Birth Injury Compensation Claims | Irwin Mitchell Solicitors

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 client liaison managers 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 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 client liaison managers and rehabilitation contacts

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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0800 121 6567

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Birth Injury Claims - More Information

- What Will Happen When I Make A Claim?
- When you contact us we’ll set up a free initial consultation to discuss your case and see if you have a claim. We’ll also talk about how you can pay for your claim, including No Win No Fee agreements*.
  
  We’ll then get in touch with those responsible for your negligent treatment at an early stage to see if they accept the blame for your birth injury. If they accept responsibility, we’ll try to secure interim compensation payments which can fund private medical care and ongoing expenses before your final settlement. Any interim payments will be taken out of your final compensation award.
  
  Our experts will look into your case in detail, gathering evidence from independent medical professionals. These experts will work out what care you should have received and what your future treatment needs will be.
  
  We’ll always try and negotiate claims out of court, keeping your claim as short as we can. However, if your opponent doesn’t accept responsibility or doesn’t agree with the amount of compensation we feel you need, we’ll start court proceedings.
  
  Even when trial dates have been set, claims are still often settled before reaching court. If your claim does need to go to court, we’ll be there to help you every step of the way, talking you through what will happen so you feel as comfortable as possible.
- Who Can Access Legal Aid?
- Legal aid can help cover the cost of legal advice and representation if your child has been affected by a birth injury.
  
  You can apply for legal aid to support your claim for brain injuries during pregnancy, birth or the first 8 weeks of life. Your case must meet two requirements to qualify:
  1. You can only apply if the child has less than £2,500 in savings
  2. There must be a strong enough reason for us to investigate your case.
  When you get in touch with us, we’ll discuss whether you’ll be able access legal aid. If your claim qualifies, then legal aid will cover the cost of our initial investigation and the cost of full representation if we take your case on.
  
  We’re one of a small number of law firms that can take on legal aid cases for birth injuries. Call us free on 0800 121 6567 to find out more.
- How Much Compensation Could I Receive For A Birth Injury?
- How much compensation you could get depends on:
  - Your child’s care needs
  - The severity and extent of their injury
  - The costs of medical treatment, rehabilitation, care support and home adaptations that may be needed
  - Time taken off work or if you’re no longer able to work
  - Travel costs to medical appointments.
  Our birth injury solicitors will try to get you a settlement that provides a full care package for your child, for their lifetime if needed. We’ll make sure that their best interests are always put first and we can help you manage your compensation award to make sure it lasts as long as you need it.
- Meet The Team
- Our clinical negligence solicitors have many years of experience in birth injury claims. We're rated as among the very best in the country by independent legal guides like Chambers & Partners and the Legal 500. Speaking to Chambers & Partners, one client said of our medical negligence team: “The advice is very friendly and they go a long way to make you feel comfortable."