When your child suffered a preventable birth injury due to negligent medical care, every day that passes without action puts your family's future at greater risk. Birth injury cases demand more than legal skill - they require the ability to identify exactly where healthcare providers failed during the labor and delivery process.
At CHH Law, our legal team includes a licensed physician and a certified respiratory therapist both of whom attorneys, giving Chicago families an unmatched advantage in pursuing fair compensation for serious injuries caused by medical negligence.
means faster, more accurate case screening - our medical professionals spot the critical failures in prenatal care, delivery decisions, and post-partum treatment that caused your child's birth injury
against major medical institutions gives us the litigation experience and resources to take on hospitals backed by aggressive defense teams
CHH Law does not handle fender-benders; we concentrate on cases involving permanent disabilities, brain injuries, and lifelong consequences where the stakes are highest
with fewer than 10% of birth injury claims going to court, hospitals know which firms will actually try a case, and that knowledge drives stronger settlement outcomes
Birth injury cases span a wide range of physical trauma - from nerve damage and bone fractures to permanent brain damage and wrongful death. CHH Law handles the full spectrum of birth trauma claims for both the child and both the mother, pursuing maximum compensation for every family we represent.
Many birth injuries to newborns result from failures during the labor and delivery process. Cerebral palsy occurs in 1.5 to 4 children per 1,000 births, and oxygen deprivation is a common cause of brain injuries at birth. Common birth injuries we handle include:
Cerebral palsy and hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) - when a medical team fails to recognize fetal distress or delays a necessary C-section, the resulting oxygen deprivation can cause permanent brain damage, developmental delays, and neurological disorders
Brachial plexus injury and shoulder dystocia - improper management when a baby's shoulder becomes lodged in the birth canal can cause Erb's Palsy, Klumpke's paralysis, and permanent nerve damage affecting the child's ability to use their arm
Brain injuries from delivery tool misuse - birth injuries can result from improper use of birth-assistive tools like forceps or vacuum extractors, leading to skull fractures, intracranial hemorrhage, and lasting developmental disabilities
Neonatal infections and kernicterus - untreated jaundice, sepsis, or chorioamnionitis that healthcare providers failed to diagnose or treat in time
Facial paralysis and spinal cord injuries - physical trauma during a difficult vaginal delivery or vaginal birth that causes permanent injury
The birth trauma rate in the U.S. is 1.9 per 1,000 live births, and birth injuries accounted for 20% of 20,000 infant deaths in 2021. When an injured child faces lifelong consequences from negligent medical care, families deserve a birth injury attorney who understands both the medicine and the law.
Birth injury claims are not limited to infants. Mothers can suffer injuries during delivery when medical professionals fail to provide proper medical care:
Uterine rupture and internal hemorrhage - catastrophic complications during labor that require immediate surgical intervention
Preeclampsia and eclampsia mismanagement - failure to monitor risk factors or act on warning signs of dangerously high blood pressure
Post-partum hemorrhaging and infection - delayed treatment of maternal conditions that can lead to organ damage, sepsis, or death
When medical negligence during labor and delivery results in the death of a mother or child, CHH Law pursues wrongful death claims to hold negligent healthcare providers accountable. The statute of limitations is two years for wrongful death claims. These cases include:
Infant death from unrecognized fetal distress, delayed C-section, or umbilical cord prolapse
Maternal death from preventable complications including uncontrolled hemorrhage or undiagnosed conditions
Stillbirth cases involving failure to monitor fetal well-being or act on deteriorating conditions
Filing a birth injury lawsuit in Illinois requires meeting strict procedural requirements. Under Illinois law (735 ILCS 5/2-622), a sworn declaration from a medical professional is required to file a medical malpractice lawsuit - a "certificate of merit" confirming there is reasonable cause for the claim. CHH Law's in-house clinical expertise streamlines this process while building the strongest possible case.
Our physician-attorney conducts a thorough investigation of your child's birth injury by reviewing all prenatal care records, labor and delivery charts, fetal heart rate strips, and maternal vital sign logs. Our certified respiratory therapist analyzes breathing-related complications and oxygen deprivation events. Together, they reconstruct a complete timeline of the medical care provided - identifying exactly when and where the medical team failed.
Birth injury claims often require expert medical opinions, and having medical professionals on our legal team means we can identify critical failures that non-clinical attorneys would need weeks of outside consultation to uncover.
