Indianapolis Birth Injury Lawyer
Whitfield Crosby & Flynn represents families in Indianapolis and across Central Indiana whose children were hurt during pregnancy, labor, or delivery, and parents who have lost a baby to preventable medical error. As a personal injury and wrongful death trial firm, we work with Indianapolis birth injury lawyer clients from Marion County and the surrounding suburbs, bringing the same trial preparation to a delivery-room case that we bring to every serious injury claim.
Birth injury cases are different from most malpractice claims because the injured person cannot speak for themselves, and the consequences often last for decades. A missed warning sign on a fetal monitor, a delayed cesarean, or a mishandled shoulder dystocia can change a child’s entire future within minutes. Cerebral palsy, hypoxic-ischemic brain injury, brachial plexus damage, and Erb’s palsy can all trace back to decisions made in a single labor and delivery unit.
Indiana adds a procedural layer that catches families off guard. Before a malpractice lawsuit against a provider can be filed in court, the claim generally has to go through a medical review panel. Knowing how that works, and when the clock starts, is a large part of protecting a child’s claim.
Birth Injury Claims in Indiana: Panels, Deadlines, and What Comes First
Indiana’s medical malpractice process starts with a proposed complaint filed with the Indiana Department of Insurance, not a lawsuit in court. A claim against a health care provider cannot be commenced in court until that proposed complaint has been presented to a medical review panel. There are limited exceptions: the panel step can be skipped if the proposed complaint states that the damages sought do not exceed $15,000, or if the claimant and every named defendant agree in writing to waive it. A serious birth injury will almost never fall under the first exception.
Once the proposed complaint is filed, either side may ask that a panel be formed no earlier than twenty days afterward. The panel has four members: an attorney who chairs it without voting, and three health care providers who issue the opinion. The panel is expected to deliver its opinion within 180 days, though the parties can agree to stretch that timeline, and in practice it often runs longer. The opinion is not a verdict. It is evidence that can be used if the case proceeds to court.
Filing the proposed complaint also pauses the statute of limitations. The tolling runs through 90 days after the panel issues its opinion. That protection is real but narrow, which is why the filing date itself matters so much.
Why Choose Whitfield Crosby & Flynn for a Birth Injury Case
Whitfield Crosby & Flynn is a personal injury and wrongful death trial firm serving injury victims across Central Indiana, Southern Illinois, Western Kentucky, and Southeast Tennessee. Our attorneys bring more than 90 years of combined experience and have played a role in settlements and verdicts totaling over $1 billion. We prepare every case for trial from the first week, and insurers and hospital defense teams know it. Clients have a direct line to their attorney, and we sit down with families to explain where a case stands and what choices lie ahead.
For Indianapolis families, Chuck Flynn is the attorney on our trial team who is admitted to practice in Indiana. He is a Notre Dame Law School graduate, a member of the Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum, and was recognized as an Attorney for Justice by the Tennessee Supreme Court. John Whitfield, our founding attorney, has practiced for more than 40 years, is certified as a Trial Specialist by the National Board of Trial Advocacy, and has obtained more than 30 settlements and verdicts over one million dollars. Sarah Bearden, a former public defender, brings courtroom experience to the trial team. Tim Crosby focuses his practice on personal injury and wrongful death trial work, and Andrew Flynn has argued before the Illinois Supreme Court. Our attorneys belong to the American Association for Justice, the Kentucky Justice Association, and the Tennessee Trial Lawyers Association, and the firm has been recognized by Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch.
Our record includes work against large, well-funded defendants: a $165 million settlement in a worldwide class action over defective heart valves, and a $5.78 million jury verdict against a municipality. Those results reflect how we approach cases that require heavy expert testimony and document review. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome in any future case.
Types of Birth Injuries We Evaluate
- Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy and Cerebral Palsy: Oxygen deprivation during labor can cause permanent brain injury. Cases often turn on whether fetal heart rate tracings were read and acted on in time, or whether a cesarean was delayed after warning signs appeared.
