The first days after your baby is born should be full of joy and love. But when something goes wrong in the delivery room, all of that gets replaced by fear and stress. If a doctor, nurse, or hospital caused you or your child’s injury during labor or delivery, Illinois law lets your family claim compensation for the cost of that harm. That covers lifetime medical care, therapy, equipment, and special education.
For a child hurt by medical care, the claim must be filed within eight years of the error, and never after the child’s 22nd birthday, under Illinois Compiled Statutes (ILCS) Chapter 735, Section 5/13-212(b).
Why Choose Willens & Baez Personal Injury Lawyers, P.C. For Your Chicago Birth Injury Case?
Because of their experience and results… Willens & Baez Personal Injury Lawyers, PC have recovered more than $33 million in birth injury cases alone. That includes a $12.25 million settlement, an $11 million settlement, and a $10 million settlement that we resolved at trial.
Both founding partners once worked for insurance companies, Matthew Willens managing cases at a major insurer and David Baez as an insurance defense attorney, so they know how the other side builds a defense file. That experience gives them the edge to fight for the full value of your child’s claim. Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
Call Willens & Baez at (312) 957-4166 for a free consultation. You pay nothing unless we recover money for your child.
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Key Terms You Will Hear in a Birth Injury Case
| Term | What It Means |
|---|---|
| Standard of care | The care a reasonably careful provider would give in the same situation |
| Breach | A provider’s failure to meet that standard |
| Causation | Proof that the breach, and not something else, caused your child’s injury |
| Hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) | Brain damage from a lack of oxygen around the time of birth |
| Fetal distress | Signs during labor that a baby is not getting enough oxygen |
| Section 2-622 affidavit | A sworn statement plus a health professional’s written report required by Illinois law to be included in a malpractice complaint |
| Life care plan | An expert’s estimate of what your child’s care will cost across a lifetime. |
How Much Does a Birth Injury Lawyer Cost in Chicago?
Nothing upfront. Willens & Baez handles birth injury cases on contingency, meaning a fee is owed only if we recover money for your child.
Illinois caps that fee by statute. Under 735 ILCS 5/2-1114, the total contingent fee in a medical malpractice case cannot exceed 33 1/3% of all sums recovered. No Illinois malpractice lawyer can charge more. Here is what a contingency fee means for you in plain terms.
Case costs are a separate thing, and in birth injury cases, they can be steep. Before a complaint can even be filed, a qualified physician has to review the records and write the report Illinois requires under 735 ILCS 5/2-622. After that, the case usually needs an obstetrician, a neonatologist, a labor and delivery (L&D) nurse, a pediatric neurologist, a life care planner, and an economist. Fetal monitoring strips have to be obtained and read.
A Chicago birth injury case commonly costs well over $100,000 to investigate and try. Our firm advances those costs so your family doesn’t have to fund the case out of pocket.
Before you hire any firm, including ours at Willens & Baez, get three things in writing:
- The fee percentage, and confirmation that it will not exceed the statutory cap
- Whether case costs come out of the recovery before or after the fee is calculated
- What happens to those costs if the case does not succeed.
How Long Do I Have To File a Birth Injury Claim in Illinois?
Say your daughter is four, and a therapist just used the words “oxygen deprivation” for the first time. You are almost certainly not too late.
Illinois gives children far more time than adults. Under 735 ILCS 5/13-212(b), a claim for a child hurt by medical care must be brought within eight years of the medical error, and in no event after the child’s 22nd birthday.
A parent’s own claim runs on a shorter clock. That one is two years from when the parent knew or should have known of the injury, with an outside limit of four years from the date of the error, under 735 ILCS 5/13-212(a).
| Who Is Filing | Deadline | Statute |
|---|---|---|
| Child injured by medical care | 8 years from the medical error, and never after the child’s 22nd birthday | 735 ILCS 5/13-212(b) |
| Parent, on the parent’s own injury | 2 years from discovery, 4 years maximum from the error | 735 ILCS 5/13-212(a) |
| Case involving fraudulent concealment | 5 years from discovery of the concealment | 735 ILCS 5/13-215 |
| Injured person who has a legal disability | Clock is paused until the disability is gone | 735 ILCS 5/13-212(c) |
If your child was delivered at a public hospital, tell us right away. The deadlines can be shorter, with different requirements.
