their mothers can get hurt while giving birth too.

The physical, emotional, and financial toll that a serious birth injury takes can be enormous. Fortunately, a lawsuit might be possible when somebody else is at fault for a birth injury in Indiana, and the chances of success could be even greater when you team up with the highly skilled birth injury lawyers at Hensley Legal Group, PC, a dedicated Indiana personal injury law firm whose experienced attorneys have been fighting on behalf of the wrongfully injured since 1998

Hensley has been named one of the Best Law Firms in the United States by Best Lawyers® in recognition of the many noteworthy results it has secured in major injury cases, such as:

• A $25 million verdict* for a collision with an ambulance.
• An $8 million settlement for a delivery truck crash.
• A $4.25 million claim resolution for a pedestrian accident.

Additionally, attorneys at the firm have been honored with inclusion in the Million Dollar Advocates Forum, Super Lawyers, America’s Top 100 Attorneys, and the National Trial Lawyers’ lists of the Top 100 Trial Lawyers and the Top 40 Under 40, and they’d be equally honored to help with your Indiana birth injury lawsuit.

You can schedule a free consultation with a knowledgeable Indiana birth injury attorney by calling us at (317) 472-3333, chatting with us online, or filling out our contact form now.

*SPECIFIC CASE RESULTS. NO TWO CASES ARE EXACTLY ALIKE.

What Are Birth Injuries?

Birth injuries are injuries that are caused by adverse events either during or shortly after childbirth. Among the most common infant birth injuries in Indiana are:

• Caput succedaneum (swelling of the scalp secondary to cranial pressure)
• Brain and/or spinal cord damage
• Cerebral palsy
• Shoulder dystocia
• Erb’s palsy
• Hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE)
• Fractures
• Facial nerve trauma
• Stillbirth

As we’ve already explained, mothers may be similarly at risk of incurring grievous injuries over the course of the labor process, like:

• Perineal tears
• Hemorrhaging
• Uterine rupture
• Pelvic floor trauma
• Blood clots
• Unplanned hysterectomies
• Infections/sepsis
• Urinary or fecal incontinence
• Broken bones
• Preeclampsia, eclampsia, and HELLP syndrome
• Organ damage or failure
• Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

Sometimes both the child and the mother can get injured during childbirth, and their loved ones could soon find themselves struggling to cope with the steep costs associated with:

• Medications and supplies
• Adaptive equipment
• Treatment by specialists
• In-home or institutional care
• Loss of income (when a parent is too injured to work or sacrifices a career to care for an injured child)

But no matter how punishing or expensive a birth injury is, your family generally can’t be compensated for it in the State of Indiana unless there was some sort of medical malpractice involved.

The Importance of Proving Medical Malpractice

In fact, most Indiana birth injury lawsuits are essentially medical malpractice lawsuits (or wrongful death lawsuits when birth injuries are fatal).

However, a negative outcome in and of itself isn’t proof of malpractice, which is only said to occur when a practitioner deviates from the protocols of the medical profession (a.k.a. the “standard of care”) by not treating a patient the way that other practitioners would have in the same context.

If that deviation injures a baby or mother during or immediately following childbirth, there may be grounds for an Indiana birth injury lawsuit, though you may still have to show that:

1. A duty of care was owed – The practitioner took on a duty of care to the mother and her baby by accepting them as patients.
2. This duty was breached – By deviating from the standard of care, the practitioner breached this duty.
3. This breach inflicted injury – The practitioner’s breach of duty inflicted injury on one or more of the patients.
4. Damages were sustained – The mother and/or the baby sustained damages as a direct consequence of the injury inflicted.

If each of these elements can be demonstrated, you may be eligible to file an Indiana birth injury lawsuit, and the list of defendants could be more extensive than you might think.

Who Can Be Held Responsible for a Birth Injury?

A host of individuals and entities may be held responsible for a birth injury depending upon the circumstances. Leading defendants in Indiana birth injury cases include:

• Obstetricians and other doctors
• Nurses
• Midwives
• Paramedics
• Anesthesiologists
• Pharmacists
• Technicians
• Hospitals
• Medical facilities
• Ambulance services
• Drug and medical device manufacturers

In some instances, multiple defendants could share varying degrees of legal and fiscal liability for a birth injury simultaneously, and it is critical to file suit against every single one of them within the time allotted by law if you don’t want to be forever barred from full recovery.

How Long Do You Have to File a Birth Injury Lawsuit in Indiana?

The period in which you have to file a birth injury lawsuit in Indiana is primarily a function of the state’s Statute of Limitations, under which a plaintiff typically has “until the minor’s eighth birthday to file” over a child’s birth injury and two years to file over a maternal birth injury.