- Brachial Plexus Injuries and Erb’s Palsy: Nerve damage to a newborn’s shoulder and arm often follows excessive traction during a difficult delivery or a poorly managed shoulder dystocia.
- Delivery Instrument Injuries: Forceps and vacuum extractors can cause skull fractures, bleeding in the brain, and facial nerve damage when used improperly or when the situation called for a surgical delivery instead.
- Failure to Diagnose Maternal Conditions: Preeclampsia, gestational diabetes, and infections that go untreated can harm both mother and baby. Prenatal care providers can be responsible when warning signs were missed.
- Neonatal Care Errors: Missed jaundice, delayed treatment of infection, and mistakes in the newborn intensive care unit can cause harm after delivery that is still a birth injury case.
- Maternal Injuries During Delivery: Hemorrhage, severe tearing, anesthesia errors, and surgical mistakes during a cesarean can lead to lasting harm for the mother.
- Stillbirth and Wrongful Death: When a baby or mother dies because of preventable error, Indiana law gives families the right to bring a wrongful death claim.
What to Do Now if Your Child Was Injured at Birth
Start with the medical record. You are entitled to your own records and your child’s, including prenatal charts, labor and delivery notes, the fetal monitoring strips, operative reports, and neonatal records. Request them from the hospital and from each provider involved. Fetal monitoring data is especially important and should be requested early so it is preserved in full.
Write down what you remember while it is fresh: who was in the room, when concerns were raised, what you were told, and how long things took. Keep a running record of your child’s diagnoses, therapies, and appointments. If you hear an explanation from staff that does not match what you saw, note it without confronting anyone.
Keep your child in consistent medical care. Early intervention for brain and nerve injuries matters for the child, and complete treatment records also document the injury accurately. Do not sign releases or accept a hospital’s offer to waive bills without having a lawyer review it first. Avoid posting details about the care or the outcome on social media.
Speak with a lawyer sooner rather than later. Indiana sets a two-year limit for medical malpractice claims, measured from the act or omission, and wrongful death claims are also limited to two years from the date of death. Because the case must go through the Department of Insurance and a medical review panel, the practical work has to begin well before that window closes. Claims against a government-run hospital can carry a much shorter notice requirement, 180 days from the loss, so identify early who owns and operates the facility where the birth took place. In Marion County, civil cases are heard in the Marion Superior Court and Marion Circuit Court, and federal claims go to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, though most birth injury cases begin with the panel process rather than a courtroom.
How Birth Injury Cases Are Built and Valued
A birth injury claim rests on two questions: did the care fall below the accepted standard, and did that failure cause the injury? Both answers require qualified medical experts, usually obstetricians, maternal-fetal specialists, neonatologists, and pediatric neurologists, who can read the chart and explain to a panel or a jury what should have happened. We bring in experts early because the strength of the expert opinion often determines how the case is received by the defense and by the panel.
Damages in these cases are driven by the child’s lifetime needs. That includes medical care, therapies, adaptive equipment, home modifications, special education, and the loss of future earning ability. We work with life care planners and economists to put numbers to a lifetime of care, because a settlement based on current bills alone will not cover what a child with cerebral palsy or a severe brain injury will need at thirty or fifty.
Indiana’s comparative fault rule can come up, but in birth injury cases the injured child is not at fault, so the focus stays on the providers, hospital, and any other responsible parties. Cases often involve more than one defendant, such as the delivering physician, nurses, the hospital, and sometimes a prenatal provider, and sorting out each party’s role takes careful investigation.
Birth Injury Questions Families Ask
How long do I have to file a birth injury claim in Indiana?
Medical malpractice claims in Indiana must be brought within two years of the act or omission. Wrongful death claims have a two-year limit from the date of death. Because a proposed complaint has to be filed with the Department of Insurance first, the real working deadline is earlier than most families expect.
