Brooklyn Brachial Plexus Injury Attorneys

Why Brooklyn Families Trust Finz & Finz With Brachial Plexus Birth Injury Cases

Brachial plexus cases often depend on what occurred in the delivery room over a matter of minutes. Evaluating whether negligence occurred requires attorneys who understand the obstetric maneuvers available during complications, which were performed, and whether appropriate steps may have been omitted.

Finz & Finz, P.C. brings more than 40 years of medical malpractice litigation experience and has obtained over $1 billion in verdicts and settlements in prior cases. Past results do not guarantee future outcomes.

Obstetric and Neurological Review of the Delivery

The firm works with board-certified obstetricians and pediatric neurologists to review the complete delivery record, focusing on how the delivering physician responded to complications such as shoulder dystocia. This review examines each documented maneuver, the sequence and timing of interventions, and whether the force applied to the baby’s head and neck was consistent with accepted standards of care.

Finz & Finz offers this review at no cost and without obligation, providing an independent assessment based on the available medical records rather than relying solely on the hospital’s description of events.

Experienced Trial Attorneys and Judicial Insight

The legal team includes four former judges, and the firm’s attorneys have taken medical malpractice cases to verdict in courts across New York. Before filing a birth injury lawsuit, New York law requires a Certificate of Merit under CPLR § 3012-a, which involves consultation with a licensed physician who confirms a reasonable basis for the claim.

Finz & Finz uses this process to evaluate whether there is a sufficient basis to proceed, working with qualified physicians to identify whether and where a departure from the standard of care may have occurred during the delivery.

Finz and Finz accident and medical malpractice attorneys in New York and Long Island

What Is a Brachial Plexus Injury and How Does It Happen During Birth?

The brachial plexus is a bundle of nerves that originates in the neck and travels through the shoulder into the arm. These nerves control movement and sensation in the shoulder, elbow, wrist, and hand. When a delivering physician applies excessive lateral traction to the baby’s head and neck during a difficult delivery, those nerves may stretch, compress, or tear.

How Shoulder Dystocia Leads to Nerve Damage

Shoulder dystocia occurs when the baby’s head delivers but one or both shoulders become lodged behind the mother’s pubic bone. This is a recognized obstetric emergency, and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) publishes protocols for managing it safely. The delivering physician’s response during shoulder dystocia directly determines whether the baby sustains a brachial plexus injury.

When the physician pulls downward on the baby’s head with excessive force rather than following established relief maneuvers, the stretch on the brachial plexus nerves may cause damage ranging from mild neuropraxia (a temporary nerve stretch) to avulsion (the nerve root tearing away from the spinal cord). The severity of the injury depends on the amount of force applied and how long the compression lasted.

Types of Brachial Plexus Injuries in Newborns

Not all brachial plexus injuries present the same way, and the type of nerve damage your child sustained affects both the prognosis and the legal case. Brooklyn families frequently encounter the following diagnoses after a difficult delivery.

Erb’s palsy (upper brachial plexus injury), affecting the shoulder and upper arm, resulting in the arm hanging at the side with limited movement
Klumpke’s palsy (lower brachial plexus injury), affecting the forearm, wrist, and hand, which is less common but may cause significant loss of grip and fine motor control
Total plexus involvement, affecting the entire arm from shoulder to hand, often associated with more severe traction injuries
Neuropraxia, a stretch injury where the nerve remains intact but function is temporarily reduced, with most cases resolving within weeks to months
Neuroma or avulsion injuries, where the nerve is partially or completely torn, potentially requiring surgical intervention and carrying a higher risk of permanent impairment

Even injuries that appear mild in the first weeks of life may reveal lasting functional limitations as the child grows and begins reaching developmental milestones. An early medical and legal evaluation gives your family the clearest picture of your child’s prognosis and the strength of a potential claim.

What Delivery Room Errors Lead to Brachial Plexus Injuries in Brooklyn?

Brachial plexus injuries during delivery are closely linked to how the medical team manages labor, anticipates complications, and responds to shoulder dystocia. Brooklyn hospitals deliver thousands of babies each year at facilities including Maimonides Medical Center, NYU Langone Hospital Brooklyn, and NYC Health + Hospitals/Kings County, and the standard of care at each of these institutions requires physicians to follow established protocols for difficult deliveries.

Specific Obstetric Failures That Cause Nerve Damage

The following delivery room errors appear frequently in Brooklyn brachial plexus injury cases reviewed by birth injury attorneys.

Applying excessive downward traction on the baby’s head when the shoulder is stuck, rather than using recognized maneuvers to free the shoulder without pulling on the neck
Failing to perform the McRoberts maneuver (repositioning the mother’s legs to widen the pelvic opening) or suprapubic pressure as a first response to shoulder dystocia
Using forceps or vacuum extraction improperly, adding lateral force to the baby’s head and neck during an already complicated delivery
Failing to anticipate shoulder dystocia in high-risk deliveries, such as when the baby is estimated to be large for gestational age or the mother has gestational diabetes
Delaying a cesarean section when prenatal indicators suggest a vaginal delivery carries a heightened risk of shoulder dystocia

Obstetric protocols exist precisely to prevent brachial plexus injuries during complicated deliveries. When a physician skips those protocols or applies force that exceeds what the clinical situation permits, the resulting nerve damage may form the basis of a malpractice claim.

How Do You Prove a Brachial Plexus Birth Injury Case in Brooklyn?

A brachial plexus birth injury case requires your legal team to prove the same four elements that apply to all New York medical malpractice claims, with a specific focus on what happened during the delivery itself. The evidence centers on the delivery record and the testimony of retained obstetric and neurological physicians.

