Rochester Birth Injury Lawyer

Were you or your baby injured during childbirth in Rochester, NY?

At Buttafuoco & Associates, we offer a free case review with a birth injury lawyer who handles serious-injury matters.

If your baby was hurt during delivery at a Rochester hospital, write down what you remember about the labor while it is still fresh. Those notes help us compare the hospital’s records with what actually happened. Our firm has pursued birth injury claims for New York families for decades, and our results include a cerebral palsy case that settled immediately before trial and a $30,000,000 recovery for a baby who suffered a brain injury. Arrange a free case review with a Rochester, NY birth injury lawyer today.

Birth Injury Lawyer Rochester, NY

A birth injury is physical harm to a baby, or sometimes to the mother, that occurs during pregnancy, labor, or delivery. When that harm results from a provider’s failure to follow accepted obstetric or neonatal practice, the family may have a malpractice claim, and that question of fault is what separates a birth injury from a birth defect caused by genetics or fetal development.

Monroe County residents had 7,437 live births in 2022, and 2,321 of them, or 31.2 percent, were cesarean deliveries, according to state vital statistics. Every delivery involves decisions about monitoring, timing, and intervention. A Rochester birth injury attorney evaluates whether those decisions met the standard of care, because these claims are a specialized form of medical malpractice and follow the same rules of proof.

Types of Birth Injury Cases We Handle in Rochester

Birth injuries fall into recognizable patterns, though each delivery has its own timeline. We reconstruct labor from the fetal monitor tracings, nursing notes, and medication records, and then ask independent obstetricians and neonatologists to compare that timeline with accepted practice.

• Birth hypoxia. Oxygen deprivation before or during delivery can damage a baby’s brain within minutes. These claims often focus on whether staff recognized warning signs on the fetal heart monitor and acted in time.
• Delayed C-section injuries. When labor stalls or the baby shows signs of distress, a timely cesarean can prevent permanent harm. We examine how long the decision took and what the records say about the delay.
• Vacuum extraction injuries. Improper use of a vacuum device can cause skull fractures, bleeding beneath the scalp, and brain injury. The number of attempts and the force applied are central questions.
• Brachial plexus injuries. Excessive pulling on a baby’s head or neck during a difficult delivery can stretch or tear the nerves that control the shoulder, arm, and hand. This injury is sometimes called Erb’s palsy.
• Breech birth complications. A baby positioned feet or buttocks first faces added risks, and providers must decide whether to attempt a vaginal delivery or perform a cesarean. Those choices are measured against accepted practice.
• Cerebral palsy. Some cases of cerebral palsy trace to oxygen deprivation or trauma during birth. These claims require careful separation of preventable causes from those that have nothing to do with the delivery.
• Medication errors during labor and delivery. Mistakes with drugs used to induce labor, control bleeding, or manage pain can harm both mother and child. We review dosing records and how the patient was monitored afterward.
• Wrongful fetal death. When negligent prenatal or delivery care leads to the loss of a pregnancy, the family may have a claim, and the available damages depend on the circumstances of the loss.

Why Choose Buttafuoco & Associates as My Birth Injury Lawyer in Rochester, NY?

A birth injury recovery has to protect a child for life, and our firm handles the guardianship, trust, and Surrogate’s Court work that follows a settlement instead of sending families to another office.

Protecting a Child’s Recovery for the Long Term

James McCarthy has litigated birth injury, surgical, and failure-to-diagnose cases from investigation through trial. Because many of his cases involve wrongful death or total incapacitation, he handles the related Surrogate’s Court proceedings personally rather than referring families to outside counsel, which saves clients considerable time and expense.

Families sometimes come to us with more than one legal problem, such as the mother’s own injuries during delivery or an unrelated accident, and our firm can take on those matters too, serving as a personal injury lawyer in Rochester, NY for the whole family.

Birth Injury and Pediatric Results

Children and families are behind several of the multimillion-dollar recoveries listed among our case results.

1. Brain injury to a baby: a $30,000,000 recovery.
2. A pediatric malpractice case: a $2,000,000 settlement for a child left permanently blind in one eye after a pediatrician never told the family about a standard treatment for a condition present at birth.
3. Cerebral palsy caused by obstetric malpractice: a favorable settlement obtained by James McCarthy immediately before trial, followed by a Supplemental Needs Trust that allowed the child to keep Medicaid coverage while the settlement funds stayed protected.

