Boynton Beach Birth Injury Lawyer
You were told the delivery went normally, and months later your child is missing milestones and nobody will explain why. We can take it from here. Call 833-370-8692 for a free consultation. You pay us nothing unless we win. Our Boynton Beach personal injury lawyers have taken these cases across Palm Beach County since 1993.
Birth Injury claims in Boynton Beach
The explanation you were given does not match what you remember, and the delivery records are held by the people who wrote them. Meanwhile you are booking specialists, taking time off you do not have, and trying to work out what a lifetime of care costs. Reading those records properly is what we do, from the first call.
Most families do not leave the hospital knowing something went wrong. The concern arrives later, from a pediatrician noting a missed developmental milestone, an abnormal tone, or a seizure. By then the delivery records sit with a hospital the family has had no contact with for months. Florida measures the deadline from when the injury was or should have been discovered, which is a question of fact rather than a date on a chart, and the evidence for it is in those pediatric records as much as in the delivery ones. Both get obtained together.
Most families in Boynton Beach do not leave the hospital knowing anything went wrong. The concern arrives months later from a pediatrician. Florida measures the deadline from when the injury was or should have been discovered, which is a question of fact, but the four-year outer limit runs from the delivery itself, so late discovery does not extend everything.
What to do after a birth injury in Boynton Beach
- Ask for the complete delivery record, and name the strips. A request for records produces a discharge summary and a narrative, which is not the evidence. Ask in writing for the fetal monitoring tracings themselves, the nursing notes, the physician orders, the anesthesia record, the medication administration record and the neonatal resuscitation record. Those documents were made minute by minute during the labor, and they are what a reconstruction is built from.
- Keep every pediatric record as it accumulates. The developmental picture is built from what comes afterward: pediatric visits, referrals, early intervention assessments, therapy notes and eventually school evaluations. Keep them as they arrive rather than gathering them later. They establish both the extent of the injury and, where it matters, when a family could first reasonably have known something was wrong.
- Write down what you remember of the labor. Times, who was in the room, when the monitor was watched and when it was not, what you were told and what you asked for. Do it now rather than later. A parent’s account does not decide these cases and it frequently points at the half hour in the record where the answer is, which is worth a great deal when a chart runs to several hundred pages.
- Do not sign anything broad. Requests for records are routine. Broad authorizations, arbitration agreements and anything resembling a release are not, and they are sometimes handed over with ordinary paperwork. Bring the document to somebody before signing it. Reading it costs nothing, and an arbitration agreement signed at a bedside can decide a case before it starts.
- Ask early, because a child’s deadline is narrower than parents expect. The most common reason a valid birth injury claim is lost is a family waiting to see how a child develops. That instinct is entirely understandable and it is the wrong one, because the outer limit runs from the delivery rather than from the diagnosis. Having the records reviewed commits you to nothing and it preserves the option.
Where these happen in Boynton Beach
The birth injury cases that arise here are usually identified after discharge rather than in the delivery room, which changes where the evidence lives and which clock is running.
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The pediatrician’s office
Where the concern is usually first recorded, and therefore where the discovery question is answered.
- The first entry noting a missed milestone, abnormal tone or a seizure
- Referrals to pediatric neurology and the imaging that followed
- What the parents raised at earlier visits, and what was said in response
- The date the record shows a family could first reasonably have known
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Jaundice, discharge and readmission
A pattern we see repeatedly: a newborn discharged early, jaundice that was never measured or followed up, and a readmission days later.
- Whether bilirubin was checked before discharge and what the value was
- The follow-up appointment that was or was not arranged
- The readmission record, which is where the picture usually becomes clear
- A preventable injury, which is what makes these claims different from most
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The delivery record, months later
By the time a family asks, the records sit with a hospital they have had no contact with since discharge.
- The fetal monitoring tracings, which have to be requested by name
- The electronic record audit trail, showing anything added after the fact
- Nursing notes and orders, which are not in a discharge summary
- A request that produces the summary layer unless the specific documents are named
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Early intervention and school records
For a child identified late, the developmental file becomes the measure of the injury.