Duty of care: The obstetrician, midwife, and hospital owed your baby a duty to provide competent care during labor and delivery.
Breach of the standard of care: The delivering physician or team failed to follow accepted obstetric protocols for managing the delivery, including the response to shoulder dystocia.
Causation: The breach directly caused the brachial plexus injury, meaning the nerve damage resulted from the physician’s actions rather than an unavoidable complication.
Damages: Your child suffered measurable harm, including nerve damage, loss of arm function, need for medical treatment or surgery, and the impact on the child’s development and quality of life.

Hospitals frequently argue that brachial plexus injuries occur naturally during difficult deliveries and that the physician followed proper technique.

A Brooklyn brachial plexus injury attorney at Finz & Finz counters that defense by presenting retained physicians who analyze the delivery record, the documented maneuvers, and the clinical evidence of the type and severity of force applied.

What Filing Deadlines Apply to Brooklyn Brachial Plexus Injury Cases?

New York’s medical malpractice statute of limitations under CPLR § 214-a provides additional time for claims involving minors. A birth injury lawsuit generally must be filed within 10 years of the date of the malpractice, and no later than the child’s twentieth birthday.

The 90-Day Notice of Claim for Brooklyn Public Hospitals

If your child was born at a public hospital in Brooklyn, such as Kings County Hospital or Woodhull Medical Center, a Notice of Claim must be filed within 90 days of the delivery. This deadline applies regardless of the extended statute of limitations for minors, and missing it typically bars the family from pursuing the case at all. The 90-day window passes quickly, which is why seeking legal guidance soon after your child’s diagnosis matters.

Why Timing Affects the Strength of Your Case

Beyond the legal deadlines, the practical strength of a brachial plexus case depends on the preservation of key evidence. Delivery records, fetal monitoring strips, and staff recollections are most reliable and accessible in the months and years immediately following the birth. The longer a family waits, the more difficult it becomes to reconstruct the full picture of what happened in the delivery room.

What Compensation May Be Available in a Brooklyn Brachial Plexus Case?

The financial and personal impact of a brachial plexus birth injury depends on the severity of the nerve damage, whether surgery is required, and how the injury affects your child’s development over time. New York law allows families to seek damages that account for both the immediate medical costs and the long-term consequences of the injury.

Categories of Damages in Brachial Plexus Birth Injury Claims

Brooklyn families pursuing a brachial plexus malpractice claim may seek the following types of compensation.

Past and future medical expenses, including surgery (such as nerve grafting or tendon transfer), physical therapy, occupational therapy, and ongoing specialist appointments
Costs of adaptive equipment and modifications needed to accommodate limited arm or hand function as the child grows
The child’s pain and suffering, covering both the physical discomfort from the injury and the emotional impact of growing up with a functional limitation
Loss of future earning capacity if the injury permanently limits the child’s ability to perform certain types of work as an adult

New York does not impose a cap on non-economic damages in medical malpractice cases, and juries in birth injury cases consider the full trajectory of the child’s life when assessing the harm.

A brachial plexus injury that appears minor at birth may carry significant long-term consequences that only become apparent as the child develops, making thorough medical documentation and early legal evaluation particularly important.

FAQs for Brooklyn Brachial Plexus Injury Attorneys

Erb’s palsy is a specific type of brachial plexus injury that affects the upper nerves of the brachial plexus, typically causing weakness or paralysis in the shoulder and upper arm. Brachial plexus injury is the broader term that covers damage to any of the nerves in the brachial plexus network, including both upper (Erb’s palsy) and lower (Klumpke’s palsy) injuries.

Signs that the injury may have resulted from delivery negligence include documentation of shoulder dystocia, use of forceps or vacuum extraction, a large-for-gestational-age baby, and limited or absent documentation of the maneuvers the physician used to resolve the shoulder dystocia. A review of the delivery record by an independent obstetrician may reveal whether the physician applied excessive traction or failed to follow standard protocols.

They may. Even injuries classified as neuropraxia, where the nerve stretches but does not tear, may result in months of physical therapy, delayed motor development, and residual weakness. If the injury occurred because the physician departed from the standard of care, the family may pursue compensation for the treatment costs and the impact on the child’s development, regardless of whether the injury resolves fully.

New York law extends the statute of limitations for minors, generally allowing birth injury claims to be filed within 10 years of the malpractice or before the child’s twentieth birthday. However, claims against Brooklyn public hospitals require a Notice of Claim within 90 days of the birth, and that deadline applies even with the extended filing window for children.

The review involves obtaining and analyzing the complete delivery file, including labor and delivery notes, physician documentation of shoulder dystocia and the maneuvers performed, nursing records, fetal monitoring strips, and the newborn’s initial physical examination. Retained obstetricians and pediatric neurologists evaluate this data to determine whether the delivering physician’s technique fell below the accepted standard of care.

Speak With a Brooklyn Brachial Plexus Injury Attorney About Your Child’s Delivery

Your child’s nerve injury did not happen in a vacuum. It happened during a delivery managed by a physician who had specific protocols to follow and a standard of care to meet. The delivery record documents what that physician did, and an independent review by qualified medical professionals outside the hospital may reveal whether those actions caused your child’s injury.

Finz & Finz, P.C., provides that review at no cost to Brooklyn families and builds cases that hold delivering physicians and hospitals accountable for preventable brachial plexus injuries. Filing deadlines in New York, particularly the 90-day Notice of Claim for public hospital deliveries, leave limited time to act. Contact Finz & Finz today for a free case review.

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