What Causes Infant Brain Injuries? | Phillips Law Offices

Infant brain injuries occur when a baby’s brain is damaged during pregnancy, labor, delivery, or shortly after birth. The causes range widely, from oxygen deprivation and physical trauma to infection, and in a significant share of cases, from a gap in medical care that a more attentive team would have closed in time. Families dealing with an infant brain injury face years of therapy, uncertainty about long-term development, and costs no one budgets for in advance. At Phillips Law Offices in Chicago, Illinois, we help parents work out whether medical malpractice contributed to their child’s injury, and what legal options exist if it did.

Understanding Infant Brain Injuries

An infant brain injury is any disruption to a baby’s normal brain function caused by damage to brain tissue. These injuries fall into three timing categories: prenatal, occurring before birth; perinatal, occurring during labor or delivery; and postnatal, occurring in the days or weeks after birth. A newborn’s brain depends on a steady, uninterrupted supply of oxygen and blood to develop normally, and even a short interruption at the wrong moment can cause damage that lasts a lifetime.

Common diagnoses include hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE), cerebral palsy, intraventricular hemorrhage, and periventricular leukomalacia. How severe the injury turns out to be usually tracks with two things: how long the brain went without adequate oxygen, and how significant any physical trauma was. In a meaningful share of these cases, the root cause traces back to a specific medical decision, such as a delayed response to fetal distress or a C-section that should have happened sooner, rather than to an unavoidable complication.

When a medical team falls short of the standard of care and a baby is harmed as a result, families have the right to pursue accountability. Our birth injury attorneys in Chicago, Illinois, help parents understand what their child’s medical record actually shows and what legal options that record supports.

Common Causes of Infant Brain Injuries

1. Oxygen Deprivation (Hypoxia or Anoxia)

Oxygen deprivation is the most frequent cause of infant brain injury our firm sees. A newborn’s brain needs a constant oxygen supply, and even a few minutes without it can cause damage that doesn’t reverse. When this happens during labor or delivery, the resulting condition is called hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy, or HIE.

Oxygen deprivation typically traces back to umbilical cord complications, placental abruption, or labor that goes on too long without intervention. When medical staff fail to track fetal heart rate closely, or delay a C-section that the monitoring data already called for, the baby’s brain can be starved of oxygen for longer than it should have been. In the more severe cases, HIE leads to cerebral palsy, lasting developmental delays, or death.

Doctors and nurses are trained specifically to recognize the signs of fetal distress in real time. When those signs are charted but not acted on, that gap is exactly what a malpractice investigation is built to examine.

2. Physical Trauma During Delivery

Physical trauma during birth is a separate, though sometimes overlapping, cause of brain injury. Forceps and vacuum extractors, used incorrectly, can apply more pressure to a newborn’s skull than the delivery genuinely required, leading to skull fractures, intracranial hemorrhage, or brain swelling.

Some deliveries involve a baby who becomes stuck in the birth canal, which is more common in breech presentations. When excessive force is used to complete the delivery in that situation, delicate brain tissue can be stretched or torn. A well-trained team recognizes early when a vaginal delivery has stopped being the safer option and a C-section should take its place; when that recognition comes too late, or doesn’t come at all, the resulting injury is often preventable.

3. Maternal or Fetal Infections

Infections during pregnancy or delivery are a less-discussed but genuinely serious cause of brain injury. Maternal infections, including Group B Streptococcus, cytomegalovirus, and toxoplasmosis, can cross the placenta and reach the baby’s brain directly. Left undiagnosed or untreated, these infections cause inflammation that damages brain tissue over time rather than in a single event.

Infections can also develop after birth, including neonatal meningitis and encephalitis. Hospitals are responsible for maintaining sterile conditions and watching both mother and baby for infection markers throughout the delivery and recovery period. When routine screening or timely treatment is skipped, a resulting infection-related brain injury can be grounds for a malpractice claim.

4. Medical Negligence and Errors

Medical error remains the single most common thread across preventable infant brain injury cases. It shows up as a missed fetal heart rate abnormality, a C-section delayed past the point the standard of care called for it, an instrument used with too much force, or a Pitocin dose that wasn’t adjusted as labor progressed and contractions intensified beyond what was safe.

Our attorneys work with independent medical experts to review the complete hospital record, identify exactly where a decision fell below the accepted standard, and build a case around that specific gap rather than around the outcome alone.