- Early intervention assessments and therapy notes
- School evaluations and any individualized education plan
- Therapy frequency and progress, which document the extent rather than the cause
- Records a family already holds, which are the cheapest evidence in the case
What causes them
- Shoulder dystocia managed badly, which is where most brachial plexus injuries come from
- Labor-inducing medication given at doses that overstimulated the uterus and cut off oxygen
- Maternal infection, preeclampsia or gestational diabetes not recognized or not treated
- A baby known to be large for dates delivered vaginally without the risk being addressed
- Umbilical cord problems, including prolapse and compression, not identified in time
The injuries we see, and what each one turns on
Kernicterus from untreated jaundice
Newborn jaundice is common, measurable and treatable, and untreated it can cause permanent brain injury. It is one of the more preventable injuries in this practice, and it frequently follows an early discharge without the bilirubin having been checked or a follow-up arranged. The readmission record is usually where the picture becomes clear.
Injuries to the mother
Regularly left out of a claim entirely. Hemorrhage, retained placenta, third and fourth degree tears, uterine rupture and injuries during a caesarean are their own harms with their own consequences, and a mother has a claim in her own right rather than only on behalf of her child.
Death
Where a baby or a mother dies, the claim is brought by the personal representative of the estate rather than by the family directly, and Florida decides by statute which survivors may recover and for what. Opening the estate is a probate step with its own timetable and it is worth starting early.
What Florida law requires you to prove
The NICA question has to be answered before anything else
Florida runs a statutory plan, NICA, which compensates a defined category of birth-related neurological injury without regard to fault under Fla. Stat. § 766.303. Where it applies it is the exclusive remedy against those involved in labor, delivery and immediate resuscitation, so there is no lawsuit. It reaches only injuries to the brain or spinal cord caused by oxygen deprivation or mechanical injury, occurring in the course of labor, delivery or immediate postdelivery resuscitation in a hospital, resulting in permanent and substantial impairment, and the plan carries further defined limits that have to be checked against the actual record rather than assumed.
The notice requirement, which is the part nobody mentions
A participating provider has to give an obstetrical patient notice that it participates in the plan, under Fla. Stat. § 766.316. Where that notice was not properly given, the plan’s exclusivity can fail and an ordinary civil claim survives. Whether it was given is a documentary question rather than a matter of recollection, and it is one of the first things worth checking. Separately, the statute preserves a civil action where there is clear and convincing evidence of bad faith, malicious purpose or willful and wanton disregard.
The deadlines, which are not what parents assume
A claim outside the plan is medical negligence and runs on those rules under Fla. Stat. § 95.11: generally two years from when the injury was discovered or should have been discovered, and an outer limit of four years from the incident, with a separate and narrow provision for young children. The Chapter 766 presuit requirements apply as well, which means records, a corroborating written opinion from a physician in the relevant specialty and 90 days notice before anything can be filed. All of that has to happen inside the deadline, which is why waiting to see how a child develops is the most expensive decision available.
The full statutory detail, and the parts that differ by claim type, sit on our statewide birth injury page rather than being restated in every market.
How we prove it in Palm Beach County
Two separate files matter here, and families usually have one of them already: the delivery record, which shows what happened, and the pediatric record, which shows what it did and when anybody knew.
- The fetal monitoring tracings themselves, requested by name rather than as part of a record request
- Nursing notes, physician orders, the anesthesia record and the medication administration record
- Bilirubin measurements, discharge instructions and any follow-up that was arranged
- The readmission record where a newborn came back after discharge
- Pediatric records, including the first entry recording a concern
- Early intervention, therapy and school evaluation records
- The NICA notice documentation, and whether the delivering physician was a participant
- The electronic record audit trail, showing access, timing and anything added after the fact
The four-year outer limit runs from the delivery rather than from the diagnosis, which is why late discovery is a reason to move quickly rather than a reason there is time. A review commits a family to nothing and preserves the option.
Who would handle your case
Being hurt in Boynton Beach is hard enough without working out the legal side on your own. The trial lawyers below have handled birth injury claims across Florida since 1993, and one of them will take yours from the first call to the last check. They will tell you what your case is worth and why, and they will be straight with you about the parts that are hard.
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Brett J. Yonon Senior Trial Attorney Selected to Florida Super Lawyers in 2024 and 2025. Brett Yonon is who this firm puts on a catastrophic injury or a death in the family, and he has tried those cases to verdict. Full profile → -
Richard P. Pravato Founding & Managing Attorney Board Certified in Civil Trial Law by The Florida Bar since 2004, and by the National Board of Trial Advocacy. Injury cases exclusively since 1996. Full profile →
How insurance companies handle these claims
These files are handled by a hospital risk department and defense counsel from the day an incident is reported internally, frequently before a family has any idea anything went wrong. The obstetric defense is well resourced and well practiced.