What is a medical review panel?
It is a group of three health care providers, led by a non-voting attorney chairperson, that reviews the evidence and issues an opinion on whether the provider met the standard of care. The opinion is not binding, but it can be introduced as evidence if the case goes to court.
Does filing with the Department of Insurance stop the clock?
Filing the proposed complaint pauses the statute of limitations, and the pause continues through 90 days after the panel issues its opinion. This is a limited protection, so the filing itself should not be delayed.
Can I skip the panel process?
Only in narrow circumstances: if the proposed complaint says the damages sought are $15,000 or less, or if you and every named defendant agree in writing to waive the panel. Serious birth injury cases rarely qualify.
How long does the panel take?
The panel opinion is due within 180 days, but the parties can agree to extend that period, and delays are common while expert reviews and evidence collection are completed. Families should expect the overall process to take well over a year before a trial date is even in view.
What does a birth injury lawyer do that I cannot do on my own?
We gather and review the full medical record, retain qualified experts, prepare the proposed complaint, manage the panel process, and build the damages case, including the lifetime care needs of the child. Hospitals and their insurers have teams dedicated to defending these claims from the moment a problem is flagged.
What if my child’s injury was not diagnosed until months or years later?
Conditions like cerebral palsy are sometimes not formally diagnosed until a child misses developmental milestones. Indiana’s deadline is generally measured from the act or omission, so a delayed diagnosis does not automatically extend it. Speak with a lawyer as soon as a possible connection to the birth is raised. Special rules may apply to minors in some situations, and we can review how they affect your case.
Can both the mother and the child have claims?
Yes. A mother may have her own claim for injuries suffered during delivery, and the child may have a separate claim for the injuries they sustained. These are often investigated together because they arise from the same events and the same records.
Will my health insurance or Medicaid pay for my child’s care while the claim is pending?
Treatment should not wait on a legal case. Your insurer or Medicaid may cover care in the meantime and may later assert a right to be repaid from any recovery. Those repayment claims are negotiated as part of resolving a case, and we address them so they do not eat into the funds your child needs.
Is it worth pursuing a case if the hospital says the outcome was unavoidable?
A hospital’s explanation is not an independent finding. Some outcomes truly are unavoidable, and others are not. An independent expert review of the record is the only reliable way to tell the difference, and a consultation costs families nothing.
Can a hospital be responsible for a doctor who is not its employee?
Sometimes. Whether a hospital answers for a physician depends on the relationship between them and how the care was presented to the patient. This is one of the questions we investigate early, because it affects who the proper defendants are.
Serving Indianapolis Birth Injury Families Across Central Indiana
We represent families throughout Marion County, from the neighborhoods of Indianapolis to the communities that border it. Clients come to us from Lawrence on the northeast side, Avon and Plainfield to the west, and Greenwood to the south. North of the city, we serve families in Carmel, Fishers, and Noblesville in Hamilton County, along with neighboring communities in the northern suburbs.
Birth injury cases in this region often involve the large hospital systems in Indianapolis, including IU Health Methodist, St. Vincent Hospital Indianapolis, Eskenazi Health, and Community Health Network. Families travel to these facilities from across Central Indiana for high-risk obstetric and neonatal care, and we handle claims arising from care at any of them.
Beyond Indiana, Whitfield Crosby & Flynn also serves injured clients in Southern Illinois, Western Kentucky, and Southeast Tennessee, so families who delivered out of state or relocated after a birth injury can still get a lawyer who understands how the claim works.
Talk With an Indianapolis Birth Injury Attorney
If your child was injured during birth, or you lost a baby or a mother to care that did not meet the standard, we will review what happened, order the records, and tell you honestly whether there is a claim. An Indianapolis birth injury attorney at Whitfield Crosby & Flynn will explain the Department of Insurance filing, the panel process, and what a realistic timeline looks like. Call us to schedule a consultation. There is no pressure, and the earlier you reach out, the more options you have.