The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) is meant to be a place of healing for vulnerable newborns, but medical errors in this high-stakes environment can cause devastating, lifelong injuries. When NICU negligence harms your baby, understanding your legal rights is essential to securing the care your child will need.
Understanding NICU Care
NICUs provide specialized care for:
- Premature infants born before 37 weeks gestation
- Low birth weight babies under 5.5 pounds
- Babies with birth injuries requiring monitoring or treatment
- Infants with respiratory distress or breathing problems
- Babies with infections, jaundice, or other medical conditions
- Newborns requiring surgery or specialized procedures
NICU patients are among the most vulnerable in any hospital—tiny, fragile, and unable to communicate their distress. This makes attentive, competent care absolutely critical.
Types of NICU Negligence
Medication Errors
NICU medication dosing requires extreme precision—babies weigh only pounds, and even small calculation errors can cause overdoses with devastating consequences. Common medication errors include:
- Dosing errors: Wrong dose calculated for baby’s weight
- Wrong medication: Administering incorrect drug
- Wrong route: IV medication given orally or vice versa
- Timing errors: Delayed or missed doses
- Drug interactions: Harmful combinations not recognized
Respiratory Care Failures
Premature babies often need breathing assistance. Errors can include:
- Improper ventilator settings causing lung damage (bronchopulmonary dysplasia)
- Failure to monitor oxygen levels leading to hypoxic brain injury
- Excessive oxygen causing retinopathy of prematurity (blindness)
- Extubation failures or delayed reintubation
Infection Control Failures
NICU babies have underdeveloped immune systems. Hospital-acquired infections can be deadly:
- Central line infections from improper sterile technique
- Sepsis from unrecognized or untreated infections
- Meningitis with permanent neurological consequences
- Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) outbreaks linked to contaminated formula or equipment
Feeding and Nutrition Errors
Proper nutrition is critical for NICU babies:
- Feeding tube misplacement causing aspiration or perforation
- Formula contamination leading to NEC or infection
- Failure to monitor growth and adjust feeding
- Delayed recognition of feeding intolerance
Monitoring Failures
NICU babies require constant monitoring:
- Failure to respond to alarms (alarm fatigue)
- Inadequate vital sign monitoring
- Failure to recognize deterioration
- Delayed response to emergencies
Temperature Regulation Errors
Premature babies cannot regulate body temperature. Hypothermia or hyperthermia from incubator malfunctions or improper settings can cause brain damage or death.
Injuries Caused by NICU Negligence
- Hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE): Brain damage from oxygen deprivation
- Cerebral palsy: From brain injury during NICU stay
- Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP): Vision loss or blindness from oxygen mismanagement
- Hearing loss: From certain medications (aminoglycosides) or infections
- Chronic lung disease: From ventilator-induced lung injury
- Developmental delays: From untreated jaundice, infections, or other conditions
- Death: In the most tragic cases
Proving NICU Malpractice in Illinois
Medical malpractice claims require proving:
- Duty: The NICU staff owed your baby a duty of care
- Breach: Care fell below accepted medical standards
- Causation: The substandard care caused your baby’s injury
- Damages: Your baby suffered actual harm
Under 735 ILCS 5/2-622, before filing suit, your attorney must obtain a written report from a qualified medical expert confirming reasonable cause for the claim.
Who May Be Liable
- Neonatologists: Physicians specializing in newborn care
- NICU nurses: For medication, monitoring, and care errors
- Respiratory therapists: For ventilator and oxygen management errors
- Pharmacists: For dispensing errors
- The hospital: For systemic failures, understaffing, inadequate training
Illinois Statute of Limitations for Minors
Under 735 ILCS 5/13-212, the statute of limitations for medical malpractice involving minors is:
- 8 years from the negligent act, OR
- Before the child’s 22nd birthday, whichever comes first
This extended period exists because NICU injuries may not become fully apparent until the child fails to meet developmental milestones.
Compensation for NICU Negligence
NICU malpractice cases often involve substantial damages:
- Lifetime medical care: Ongoing treatment, therapy, specialists
- Adaptive equipment: Wheelchairs, communication devices, home modifications
- Special education: Schools and services for developmental delays
- 24/7 care: For severely disabled children
- Lost earning capacity: Your child’s diminished future earnings
- Pain and suffering: Physical and emotional harm
- Parents’ damages: Emotional distress, caregiving costs
Illinois has no cap on damages in medical malpractice cases.
Obtaining Medical Records
NICU records are extensive and technical. Important documents include:
- Admission and daily progress notes
- Medication administration records
- Ventilator settings and respiratory care logs
- Vital sign flowsheets and monitor printouts
- Lab results and imaging studies
- Nursing notes and assessments
- Incident reports (if any)
Request complete records promptly—hospitals must maintain them for years, but obtaining them early ensures nothing is altered or lost.
Contact a Chicago Birth Injury Attorney
If your baby was harmed by NICU negligence, contact our office for a free consultation. We work with neonatology experts to evaluate whether malpractice occurred and fight to secure the resources your child needs for a lifetime of care.