New York Birth Injury Lawyer

How Much Is a New York Birth Injury Claim Worth?

Financial recovery in birth injury cases encompasses economic and non-economic damages designed to address both immediate and long-term consequences of newborn medical malpractice. Our attorneys thoroughly document all the impacts of the injury to ensure that no aspect of harm goes uncompensated. We fight to secure resources that truly reflect the lifetime costs associated with serious birth injuries.

Economic Damages

Economic damages encompass the measurable monetary losses stemming from birth-related injuries. These calculable expenses represent the tangible financial challenges families encounter when providing care for a child with avoidable birth trauma. The complexity of these calculations often requires sophisticated financial modeling to ensure nothing is overlooked. Economic damages typically include:

• Past and Future Medical Expenses: All medical costs associated with birth injuries, from initial hospitalization to long-term care, are covered. Our team works closely with medical experts to project future medical needs and ensure out-of-pocket expenses do not burden families.
• Specialized Therapy Costs: Many children require ongoing physical, occupational, or speech therapy to support development and daily functioning. We seek full coverage of these therapy expenses so families can access the best rehabilitative services without financial strain.
• Adaptive Equipment and Assistive Technology: Children with serious birth injuries often need medical equipment such as wheelchairs, communication devices, and mobility aids. We ensure these essential tools are included in the compensation package to promote greater independence and a higher quality of life.
• Special Education Expenses: Special education services, including one-on-one instruction and customized learning plans, are often necessary for children with developmental challenges. Our attorneys include these educational costs in your claim to provide your child with every opportunity to reach their potential.
• Long-Term Care and Support Services: For children who require lifelong assistance with daily activities, our firm seeks compensation that covers skilled nursing, in-home aides, and other long-term care options. We ensure your child’s future support needs are fully addressed.
• Lost Parental Income Due to Caretaking: Parents frequently reduce work hours or leave the workforce entirely to care for an injured child. Our team pursues damages for these lost earnings, recognizing the financial sacrifices families make to provide proper care for their loved ones.
• Lost Future Earning Capacity of the Child: When a birth injury impacts a child’s ability to earn a living eventually, we pursue damages that reflect this lifelong loss. Our team works with economic experts to calculate a fair value based on what the child’s earning potential would have been.

Our financial loss assessments draw on insights from life planning professionals, economists, and healthcare professionals to precisely estimate lifetime expenditures. We guarantee all monetary projections factor in rising costs, evolving healthcare innovations, and your child’s unique medical outlook and requirements. Our team maintains relationships with renowned experts across multiple disciplines who strengthen our cases with authoritative testimony based on current research and standards of practice.

Non-Economic Damages

Non-economic damages address the intangible, deeply personal losses that impact a family’s well-being and overall quality of life. These damages recognize the emotional toll, physical pain, and life-altering consequences that often follow a birth injury. Examples of non-economic damages typically include:

• Physical Pain and Suffering: Children with birth injuries may endure ongoing physical discomfort throughout development, requiring medication and therapeutic interventions. The physical suffering often intensifies during growth phases as affected muscles, nerves, and tissues struggle to develop normally.
• Emotional Distress: Parents and children alike experience significant psychological trauma when confronting the realities of preventable birth injuries. Children may develop anxiety, depression, or post-traumatic responses as they become aware of their limitations and differences from their peers.
• Loss of Enjoyment of Life: Birth injuries frequently prevent children from participating in normal childhood activities, sports, and recreational pursuits that bring joy and fulfillment. These limitations extend into adulthood, affecting career choices, relationships, and the ability to experience life’s milestones independently.
• Loss of Society and Companionship: Birth injuries can fundamentally alter parent-child relationships and interactions, particularly when communication abilities are impaired. Families lose the expected dynamics and connections that would have developed without the injury, creating a profound void in family relationships.
• Diminished Quality of Life: Children with serious birth injuries often require constant supervision, medical management, and assistance with basic daily functions. The constant need for medical appointments, therapies, and specialized care creates a fundamentally different life experience from what would have been possible without negligence.
• Permanent Disfigurement: Visible physical differences resulting from birth injuries can lead to social stigma, unwanted attention, and psychological harm throughout life. Children with facial paralysis, asymmetrical development, or mobility equipment face societal judgments that impact self-image and confidence from early development.
• Disability and Impairment: Functional limitations affect educational opportunities, career potential, and independence, creating lifelong barriers to achievement. Courts recognize that cognitive and physical impairments resulting from birth injuries create compounding disadvantages as children attempt to navigate educational systems and eventually pursue employment.