Do not let the multi-year timeline make you feel comfortable. Fetal monitoring strips, nursing notes, and staffing records get harder to obtain every year, and the people who were in the room stop remembering it clearly. For the deadline rules in more depth, read our guide to the statute of limitations for a medical malpractice claim.
How Do I Know If I Have a Birth Injury Case?
You usually cannot tell from the records alone. Neither can we until a physician reviews them. But a few things you already know can point in one direction or the other:
- Your child has a diagnosis tied to labor or delivery. For example, cerebral palsy, HIE, a brachial plexus injury, or a skull fracture. A condition that formed before birth, such as a genetic defect, usually is not anyone’s fault.
- Something was delayed or missed. A long wait for an emergency C-section, a monitoring strip nobody seemed to be watching, or a maternal infection that was not treated.
- Forceps or a vacuum were used. Especially if they were applied more than once, or if you were told the delivery “got difficult.”
- The injury was not explained to you at the time. Or the explanation changed later.
- Your child needs care that will last for years. Illinois requires proof of damages, and a lifetime of therapy and equipment is what makes these cases worth the cost to build.
The first item is the one families can usually check themselves. The other four are what we investigate thoroughly at Willens & Baez. You do not need to know whether the standard of care was met before you call us.
What Counts as a Birth Injury in Illinois?
A birth injury is harm to a baby or mother during labor, delivery, or shortly after, caused by a provider who failed to meet the accepted standard of care. A birth defect is different. Defects form before birth for genetic or developmental reasons.
That line matters for your case. A defect usually is not anyone’s fault. An injury that follows a missed warning sign, a delayed C-section, or a misused set of forceps often is.
About 31 of every 1,000 newborns in the United States suffer a birth injury, according to a 2021 analysis in the Journal of Pediatrics. With proper care, many of them never happen at all.
Not every hard delivery is malpractice. Doctors do not have to be perfect, and the law does not ask them to be. They do have to give the same quality of care that a careful provider would give in the same situation. You deserve a straight answer about which one you are dealing with.
Common Types of Birth Injuries We Handle
Some birth injuries are obvious in the delivery room. Others take months or years to name. That is why so many parents arrive at our Chicago office already carrying a thick folder of specialist visits.
- Cerebral palsy (CP). A group of disorders affecting muscle control and movement. The CDC reports that there is no cure for CP, but treatments like surgery and physical therapy can be essential for the child. Our cerebral palsy claims team handles these throughout Cook County.
- Brachial plexus injuries, including Erb’s palsy. Damage to the nerve network controlling the arm and hand, often tied to shoulder dystocia. See our page on brachial plexus injuries.
- Hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE). Brain injury from too little oxygen during delivery. Effects range from mild to permanent. Read more about infant brain injury.
- Fractures and physical trauma. A broken collarbone is the most common, and most heal well. Some do not.
- Shoulder dystocia. The baby’s shoulder catches behind the mother’s pelvic bone. Nerve damage or oxygen loss can follow if it is not managed correctly. Our shoulder dystocia lawyers explain what should have happened.
For a longer list, see our article on common types of birth injuries.
What Causes Birth Injuries?
Most birth injury claims trace back to how labor and delivery were managed, not to some rare surgical mishap. We’ve seen that poor labor and delivery management drives a large share of birth injury claims.
- Failure to monitor fetal distress. Missing or ignoring signs of fetal distress on the monitoring strip
- Delayed C-section. Waiting too long to move to an emergency cesarean delivery
- Improper use of delivery tools. Misusing forceps or a vacuum extractor (see the risks of forceps delivery)
- Medication errors. Wrong drug, wrong dose, or wrong timing during labor, including Cytotec labor injuries
- Failure to diagnose infection. Missing a maternal infection that reaches the baby
- NICU errors. Mistakes in the hours after birth, discussed on our NICU medical errors page.
Any one of these can happen in a matter of minutes. That is the part parents find hardest to sit with.
Risk Factors
Low birth weight raises the risk of cerebral palsy, and the risk climbs further for very low birth weight babies, according to the CDC. Premature birth raises the odds of complications too. In 2024, 10.41% of U.S. births were preterm, according to CDC National Vital Statistics data.
A known risk factor is not a defense. If anything, it raises what the delivery team should have been watching for.