Proving negligence requires establishing a provider-patient relationship, showing a deviation from the accepted standard of care, and demonstrating that negligence must directly cause the child's injury and damages. CHH Law coordinates with leading medical experts in obstetrics, neonatology, and pediatric neurology to build your case:
Consultation with specialists who can testify about what proper medical care should have included
Review of hospital protocols, staffing decisions, and whether the medical provider followed established standards
Analysis of fetal monitoring equipment, medication administration (including Pitocin), and intervention timing
Life care planners who project the lifetime cost of care, therapy, assistive equipment, and specialized education your child will need
CHH Law pursues aggressive birth injury litigation against major hospitals and their insurance company defense teams. Between 2014 and 2025, the median birth injury verdict in Illinois was approximately $14 million, with average verdicts in cerebral palsy cases reaching $20.9 million. Recent Cook County results include a $75.86 million verdict against University of Chicago Hospital and a $23.5 million verdict for a child born at Mercy Hospital.
Our approach focuses on securing your family's child's future - whether through settlement negotiations that account for lifelong medical costs or trial advocacy that demonstrates the full scope of harm caused by medical malpractice.
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CHH was the only firm willing to take on our complex surgical injury case, and we are so glad they did. I truly don't believe we would have had the positive outcome we did without them.
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I don't know what we would have done without Dan during this difficult time. I highly recommend having Dan J. Pylman and his team to represent you & yours if you want to win your case.
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I can honestly say I felt the compassion from each member of the CHH team. You CAN NOT go wrong choosing CHH.
CHH Law represents families across the greater Chicago metropolitan area in birth injury cases, including:
Cook County - Chicago, Evanston, Oak Park, Cicero, and surrounding communities
DuPage County - Naperville, Elmhurst, Wheaton, and nearby suburbs
Lake County - Waukegan, Highland Park, Lake Forest, and surrounding areas
Kane County - Aurora, Elgin, St. Charles, and neighboring communities
Will County - Joliet, Bolingbrook, Plainfield, and the greater Will County area
Illinois allows two years to file any injury lawsuit from the date the injury was discovered or should have been discovered. However, with injured children under 18 years of age, where that injury is not a brain injury, parents have eight years from the time of the negligence occurred to bring suit but in no instance after the child's 22nd birthday. Where a child suffers a brain injury and that injury renders them “legally disabled,” which a brain injury would cause in most cases, the statute of limitations never runs. Thus, even if your brain-injured child is now an adult, if you suspect the injury was a birth injury, it’s never too late to call us. Knowing these deadlines is critical because many birth injuries - including cerebral palsy, developmental delays, and neurological disorders - may not become apparent until months or years after delivery.
For wrongful death claims, the deadline is two years from the date of death. Contacting a chicago birth injury attorney as early as possible helps preserve medical records and other critical evidence.
Families can recover compensation for lifelong medical costs, including:
Economic damages cover actual monetary losses like medical expenses - past and future hospital stays, surgeries, therapy, medications, assistive equipment like wheelchairs and ventilators, home modifications, and full-time care
Non-economic damages compensate for intangible losses like pain and suffering, emotional distress for both the child and parents, loss of enjoyment of life, and disfigurement
Lost earning capacity for the injured child's future when permanent disabilities limit the child's ability to work
Punitive damages may be awarded for gross negligence in birth injury cases involving willful or wanton misconduct
Illinois does not cap damages in birth injury claims - meaning there is no statutory limit on what a jury can award for a child's birth injury. Families can recover lifelong medical costs for birth injuries that require decades of specialized care.
Proving a medical malpractice lawsuit in a birth injury case requires establishing four elements: duty, breach of standard of care, causation, and damages. Our physician-attorney identifies where healthcare providers deviated from accepted medical standards - whether that involves failure to recognize fetal distress, delayed intervention during a complicated vaginal delivery, improper use of delivery instruments, or inadequate prenatal care.
Medical expert testimony establishes what proper medical care should have included, and our team demonstrates direct causation linking the negligence to the specific injuries your child sustained. Birth defects and pre-existing conditions are common defenses raised by hospitals, making it essential to have chicago birth injury attorneys who can distinguish between a preventable birth injury and an unavoidable outcome.
The most common birth injuries resulting from medical negligence include cerebral palsy from oxygen deprivation, brachial plexus injuries from shoulder dystocia mismanagement, brain damage from delayed C-sections, bone fractures from excessive force during delivery, facial paralysis from nerve damage during birth, and intracranial hemorrhage from improper use of forceps or vacuum extractors. Many of these potential injuries are preventable when a medical team follows established protocols for monitoring and intervention during the labor and delivery process.
