Over 6,000 babies are born each year in Augusta to families who hope for good health and prosperity. Most of these babies will come home from the hospital without any issues. However, other families will face an unthinkable reality: witnessing their child’s birth injury, brain damage, or untimely wrongful death.
No family imagines their baby will be the one to suffer from permanent injuries and complications at birth. But even though severe injuries and deaths are rare, the risk increases dramatically when medical professionals make careless mistakes.
Birth Injury Malpractice
OB-GYNs, maternal fetal medicine specialists, nurses, midwives, and other healthcare providers have a duty to protect their patients from harm. When this duty (known as the “standard of care”) is breached and leads to preventable birth injuries, it constitutes medical malpractice.
We are committed to ensuring your child receives the best possible care and support. We will fight tirelessly to obtain justice on your behalf by holding all negligent parties accountable for their mistakes.
Birth Injury Lawyers in Augusta
Call our Birth Injury Lawyers Today
If you live in Augusta, Georgia or our other service areas
we are available to analyze the facts of your case. We do this all at no upfront cost to you. (888) 987-0005
When you contact our firm, we begin gathering important medical records and consulting with our large network of medical experts. We use our comprehensive legal review process to determine exactly how and why the birth injury or wrongful death occurred. If we determine you have a case, we meet with you to discuss the next steps toward compensation.
At no point in our legal intake and lawsuit process will you have to pay any attorneys’ fees or expenses. The medical review of your case and the legal consultation are free. We only receive payment once you do.
Recent Birth Injury Settlement:
Birth Injury settlement against a hospital in which nurses and physicians failed to properly monitor the mother's blood pressure during delivery causing an HIE event resulting in neonatal seizures and cerebral palsy at birth. Our team of experienced birth injury lawyers recovered $13,750,000 for the family to help with future medical expenses and developmental therapy.
Every birth injury law firm is eager to prove they are capable of handling big cases with multi-million-dollar payouts. Miller Weisbrod Olesky has been taking on high-profile medical malpractice cases for over 30 years, and our results and achievements speak for themselves.
Specialized Birth Injury Lawyers
Our specialized birth injury attorneys combine decades of experience and personal dedication to clients with a proven record of success in litigating complex cases across the United States. Partners Clay Miller and Les Weisbrod are board-certified trial lawyerswith years of experience litigating cases with multimillion dollar payouts.
While partner David Olesky originally practiced medical malpractice defense, he has now spent years pursuing justice for victims of birth injury victims.
In 1989, firm founder Les Weisbrod co-founded the Birth Trauma Litigation Group (BTLG), a nationally recognized organization committed to training other lawyers on how to best manage and win birth injury lawsuits.
Members of the BTLG meet multiple times each year, with medical doctors also attending to present and educate attorneys across the country.
Today, BTLG is the leading educational and information-sharing group for attorneys dedicated to representing children and their families dealing with life-altering birth injuries.
Les Weisbrod and the rest of our team remain committed to being the leading nation in birth injury education and litigation.
Dedicated Nurse-Attorney Liaisons
Unlike other firms, Miller Weisbrod Olesky gets our clients the care they need today, not just after their case ends. Birth injury litigation can take time; it can sometimes take years before a family receives compensation to cover medical costs.
But we understand that a child’s injuries and needs can’t just go on hold; that’s why we have a robust team of registered nurses and nurse-attorneys in the office who are assigned to every case.
Most birth injury law firms will employ one or two nurses to assist the review of cases and medical research. Our firm assigns a nurse-attorney liaison to each client’s team, guiding them through ongoing medical treatment and evaluation.
While your case is ongoing, our nursing team helps to coordinate doctor’s visits, medical examinations, treatments and therapies, and transportation services to and from these appointments throughout the duration of the case.
Our nursing staff also lends their expertise to each case, analyzing and investigating the reasons behind each child’s birth injury. They work alongside our birth injury attorneys to pinpoint where and how medical professionals breached their standard of care.
Our collaboration between knowledgeable legal professionals and experienced medical experts is what gives our firm the edge needed to succeed.