How Does Illinois Law Decide a Birth Injury Case?
To win, your legal team has to prove four things. Illinois also requires a screening step before your complaint can move forward.
- Standard of care. What a reasonably careful provider would have done in the same circumstances
- Breach. How this provider’s actions fell below that standard
- Causation. Proof that the breach caused your child’s injury
- Damages. The medical costs, care needs, and losses that followed.
Under 735 ILCS 5/2-622, an Illinois malpractice complaint has to be filed with an affidavit plus a written report from a qualified health professional. The report must confirm there is a reasonable and meritorious cause for the case. That reviewer must be knowledgeable in the issues and must have practiced or taught in the same area of medicine within the last six years.
Skip that step and the case can be dismissed under 735 ILCS 5/2-619. If your records are not in hand when the deadline hits, the statute allows the report to follow within 90 days of filing. This is one reason our experienced Chicago medical malpractice lawyers start pulling records the week you call.
Birth injury cases are filed in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Law Division, if the delivery happened in Chicago or its suburbs. Cases against providers in Kane, DuPage, or Will County are filed in that county’s court.
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What Compensation Can Families Recover?
Illinois puts no cap (limit) on what a jury can award in a birth injury case. The state’s limits on non-economic damages were struck down in the case of Lebron v. Gottlieb Memorial Hospital, a 2010 Illinois Supreme Court decision stemming from a birth injury claim.
Economic damages cover the costs you can put a number on:
- Medical expenses, past and future
- Rehabilitation and therapy
- Special education
- Medical equipment and home modifications
- Lost parental income from caregiving.
Non-economic damages cover the losses that have no receipt:
- The child’s pain and suffering
- Emotional distress across the family
- Loss of a normal life
- Reduced quality of life.
The CDC has reported that medical care for a child with cerebral palsy costs about 10 times more than for a child without it, and about 26 times more when an intellectual disability is also present. A lifetime of care can run into the millions. It is what a life care plan has to account for so your child is covered at 40, not just at 4.
One more thing families ask about: A settlement for a child is not final until a judge signs off on it. Under 755 ILCS 5/19-8, an Illinois court has to approve any settlement of a minor’s claim. That is a protection built for your child, not a hurdle put in your way.
How Long Does a Birth Injury Case Take?
Many Illinois birth injury cases take roughly two to four years, and the most complex ones run longer. Nobody wants to hear “years.” It is still the honest answer.
Almost every birth injury claim requires a lawsuit. Unlike a straightforward car crash case, these rarely settle with a phone call to an adjuster. Here is the shape of it.
| Stage | What Happens | Typical Range |
|---|---|---|
| Free consultation | We listen to what happened and begin requesting records. | Days |
| Record review and expert consult | Prenatal, delivery, and newborn records go to reviewing physicians. | Several months |
| Filing the complaint | Complaint filed in Cook County with the Section 2-622 affidavit and written report. | Weeks after review |
| Discovery and depositions | Both sides exchange records and question witnesses under oath. | 1 to 2 years |
| Expert disclosure | Each side names its experts and the opinions they will offer. | Several months |
| Mediation or settlement talks | Many cases resolve at this stage. | Varies |
| Trial | It may be wise to present to a Cook County jury if no fair offer arrives. | Several weeks |
Your child’s care does not pause while this timeline runs. That is why we push on medical funding and support options early rather than waiting for the case to end.
Why Birth Injury Cases Need a Firm That Specifically Handles Them
Birth injury law is a narrow field, and the gap between firms shows up fast. These cases run for years, hinge on obstetric and neonatal medicine, and require experts most personal injury firms have never retained.
The lawyers defending doctors and hospitals already have a standing network of top specialists. Your attorney needs one, too. A firm also needs the capital to advance six figures in costs before a single dollar comes back.
That is why most firms are selective about which birth injury cases they take on for investigation. It is not about the strength of your story. It is about whether the firm can carry the case the whole way. Our attorneys explain more about why birth injury case values run so high and what drives them.
How Do I Choose a Birth Injury Lawyer in Chicago?
Ask every firm you talk to, including us at Willens & Baez, these five questions:
- How many birth injury cases have you taken to trial or settled at trial? A firm that only settles early may not have the leverage these cases need.
- Which obstetric and neonatal experts have you retained before? Ask for specialties, not names. A firm that has to start recruiting experts is starting from behind.
