HIE Lawyer in Birmingham

What an HIE Malpractice Claim Must Actually Prove

A serious diagnosis is not enough.

Under Alabama medical-malpractice law, the plaintiff generally must prove by substantial evidence that a healthcare provider failed to exercise the reasonable care, skill, and diligence that similarly situated providers ordinarily would have exercised in a like case.

The evidence must also connect that departure from the standard of care to the child's injury.

Depending on the case, the alleged failure may involve:

• Failure to respond appropriately to concerning fetal monitoring
• Delay in escalating obstetric care
• Delay in performing an emergency delivery when one was medically indicated
• Failure to respond appropriately to an acute cord, placental, or uterine complication
• Inadequate newborn resuscitation
• Failure to recognize signs of moderate-to-severe HIE in an eligible newborn
• Delay in escalation to an appropriate neonatal treatment center

The medical record determines whether any of those theories actually fits the case.

Our Birmingham medical malpractice practice uses qualified medical review to evaluate the applicable standard of care and causation rather than assuming that every bad outcome was preventable.

Building the Medical Evidence for Trial

HIE litigation can involve obstetrics, maternal-fetal medicine, neonatology, pediatric neurology, radiology, life-care planning, and other areas of expertise depending on the facts.

Our attorneys prepare catastrophic injury cases with the possibility of trial in mind.

The evidence may include the complete electronic medical record, original fetal-monitoring strips, cord blood gases, placental pathology, resuscitation records, imaging, EEG results, NICU records, therapy evaluations, and later developmental assessments.

Preserving the chronology is especially important because the case may turn on when deterioration became apparent and what clinicians did during a relatively short period.

Goldasich, Vick, & McCartney has recovered more than $800 million for clients across its practice and has secured more than 85 settlements and verdicts of $1 million or greater. Our published case results include a $10 million medical-malpractice verdict involving a child with severe neurological injuries.

That case was not an HIE claim and does not predict the outcome of another matter. It does demonstrate the firm's experience litigating high-stakes medical-malpractice cases involving serious neurological harm.

The Long-Term Effects of HIE Can Shape the Claim

Children affected by HIE can have very different outcomes.

Some recover with limited lasting impairment. Others develop long-term neurological disabilities that can affect movement, communication, cognition, hearing, vision, feeding, or seizure control.

Moderate or severe HIE can be associated with conditions such as cerebral palsy, epilepsy or other seizure disorders, developmental impairment, and the need for ongoing medical and rehabilitative care.

When malpractice is established, evaluating damages can require more than adding current medical bills.

The evidence may need to address future treatment, therapy, medications, assistive technology, home or transportation modifications, educational support, attendant care, reduced future earning capacity, and the effects of permanent physical or cognitive impairment.

The child's actual prognosis and documented needs should drive that analysis.

Alabama Deadlines for HIE Birth Injury Claims

Alabama generally requires medical-malpractice actions to be filed within two years of the act or omission giving rise to the claim.

When the claim could not reasonably have been discovered within that period, the statute provides a limited six-month discovery provision, subject to additional restrictions.

Alabama also generally imposes a four-year outer limit on medical-malpractice actions.

There is an important exception for very young children. If the child was under four years old when the alleged malpractice occurred, Alabama Code § 6-5-482 provides that the child may have until the eighth birthday to commence the action.

That does not mean every claim connected to a child's injury automatically remains open until age eight. The parties asserting claims, dates, defendants, and specific legal theories can affect the deadline analysis.

Families should have those dates reviewed rather than relying on a generalized online calculation.