A Realistic Example

The following illustrates how a case like this typically gets built and is not a description of any actual client’s situation. A fetal heart monitor shows a category II tracing, an abnormal but not immediately critical pattern, for roughly 90 minutes without escalation. The attending physician is in another delivery during that stretch and isn’t updated on the tracing until it deteriorates further. By the time a C-section is performed, the baby has experienced enough oxygen deprivation to result in an HIE diagnosis. In a case built around a scenario like this, an expert would examine whether the 90-minute tracing pattern should have prompted earlier physician notification under accepted labor-monitoring protocols, and whether an earlier delivery would more likely than not have prevented or reduced the severity of the injury.

Illinois Law on Infant Brain Injury Claims

Illinois medical malpractice law gives families a genuine path to compensation for a preventable infant brain injury, structured around a few procedural requirements that matter as much as the underlying medical facts.

Statute of limitations. Under 735 ILCS 5/13-212, a minor’s malpractice claim in Illinois generally must be filed within eight years of the injury, and no later than the child’s 22nd birthday, whichever comes first. This extended window exists because brain-injury symptoms, particularly milder developmental delays, often aren’t fully apparent until well after birth.
Affidavit of merit. Illinois requires a written report under 735 ILCS 5/2-622 from a qualified health professional confirming the claim has a reasonable basis, filed with the complaint or within 90 days after it. Skipping or mishandling this step is one of the more common reasons a case gets dismissed before it’s ever heard on the medical merits.
Public hospital deadlines. If delivery occurred at a county or public hospital, 745 ILCS 10/8-101(b) generally applies instead of the standard filing deadline, allowing two years from discovery of the injury.
No cap on non-economic damages. The Illinois Supreme Court struck down the state’s former cap on non-economic damages in medical malpractice cases in Lebron v. Gottlieb Memorial Hospital, 237 Ill. 2d 217 (2010). A jury, not a statutory formula, decides what a family’s loss is actually worth.

Illinois generally does not permit punitive damages in medical malpractice cases. Compensation in an infant brain injury claim is built to address the child’s actual medical and developmental needs, along with the family’s losses, rather than to punish the provider beyond that.

Common Defenses Hospitals Raise

Hospitals and their insurers rarely accept fault early in a brain injury case, and it helps to understand their typical arguments going in. A common defense is that the injury stemmed from a genetic or prenatal cause unrelated to labor management, rather than from anything that happened during delivery. Another argues that the fetal monitoring strip, viewed as it would have appeared to the clinician in real time, did not clearly show the distress a plaintiff’s expert identifies later with the benefit of hindsight. A third focuses on causation: that even a faster response wouldn’t have changed the outcome given how the injury developed. Each of these arguments is answerable with a complete record and the right expert testimony, which is exactly why a thorough investigation matters before a claim is ever filed.

Diagnosing and Treating Infant Brain Injuries

Diagnosis typically relies on imaging, such as MRI or CT scans, combined with close observation of a baby’s reflexes, movement, and general responsiveness in the days after birth. Catching the injury early matters, since it opens the door to intervention programs during the window when a developing brain responds best to therapy.

Treatment varies with severity. Milder cases often respond well to physical therapy, occupational therapy, and early intervention programs aimed at helping a child reach developmental milestones on a modified timeline. More severe cases may require ongoing medication, surgical procedures, or lifelong supportive care that touches nearly every part of daily life.

Some children recover a meaningful degree of function over time. Others live with permanent disabilities, including cerebral palsy, epilepsy, or persistent developmental delays. Either way, the medical and emotional demands on a family are substantial, which is part of why legal compensation matters beyond covering the initial hospital bill.

What Compensation Can Cover

A well-built infant brain injury claim in Illinois accounts for more than the costs already on file. It typically addresses past and future medical expenses, ongoing rehabilitation and therapy, specialized education where developmental delays require it, adaptive equipment and home modifications, a parent’s lost income where caregiving duties require stepping back from work, and the child’s own diminished future earning capacity. Because Illinois places no statutory cap on non-economic damages in malpractice cases, the value of a claim depends on the specific medical facts and life-care projections involved, not on a fixed ceiling.

Chicago and Cook County Hospital Considerations

Chicago families deliver across a wide range of hospitals, from large academic medical centers with dedicated neonatal intensive care units to smaller community hospitals with more limited overnight staffing. Those differences are worth examining separately from any individual doctor’s decisions, since a labor and delivery floor running short-staffed on a particular night introduces its own risk. If your delivery took place at a county or public hospital, that also affects the notice deadline discussed above, which is one more reason to confirm the facility’s status early in an investigation rather than assuming the standard timeline applies to your claim.