Nonetheless, Indiana’s Medical Malpractice Act may not allow you to file suit for a birth injury or any other kind of harm committed by a medical practitioner until you first file a complaint with the Indiana Department of Insurance.

Once that step is completed, you will have to wait 20 days before you can request the formation of a medical review panel, a body consisting of a non-voting chairperson and three independent healthcare providers that is tasked with assessing the merits of your claim. After reviewing the submissions and undergoing “examination…by counsel,” the panel will issue an opinion about whether a claim is justified, usually within about 30 days.

This opinion is non-binding, so you should be able to move forward with an Indiana birth injury lawsuit regardless of how the panel votes, although that doesn’t mean that an unfavorable decision can’t come back to haunt you, since it can be admitted in a court of law later on.

Moreover, there may be other obstacles that could lie ahead of you if you try to seek justice for a birth injury in Indiana, but you can overcome anything that threatens to block your path when you partner with the seasoned Indiana birth injury lawyers at Hensley Legal Group, PC.

How Hensley’s Indiana Birth Injury Attorneys Can Make a Difference

If you become one of the many Hoosiers every day who choose to hire Hensley, our Indiana birth injury attorneys will unearth the root causes of the injury, identify the defendants to blame for it, and establish valid claims and/or file suit against them all before the Statute of Limitations expires.

Our firm will also amass irrefutable evidence of your losses and the medical malpractice that contributed to them, subpoenaing provider and hospital documentation when warranted and coordinating with experts in their fields who can weigh in on relevant procedures and methods.

Upon putting together an airtight case against each of the defendants, our Indiana birth injury lawyers will negotiate tirelessly with their malpractice insurance carriers for a settlement that takes everything that has been taken from you into account.

While Indiana birth injury lawsuits can be concluded amicably without going to trial, we aren’t afraid to bring your suit before a judge and jury if we don’t receive an offer that reflects its true value, unlike far too many of our competitors, who rarely venture into a courtroom.

Restrictions may be placed on how much can be awarded for a birth injury lawsuit in Indiana as well as on how those funds can be allocated, but Hensley’s tenacious Indiana birth injury attorneys will always strive to get you the maximum amount of compensation available for your lawsuit.

Reach Out to Our Indiana Birth Injury Lawyers

Hensley Legal Group has been fiercely advocating for the innocent victims of negligence for more than a quarter century. If your family is having trouble returning to normal after a devastating birth injury that was caused by a careless medical practitioner in Indiana, reach out to our Indiana birth injury lawyers to learn more about your legal options.

Just call us at (317) 472-3333, chat with us online, or fill out our contact form to arrange a complimentary case review with an accomplished Indiana birth injury attorney today.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are birth injuries?

Birth injuries are injuries that are caused by adverse events that take place either during or shortly after childbirth.

Both babies and their mothers can be injured during childbirth, sometimes simultaneously, and their families could struggle to cope with the steep costs associated with the past, present, and future medical care required as well as the potential loss of income.

What birth injuries do babies suffer?

Babies can suffer various injuries in the birthing process that could have a detrimental impact on body function and structure.

Some of the leading infant birth injuries in Indiana are caput succedaneum, brain, spinal cord, and facial nerve damage, cerebral palsy, shoulder dystocia, Erb’s palsy, hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE), fractures, and stillbirth.

What birth injuries do mothers suffer?

Mothers can similarly sustain a host of injuries during labor, particularly when the births are difficult or more elaborate procedures become necessary.

Common maternal birth injuries include perineal tears, hemorrhages, uterine ruptures, pelvic floor trauma, blood clots, unplanned hysterectomies, infections, urinary/fecal incontinence, broken bones, preeclampsia, eclampsia, HELLP syndrome, organ damage/failure, and PTSD.

Am I eligible to file an Indiana birth injury lawsuit?

An Indiana birth injury lawsuit is usually only possible when a birth injury is a result of medical malpractice.

Malpractice is said to occur when a practitioner deviates from the protocols of the medical profession (“standard of care”) when treating a patient. So if your baby or the baby’s mother was harmed by such malpractice in Indiana, you may be eligible to file a birth injury lawsuit.

How long do I have to file a birth injury lawsuit in Indiana?

The period in which you have to file a birth injury lawsuit in Indiana is primarily governed by the state’s Statute of Limitations.

Under the Statute, you typically have until the child’s eighth birthday to file over an infant birth injury or two years to file over a maternal birth injury, although you may want to speak with a knowledgeable Indiana birth injury lawyer before making any decisions about a lawsuit.