Sometimes people are hesitant to contact a birth injury malpractice attorney. Parents may feel overwhelmed by their circumstances and worry that a law firm won’t be able to help them.
But the path toward justice always starts with reaching out. Speaking with a birth injury attorney who understands how medical errors cause preventable birth injuries can provide better understanding of your options.
If you live in Augusta, Georgia or any of our service areas, don’t hesitate to see if you have a case. You can contact us today through our toll-free line at (888) 987-0005 or through our online request form. We work on a contingency fee basis, meaning you won't pay any legal fees unless we win your case.
What Are Common Medical Mistakes Leading to Birth Injuries?
A baby’s heart rate during pregnancy and during delivery reveals critical information about their wellbeing. It must be carefully monitored during labor and delivery and in the time leading up to it.
Fetal Heart Rate Monitoring
A healthy fetal heart rate rests between 110 and 160 beats per minute (bpm) with moderate variability and expected accelerations in response to the mother’s uterine contractions.
A non-reassuring fetal heart rate (known informally as fetal distress) ) can have multiple patterns and characteristics. Too much variability, absent variability (flatlining), or continual late decelerations after contractions peak can all be signs of fetal distress. These signs indicate that the baby doesn’t have enough oxygen, which is medically referred to as hypoxia.
A baby can only go without oxygen for an extremely short window. Within minutes of oxygen deprivation, brain cells begin to die off and organ failure can occur. A baby in fetal distress has a heightened risk of birth asphyxia, brain injuries, and other unfavorable outcomes.
Examples of critical mistakes with fetal heart rate monitoring include:
Failing to carefully monitor a baby’s non-reassuring heart rate at all.
Misinterpreting the results of the monitoring strip.
Failing to take appropriate action after seeing the baby’s alarming heart rate status.
These errors can all prolong a baby’s oxygen deprivation and lead to injuries that would constitute a medical malpractice claim.
A cesarean section delivery (commonly shortened to C-section) is a medical procedure where doctors cut into the mother’s abdomen and uterus to deliver the baby. C-sections carry multiple risks, but it can become necessary when doctors deem vaginal birth to be even more risky.
Many different pregnancy complications can make vaginal birth unsafe and necessitate a C-section delivery. Conditions like macrosomia or cephalopelvic disproportion may indicate the baby is too large to fit through the mother’s birth canal. Or sometimes the baby is in an abnormal fetal position that makes it unsafe to deliver. For example, the baby’s feet may point out toward the cervix (known as breech position).
C-Section Deliveries in Georgia
In 2023, over a third (35.8%) of all live births in the state of Georgia delivered by C-section.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) recommends that the interval between the decision and initiation of the C-section should be no more than 30 minutes. But ACOG also recognizes that some C-sections must be performed faster, depending upon the emergency conditions.
Doctors must understand the urgency required in the delivery room when it becomes evident the mother will need a C-section. It is critical they begin operating as soon as they make the decision and have the necessary tools available. Preventable delays can cause birth injuries and qualify as medical malpractice.
Richmond County is fortunate to have full access to maternity care centers and hospitals. However, surrounding counties like Burke, McDuffie and Warren County are classified as “maternity care deserts” where access to maternal care is either severely limited or nonexistent.
Maternal healthcare reporting organization March of Dimes gave Georgia an “F” rating in their 2024 maternal health report card. They found that Georgia’s preterm birth rates, infant mortality rates, and maternal vulnerability index all exceeded the national average. These unfavorable outcomes have a lower chance of occurring when healthcare providers take proper action during prenatal care.
Sometimes doctors wrongly prescribe labor-inducing medications despite the mother displaying signs suggesting its usage will lead to complications. Other times, doctors may prescribe too high of a dosage, fail to monitor it's effects, or fail to properly intervene.
Medical mistakes can sometimes cause severe brain damage at birth that impairs a child’s physical and cognitive functioning for life.
What Is Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy?
The most common brain injury caused by these mistakes is hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy (commonly shortened to HIE). HIE is an injury that occurs when the baby’s brain receives insufficient levels of oxygen (hypoxia) or blood flow (ischemia).