- Who advances the case costs, and what happens to them if we lose? The answer should be in the fee agreement.
- Will the lawyer I meet today be the one handling my child’s case? Some firms sign cases and refer them out.
- Have you handled a case with this diagnosis before? HIE, brachial plexus, and infection cases each turn on different medicine.
We wrote a longer guide on selecting a birth injury lawyer.
Why Families Across Chicago Choose Willens & Baez
Results in Birth Injury Cases
The Chicago birth injury attorneys at Willens & Baez have secured millions for families harmed by medical negligence, including:
- $12.25 million birth injury settlement
- $11 million birth injury settlement
- $10 million birth injury settlement, resolved at trial
- $6.5 million cerebral palsy birth injury settlement
- $15,808,277 verdict in a pedestrian accident case, recognized as one of the top 100 verdicts in the country the year it was tried.
Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Every case depends on its own facts, and no lawyer can predict the value of a claim from the injury alone.
Attorney Matthew Willens
Firm founder Matthew Willens has been licensed in Illinois since 1995 and has handled birth injury and medical malpractice cases for most of that time. He has been named to Illinois Super Lawyers every year since 2012 and holds an AV Preeminent 5.0 peer review rating from Martindale-Hubbell, the highest available. He also carries an Avvo 10/10 “Superb” rating, membership in the Million Dollar Advocates Forum since 2002, and recognition by Illinois Leading Lawyers for personal injury and professional malpractice.
Matthew Willens spent part of his career working for a major insurance company before he returned to representing injured families. He knows how the other side builds a defense file, because he used to build them. He also teaches Advanced Trial Advocacy as an adjunct professor at Loyola University Chicago School of Law.
The Team Behind Your Case
Attorney David A. Baez joins Matthew Willens in leading the firm’s Chicago practice. Around them, a birth injury case draws on board-certified medical experts who can explain how the standard of care was missed, life care planners who price out decades of therapy and equipment, and economists who calculate lost earning capacity.
Willens & Baez serves families throughout Chicago, Cook County, and the surrounding Illinois communities.
What To Do After a Birth Injury
If you suspect medical negligence caused your child’s injury, a few early steps protect both your child and the claim.
- Get your child evaluated. Care comes first, and the records it creates are vital to a claim.
- Request and keep everything. Gather prenatal records, delivery records, monitoring strips, discharge papers, and every specialist report. Illinois law gives you the right to copies of hospital records under 735 ILCS 5/8-2001.
- Write down what you remember. Names, times, who said what, and how long you waited. Memory fades faster than you would expect.
- Talk to a birth injury attorney early. Illinois has real deadlines, and evidence gets harder to gather with time.
- Do not sign anything from an insurer. Early offers rarely account for a lifetime of care.
Talk to a Chicago Birth Injury Lawyer Today
If you believe medical negligence caused your child’s injury or yours as the mother, call Willens & Baez. The sooner we review the records, the better your position. Hospital risk managers start building their file the day the incident is reported. Yours should start, too.
Willens & Baez Personal Injury Lawyers, PC has recovered more than $33 million in birth injury cases alone. Our firm represents families across Chicago, Cook County, and Illinois from offices in Chicago and Rolling Meadows, and has the resources to take on major hospital systems and their insurers.
Your consultation is free and carries no obligation. There is no fee unless we recover money for your family.
Call Willens & Baez Personal Injury Lawyers, PC at (312) 957-4166 for your free consultation.
Frequently Asked Questions About Birth Injury Claims in Illinois
What is a Section 2-622 affidavit?
It is the screening step Illinois requires in every malpractice case. Under 735 ILCS 5/2-622, your complaint must include an affidavit and a written account from a qualified health professional. The report confirms there is a reasonable and meritorious cause for the claim. Filing without it can lead to dismissal under 735 ILCS 5/2-619, though the statute allows the report to follow within 90 days when records are not yet available.
What is the difference between a birth injury and a birth defect?
A birth injury happens during labor, delivery, or the hours after, and usually involves a provider who missed the standard of care. A birth defect forms before birth for genetic or developmental reasons. Illinois malpractice law under 735 ILCS 5/2-622 requires a physician to confirm that the harm came from a breach of care, which is why defects rarely support a claim and injuries often do.