Understanding Birth Injury Cases

What Are Important Aspects of a Birth Injury Case?

A birth injury claim in Rochester raises medical, legal, and financial questions that ordinary injury cases do not.

1. Separating preventable harm from other causes. Defense lawyers often argue that a condition such as cerebral palsy began before labor. Fetal monitor strips, cord blood results, and newborn imaging help show when the injury occurred and whether the care fell below the standard of care.
2. The child’s deadline. Under CPLR § 208, the time to sue on a child’s behalf for medical malpractice is extended while the child is a minor, but never beyond ten years from the malpractice. Our $2,000,000 pediatric case was filed with only days to spare.
3. The parents’ deadline. Claims that belong to the parents, such as reimbursement for medical bills they paid, generally follow the two-and-a-half-year malpractice limitations period and are not extended by the child’s age.
4. Protecting benefits. A large recovery can affect a child’s eligibility for needs-based programs, so the way the funds are held matters as much as the amount. Our Rochester birth injury lawyers address that structure as part of resolving the case rather than leaving it for later.

What Is the Birth Injury Case Timeline?

Expect a birth injury case in Rochester to run longer than most malpractice claims, since a child’s long-term needs may not be clear until the child is older. The first stage is gathering prenatal, labor, delivery, and neonatal intensive care records and submitting them to obstetric and pediatric specialists for review.

If the claim proceeds, the lawsuit moves through discovery and depositions of the delivering physician, nurses, and residents. Many cases settle once both sides understand the child’s prognosis and future care costs, while others are tried before a jury. Because records take months to collect and review, the timing of hiring an attorney has a direct effect on how much of the deadline remains.

After a settlement, funds recovered for a child are often held in a guardianship account or trust. For Monroe County families, related guardianship proceedings take place in the Surrogate’s Court.

Damages, Liability, and Compensation for Birth Injury Cases

Damages in a birth injury case are calculated over a lifetime, and they belong partly to the child and partly to the parents.

• Medical and therapy costs. Surgery, neurology care, and physical, occupational, and speech therapy, along with equipment such as wheelchairs and communication devices.
• Lifetime care. Home nursing, attendant care, and accessible housing when the child will need support into adulthood.
• Lost earning capacity. Compensation for the income the child would likely have earned without the injury.
• Pain and suffering. The child’s physical pain and loss of enjoyment of life.
• Parents’ losses. Medical expenses the parents paid and the value of their child’s lost services.

Responsibility may rest with the obstetrician, the midwife, the anesthesiologist, the nursing staff, or the hospital that employs them. Several of these providers often share the same delivery, and the records usually show who made each decision. Hospitals can also be responsible for staffing choices, such as whether a qualified physician was available when an emergency cesarean became necessary.

A serious birth injury can change a family’s life in ways that standard damages categories do not fully capture, so we document daily care routines, missed work, and future needs in detail.

What Should You Bring to Your Birth Injury Consultation?

Pregnancy and birth records are the core evidence in these claims, and they are often scattered across several offices, so start with what is already in your hands.

• Prenatal visit summaries, ultrasound reports, and any notes about high-risk conditions
• Hospital discharge papers for both mother and baby, including NICU records
• Diagnoses from pediatric neurologists, orthopedists, or other specialists
• Evaluations or service plans from Monroe County’s Early Intervention program, if your child has been referred
• The names of the physicians, midwives, and nurses involved in the delivery, if you know them

During the free case review, a birth injury attorney in Rochester will go through the pregnancy and delivery timeline step by step. Some serious conditions arise from genetics or infection rather than anyone’s mistake. When the evidence points in that direction, we explain why and suggest other sources of support, such as early intervention services.

Reach Out to Buttafuoco & Associates to Schedule a Consultation

Contact us for a no-cost review of your child’s birth records, whether or not a diagnosis has been confirmed. A birth injury lawyer in Rochester can begin that review before you have every document, because once you authorize us, we can request the hospital records directly. A member of our office will follow up to schedule the conversation at a time that fits your family’s schedule.