What to Gather Before Speaking With an Attorney

A few steps make an initial record review faster and more useful, whether or not you ultimately decide to pursue a claim:

Request the complete labor, delivery, and NICU record in writing, specifically including fetal monitoring strips and nursing shift notes, not just the discharge summary.
Keep every follow-up record connected to your child’s diagnosis, imaging, and developmental screenings, since these are what connect the delivery to the injury over time.
Write down your own recollection of the delivery and any explanations staff gave you at the time, while the details are still fresh.
Hold off on signing anything from the hospital’s insurer until an attorney has reviewed it.

Preventing Infant Brain Injuries

A meaningful share of infant brain injuries are preventable with attentive medical care. Consistent prenatal visits, careful labor monitoring, and a quick response when something looks abnormal on a monitor all lower the risk substantially. Expectant mothers can help by keeping every scheduled checkup and reporting anything that feels off, even if it seems minor, rather than waiting to see if it resolves.

On the medical side, hospitals and physicians are expected to use properly calibrated equipment, track fetal heart rate continuously through active labor, and move quickly once complications appear. A delay of even a few minutes at the wrong moment can be the entire difference between a healthy delivery and a lifelong disability.

When negligence or a delayed response contributed to your child’s injury, Illinois law recognizes the burden that places on a family and allows compensation for medical costs, pain and suffering, and long-term care needs.

Why Families Work With Phillips Law Offices

Phillips Law Offices has handled birth injury and medical malpractice cases across Chicago and Illinois for decades, and infant brain injury claims are among the most document-intensive matters our attorneys take on. We prepare every case as though it may go to trial, since hospitals and their insurers tend to negotiate more seriously with a firm that’s genuinely ready to litigate than with one that isn’t. We work on a contingency-fee basis, so a family owes nothing in attorney’s fees unless we recover compensation on their behalf.

Our investigation into a suspected infant brain injury case typically starts the same way regardless of which hospital or provider is involved: a complete review of the prenatal, labor, and delivery record, an independent obstetric or neonatology expert’s opinion on whether the standard of care was met, and statements from the nurses, anesthesiologists, and other staff present during the delivery. Building the case around what that review actually shows, rather than around the outcome alone, is what separates a strong claim from a case that doesn’t hold up under scrutiny.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do we know if our child’s brain injury was preventable?
An independent medical record review is the only reliable way to know. A birth injury caused by a genuinely unavoidable complication looks different in the chart from one where warning signs were present and not acted on in time.

Is a diagnosis of HIE or cerebral palsy alone enough to prove malpractice?
No. The diagnosis establishes that an injury occurred, but a malpractice claim also requires showing that a specific breach of the standard of care caused it. That’s why expert review of the delivery record matters as much as the diagnosis itself.

How long do we have to file a claim in Illinois?
Generally up to eight years from the injury, or until the child’s 22nd birthday, whichever comes first, with an earlier notice deadline for deliveries at public hospitals. An attorney can confirm the exact dates that apply to your situation.

What does a consultation cost?
Nothing. Phillips Law Offices offers a free consultation and handles these cases on contingency, so there’s no attorney’s fee unless we recover compensation for your family.

Our child’s symptoms weren’t obvious until months after birth. Is it too late?
Usually not. Illinois’ extended statute of limitations for minors exists partly because brain injury symptoms, especially milder developmental delays, often aren’t apparent right away. It’s worth having the record reviewed even if some time has passed.

What if the hospital’s own review found no fault?
A hospital’s internal review is not an independent one. It’s fairly common for an outside specialist reviewing the same records, with no institutional stake in the outcome, to reach a different conclusion.

Can more than one provider be responsible for our child’s injury?
Yes, and it’s common in hospital deliveries. The obstetrician, nurses, anesthesiologist, and hospital itself can each bear a share of responsibility, and each may carry separate insurance coverage that affects the total compensation available to your family.

Contact Phillips Law Offices, Chicago Birth Injury Attorneys

If your child suffered a brain injury during birth, you are not alone in facing this. At Phillips Law Offices, we have decades of experience representing families in Chicago, Illinois, whose lives were changed by a preventable medical mistake. Our attorneys work to find out exactly what happened and hold negligent providers accountable.

We offer a Free Consultation and No Fee Unless You Win. Call us today at (312) 346-4262 or visit our office at 161 N Clark St, Suite 4925, Chicago, IL to discuss your case confidentially. We’ll walk you through every step of the legal process and help you pursue the compensation your family needs.