The primary concern with HIE is that it is often a precursor to a cerebral palsy diagnosis later in childhood. Cerebral palsy is not a “one-size-fits-all” diagnosis; it isn’t just one condition, but rather a group of neurological conditions. These conditions may affect a child’s movement, posture, balance, speaking, swallowing, and cognitive functioning.
Children with cerebral palsy often have varying levels of gross motor function control. Some children are able to walk with minimal assistance, while others will require assistive equipment such as walkers or wheelchairs for mobility. Other children may require communication devices to interact with others.
A cerebral palsy diagnosis will require lifelong care with treatments and therapies, medical procedures, medications to minimize symptoms, and more. We are committed to securing compensation covering these expenses so children with cerebral palsy have the highest quality of life.
The attorneys, nurses, and supporting staff of Miller Weisbrod Olesky understand that parents of children with birth injuries feel overwhelmed. This is why we strive to ensure every client has the full attention and support of our trained, compassionate team of professionals.
But we don’t just offer compassion. We help you discover whether your child’s birth injury, HIE, cerebral palsy or death was caused by a medical error.
Here is a simplified step-by-step guide to the legal process once you contact our firm:
Step 1: Intake
During your first contact with the firm, you will speak with one of our birth injury-trained intake team members. Each intake specialist you speak with is either a nurse or someone who works closely with our legal nursing team. They will ask specific questions to gather all relevant facts regarding your child’s birth and any concerns you may have.
We won’t ask you to tell us what you think was done wrong; that is for us to discover. Otherwise, please feel free to tell us everything you feel and know.
Step 2: Gathering Documents
If we decide to further investigate your case, you must sign medical authorizations to gather documents to support your claim.
It usually takes six to eight weeks to retrieve medical records. As soon as they arrive, our nurse consultants and nurse-attorneys thoroughly review them. Firm partners, various birth injury attorneys, and our entire legal nurse and legal nurse-attorney team all attend this meeting.
It’s important to note that looking further into medical records does not always mean we will be taking the case.
Step 3: Consulting With Medical Experts
When consulting experts, we decide whether the medical records support a potential medical negligence or malpractice lawsuit. If they do, we begin working with medical experts necessary to pursue a birth trauma or wrongful death lawsuit.
These experts include obstetricians, neonatologists, pediatric neurologists, pediatric radiologists, nursing experts, life care planners, and economists. In some states, we must get official written reports back from these experts before filing a lawsuit.
This entire medical record review process may take as long as six months to complete. We use this time preparing to manage all potential issues that may arise after the experts have reached their conclusions.
Step 4: Case Review with An Attorney
If we decide to take your case, you will meet with a professional birth injury attorney and other team members. The attorney will walk you through our findings, what the medical experts found, and how the litigation process will work.
Step 5: Attorney Contract/Retainer Process
Once we have decided to take your case and have thoroughly reviewed it with our birth injury attorneys. We will reach out to have you sign our firm-attorney contract that officially hires us to represent you. You will also sign medical authorizations so we can gather additional medical records covering:
Follow-up visits with pediatricians and other specialists
Once again, you will not pay any attorneys’ fees or expenses during this process. You will never owe a fee or reimbursement of expenses unless we make a successful recovery. We believe in taking care of our clients during each step of this process. Please know we are here to listen and help during the entire journey from case review to a potential lawsuit.
What Legal Damages Can Be Claimed in a Birth Injury Lawsuit?
Injured parties can receive compensation for their damages through a successful medical malpractice claim. But what can be considered as “damage”?
Medical malpractice cases generally involve claims for three kinds of damages:
Economic Damages
This type of damage is tangible. Plaintiffs will have bills, invoices, and records to show how much they spent on things like medical care, prescriptions, therapy, and equipment. Medical malpractice attorneys will work with highly qualified experts to create life care plans.
These plans map out a birth injured baby’s medical and attendant care for the entire life expectancy, as well as a plan of how to pay for these expenses.
