Birth Injury Claims

You expect your child to be taken care of during childbirth. But when doctors and midwives don’t meet the standards we expect, mistakes can happen. If your child has been injured during birth you may be entitled to claim compensation.

How To Claim For A Birth Injury

If you’d like to claim compensation for a birth injury to your baby, talk to one of our experts in a free initial consultation. Our birth injury lawyers will look into your case, talk with you about what you’ve been through and work out if you have a claim.

If you want to make a claim for an injury to a mother during childbirth please visit our page on birth injuries to mothers.

Who Can Make A Birth Injury Claim?

You could claim compensation for any birth injury that’s a result of medical negligence. If your baby has been injured due to mistakes by doctors or other medical staff before, during or after giving birth then you may be entitled to make a claim.

Our solicitors have helped families claim for a wide range of birth injuries including:

Cerebral Palsy
Stillbirth
Erb’s Palsy
Broken bones
Lack of oxygen.

How Long Do You Have To Make A Claim?

You can claim on behalf of your child any time before their 18th birthday. From 18 they have three years to make a claim (until they turn 21).

If you’re claiming for a child who has passed away as a result of a birth injury, you have three years to make a claim from the date of death. Contact us if you have any questions about claim time limits.

How Much Does It Cost To Make A Birth Injury Claim?

We’ll most likely take your case on a no win no fee basis. This means you’ll only pay legal costs if you receive compensation and most of those costs will be covered by your opponent. If your claim is unsuccessful you won’t have to pay anything*.

Unlike many law firms, we take on cases that use legal aid support. If you’re claiming for a child who has suffered a brain injury during birth you may be entitled to legal aid to cover all of your legal costs.

We can talk about legal aid, no win no fee and other ways to pay for your case in your free initial consultation.

Can You Help My Child Access Treatment And Rehabilitation?

Our birth injury solicitors will aim to secure enough compensation to cover the costs of any rehabilitation, medical care and home adaptations you may need.

If your baby is suffering from a serious injury our specialist Support and Rehabilitation Coordinators can help you, working with your child’s support team to produce a long-term care plan. They’ll connect you with support groups, charities and medical practitioners who can offer life changing services to support your child’s recovery or help them to live with their injury.

Why Choose Us?

As one of the largest personal injury law firms, we’ve represented more clients in birth injury compensation claims than any other firm in the UK. Our solicitors have offices across the country, so you and your family won’t have to travel far to get the legal help you need.

We offer a friendly, understanding service and we’ll listen to you and take on board your family’s needs. We can also help your child access support services from award winning charities to help them make the best possible recovery or help them learn to live and grow with their injury.

Unlike many other firms, we take on legal aid cases and we represent some of the most vulnerable families in birth injury claims. Our solicitors can also advise families going through the NHS Early Notification Scheme.

Our medical negligence solicitors have been recognised by legal guides as among the best at what they do and we have the expertise to ensure your child receives the settlement they really deserve.

Contact Us

If you’d like to make a birth injury claim for your child call us on 0800 121 6567 or contact us online and we’ll call you back.

Access to support and rehabilitation coordinators

Links with support groups and charities

In-house Public Law and Court of Protection experts

Legal aid available for some cases

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Birth Injury Claims - More Information

It’s not an easy situation to deal with, but there is assistance out there which has a massive positive impact."

Valerie, client's mother

Frequently Asked Questions

What Is A Birth Injury?

Any injury to a child that happens immediately before, during, or after delivery is a birth injury. A birth injury is different to a birth defect, which is when damage is caused while the foetus is still in the womb.

Mothers can also be injured during childbirth. See our birth injury to mothers claims page for more information.

Types of birth injury include:

Cerebral Palsy
Erb's palsy (brachial palsy)
Facial paralysis
Spinal injuries
Fractured bones
Lack of oxygen (hypoxia) leading to a brain injury
Kernicterus, caused by untreated jaundice.

Birth injuries are sometimes unavoidable due to medical complications but they can also happen when medical staff haven’t provided adequate care. This might include mistakes made during delivery or failing to monitor and react to a child’s vital signs.

If you’ve been affected by a birth injury caused by poor medical care, you may be able to make a birth injury compensation claim. Call us free on 0800 121 6567 or contact us online to find out more about how we can help.

What Can Cause A Birth Injury?

Birth injuries can occur due to a number of mistakes made by hospital staff, including:

Missing signs of distress in the baby such as an abnormal heartbeat or low blood sugar levels
Delivering the baby too late
Attempting delivery when the baby’s shoulder is stuck.

In order to make a successful compensation claim, we’ll need to prove a direct link between medical negligence and your baby’s injury. Our solicitors have years of experience investigating claims like this and we know how to get expert evidence to support your case. Contact us online to find out more.

What Support Is There For Families Affected By Birth Injuries?

As well as helping you claim compensation, we’ll help you access the resources you need to manage your child’s ongoing care needs and support them in living as independently as possible.

During your claim we can put you in touch with a dedicated support and rehabilitation coordinators to help you with:

Planning for long-term care needs
Arranging rehabilitation and physical therapy services
Organising home adaptations
Choosing and sourcing mobility aids
Liaising with social services, charities and support groups.

Read more on our Support and Rehabilitation Coordinators page.

Sometimes a birth injury means that your child has reduced mental capacity and won’t be able to manage their own affairs when they grow up. We can help you ensure their best interests are always put first and that their compensation settlement is looked after – see our Court of Protection section for more information.

We can also help you manage your compensation settlement to make sure it provides the very best support for the rest of your child’s life. This includes financial planning advice, investment advice and investment management. Find out more about asset management.

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Birth Injury Claims

How To Claim For A Birth Injury

Who Can Make A Birth Injury Claim?

How Long Do You Have To Make A Claim?

How Much Does It Cost To Make A Birth Injury Claim?

Can You Help My Child Access Treatment And Rehabilitation?

Why Choose Us?

Contact Us

Call our experts FREE on:

Birth Injury Claims - More Information

What Will Happen When I Make A Claim?

Who Can Access Legal Aid?

How Much Compensation Could I Receive For A Birth Injury?

Can Irwin Mitchell Help With NHS Early Notification Scheme Claims?

Frequently Asked Questions

What Is A Birth Injury?

What Can Cause A Birth Injury?

What Support Is There For Families Affected By Birth Injuries?

Related Information - Birth Injury Claims

About Irwin Mitchell

Contact Us

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