- The delay was clinically reasonable
- The whole case, in one sentence. What is looked at is the interval between a concerning tracing and the response to it, measured to the minute, and what the unit’s own protocols required. A reasonable interval and an unreasonable one look identical in a narrative and different on a strip, which is exactly why the strip is requested rather than the summary.
- Blame is moved onto the mother
- Her weight, her diabetes, her infection, whether she attended appointments. Some of it is legitimately part of the clinical picture and all of it gets deployed. What the chart usually shows is what she was told, when, and what was done about a condition the unit had already identified.
- An offer, before anybody has costed a lifetime
- In a catastrophic birth injury the future is the entire claim: attendant care, equipment, therapy, housing and decades of work the child will not do. Those numbers come from a life care plan written by a professional and an economist, and they are not knowable in month six. A release cannot be reopened when the plan is finally written.
What a claim can include
The child’s lost earning capacity
An entire working life that will not happen, calculated by an economist rather than estimated. It is one of the largest single figures in the claim and it is routinely left out of an early offer.
What the family carries
The care a parent gives that would otherwise be paid for, the work they gave up to give it, and the effect on the household. A mother injured during the delivery also has her own claim in her own right.
What a family may recover after a death
Medical and funeral expenses, and the losses the statute assigns to particular survivors, brought by the personal representative of the estate.
Why Wolf & Pravato in Boynton Beach
A case arising in Boynton Beach is normally heard at the South County Courthouse in Delray Beach, and the firm’s office on East Gateway Boulevard is a short drive from it. Any settlement involving a child requires court approval, which is a local process rather than a paperwork exercise.
Fewer than one percent of Florida lawyers are Board Certified in Civil Trial law: 861 of them, against a Bar membership over 109,000. Richard Pravato is one, and has been since 2004. Carriers price a claim partly on who is holding it, which is the practical reason that matters to somebody deciding who to call.
A consultation costs nothing, and neither does the case unless we recover money for you. Where we do not believe a claim is worth bringing, we will tell you plainly rather than take it on and let it drift.
Boynton Beach birth injury questions
Our pediatrician noticed a problem months later. Is it too late?
Probably not, and the timing question is exactly why the pediatric records matter. The two-year clock runs from when the injury was or reasonably should have been discovered, not necessarily from the delivery date. A developmental concern first raised at a later visit is evidence about when that was. It is still worth moving quickly, because the four-year outer limit is measured from the incident itself.
Our baby was readmitted for jaundice a few days after going home.
That sequence is worth having looked at, because it is one of the more preventable injuries in this practice. What a review examines is whether bilirubin was measured before discharge, what the value was, whether follow-up was arranged and how quickly treatment began once the baby came back. There are two records and a fixed interval between them, which makes it more provable than most.
We already have all the therapy and school reports. Are they useful?
Very. They are the cheapest and often the clearest evidence of how serious the injury actually is, because they describe function rather than diagnosis, and they were written by people with no interest in a claim. Keep everything as it arrives rather than gathering it later, and bring what you have to the first conversation.
What is NICA and does it apply to my child?
NICA is Florida’s Birth-Related Neurological Injury Compensation Plan. It compensates a defined category of neurological injury occurring during labor, delivery or immediate postdelivery resuscitation that results in substantial mental and physical impairment, without requiring proof of negligence. Whether it applies turns on the medical records, which is the first thing we review.
If NICA applies, can we still sue?
Usually not against those directly involved in labor, delivery and immediate resuscitation, because the plan is an exclusive remedy where it applies. The statute preserves a civil action where there is clear and convincing evidence of bad faith, malicious purpose, or willful and wanton disregard, and that suit must be brought before and instead of accepting a NICA award.
The questions that come up on every kind of claim, deadlines, fees, recorded statements and fault, are answered on our Florida injury claim FAQ.
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Tell us what happened
A lawyer will listen, tell you what Florida law does with those facts, and be straight with you about whether it is worth bringing. We are at 1375 E Gateway Blvd, Boynton Beach, FL 33426.