Our legal team effectively illustrates the lasting, everyday challenges birth injuries create for both the child and their loved ones. We build powerful narratives supported by expert testimony, medical records, and real-life examples to show how the injury touches every corner of a family’s life. By clearly conveying these impacts, we help decision-makers fully grasp the emotional, developmental, and relational consequences involved.

Punitive Damages

Juries may award punitive damages in birth injury cases involving particularly egregious negligence or misconduct. These damages serve to punish defendants and deter similar behavior in the future. Punitive damages are not typical in New York birth injury cases. However, they may be appropriate when:

• Healthcare providers deliberately altered medical records
• Hospitals concealed information about known risks
• Medical professionals practiced while impaired
• Facilities enforced policies prioritizing profit over patient safety
• Providers performed procedures without proper consent
• Systematic failures were ignored despite previous incidents
• Gross negligence demonstrated reckless disregard for patient safety

Our attorneys identify cases where punitive damages are warranted and present the evidence necessary to secure these additional awards. We believe egregious violations of medical standards deserve appropriate consequences beyond mere compensation. Despite personal feelings or beliefs that a case warrants them, punitive damages are only applied in about 5 percent of all personal injury lawsuits.

Wrongful Death Benefits

When birth injuries tragically result in death in New York, families may pursue wrongful death claims. These claims provide compensation while acknowledging no recovery can truly address such a profound loss. Depending on the decedent’s age, health, and other factors we consider, wrongful death benefits may include the following:

• Final arrangement costs (funeral or memorial and burial or cremation expenses)
• Final medical costs
• Conscious pain and suffering experienced before death
• Loss of consortium (companionship and parental relationship)
• Emotional distress of family members
• Lost income while grieving

Our compassionate approach to wrongful death claims focuses on honoring the memory of your child while seeking monetary justice. We handle these sensitive matters with the utmost care, allowing families space to grieve while we manage the legal process. Every step we take is guided by respect for your loss and a commitment to holding negligent parties accountable.

Types of Birth Injuries

Birth injuries can differ greatly in their causes, severity, and lasting effects, some of which stem from preventable mistakes during pregnancy, labor, or delivery. Our attorneys are experienced in managing a wide range of birth injury cases, each of which demands and strategic legal action. Common birth injuries include:

• Cerebral palsy caused by oxygen deprivation
• Brachial plexus injuries (Erb’s palsy and Klumpke’s palsy)
• Hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE)
• Intracranial hemorrhage and brain damage
• Spinal cord injuries
• Facial paralysis
• Fractures of the clavicle, skull, or other bones
• Caput succedaneum and cephalohematoma
• Kernicterus from untreated jaundice
• Persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn (PPHN)
• Shoulder dystocia complications
• Vacuum extraction and forceps injuries

Our legal team collaborates with medical specialists who can identify the precise cause of these injuries and connect them to specific acts of negligence. We understand the complex relationship between medical decisions made during pregnancy and delivery and the resulting injuries that may affect your child for life.

Finz & Finz, P.C. Demands Fair Compensation for New York Birth Injuries

Insurers representing medical providers and hospitals employ sophisticated strategies to minimize payouts in birth injury cases, including more complicated corporate structured policies. Our attorneys understand and prepare for their usual methods, ensuring our clients receive fair consideration of their claims without being pressured into inadequate settlements. We bring decades of experience negotiating with and litigating against major medical malpractice insurance companies. Common insurance tactics we combat include:

• Delaying claims processing to pressure families experiencing financial hardship
• Disputing the connection between medical negligence and the child’s injuries
• Minimizing the projected lifetime costs of care and treatment
• Claiming injuries resulted from unavoidable complications rather than negligence
• Offering quick but inadequate settlements before families understand the long-term impacts
• Using statements from parents against them to reduce liability
• Hiring biased medical experts to dispute standard of care violations

We protect families from these predatory tactics by handling all communications with insurance representatives on their behalf. Once you obtain our services, insurance companies can no longer contact, pressure, or harass you. Our experience allows us to anticipate defense strategies and build cases to overcome insurers’ usual tactics, whether through negotiated settlements or courtroom verdicts.