Many plaintiffs include loss of earnings or earnings capacity as another economic damage in their claim. If someone’s earnings or earnings potential is negatively affected because of a doctor’s mistake, a medical malpractice attorney can recover lost wages and lost earning capacity through a lawsuit.
Non-Economic Damages
Damages like pain and suffering exist but are not as quantifiable as economic losses. Plaintiffs might not have receipts about some of the suffering caused by medical malpractice, but it still deserves compensation. Non-economic damages also include pain, emotional/mental anguish, loss of enjoyment of life, physical impairment, disability, disfigurement, and loss of companionship.
Punitive Damages
A court may award punitive damages as a form of “punishment” for the wrongdoer’s actions. They can also be a way to deter or discourage defendants from engaging in the same type of conduct in the future.
Compensation for punitive damages is less common than for economic and non-economic losses. In fact, some states do not allow them to be awarded at all.
Qualified medical malpractice attorneys will know each state’s peculiar laws regarding the availability of and limitations on punitive damages.
A knowledgeable birth injury attorney can help explain what types of damages are potentially available to claim in your child’s lawsuit. Available damage claims will depend on the circumstances of each case.
How Long Do You Have To File A Birth Injury Lawsuit in Georgia?
A statute of limitations (SOL) sets a time limit on how long an injured person has to file a lawsuit. Statutes of limitations vary based on the type of case and the state in which you filed it. For instance, the deadline for birth injury claims typically differs from other claims like fraud, contract disputes, and debt collection.
Generally, the clock starts ticking on the date the injury occurred. However, there are exceptions to this rule. In some cases, the statute of limitations starts when a person discovers or reasonably should have discovered an injury.
You may need to file a birth injury claim under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA). In FTCA cases, claimants must go through certain administrative procedures before filing a lawsuit. The time in which you must give "notice" may be shorter in some cases. Examples include if the negligent party was a local or state government hospital, or if the doctors are government employees.
Your case will typically be dismissed if you file it outside the statute of limitations. However, there are certain exceptions to statute of limitations rules when the injured party is a child. Determining when a statute of limitations begins on your case can be tricky. If you're considering pursuing compensation for a birth injury, you shouild contact an attorney as soon as possible.
How Can Our Birth Injury Attorneys Help You?
It takes an expert review of the facts to determine whether injuries during pregnancy or delivery resulted from medical malpractice.
Our mission is to help the victims birth injury negligence by pursuing medical malpractice claims against responsible parties. We know how expensive birth injury treatments are, and have witnessed the financial strain that lifelong medical bills place on families.
Miller Weisbrod Olesky is committed to securing the compensation your family deserves. We also help along the way, scheduling important doctor’s visits, treatments and therapies, and transportation to and from these appointments.
When you hire us to represent you and your child, you become a part of a strong team of support. Our goal is to help you feel less alone during the legal process and to assist your family wherever possible.
We do not charge any fees unless we win your case. The legal consultation and case review process are free of charge. We handle cases against major hospitals around Augusta, including surrounding cities like Martinez, Evans, Grovetown, and Hephzibah. Contact us at (888) 987-0005 or fill out our convenient online form to schedule your free consultation.
Are There Support Groups For Children With Birth Injuries in Georgia?
Based out of Atlanta, Parent to Parent of Georgia (P2PGA) is a non-profit organization specifically committed to helping families of children with disabilities by connecting parents together to “address the powerful emotions, new responsibilities, stress and isolation that parents and families face in caring for a child with special health care needs.”
The Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities founded the group in the 1983. Their website hosts a variety of different resources, from training videos to mentorship programs and support groups where parents can speak to other parents and connect.
Originally founded in 1938 as the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, March of Dimes is a non-profit organization committed to publishing maternal and fetal healthcare data, fundraising for lifesaving research, and advocating for stronger maternity care across the nation.
The March of Dimes website features a wide variety of research, public health data reports, and links to donate and find support in your area.
Babies Can’t Wait (BCW) is Georgia’s statewide inter-agency service delivery system for infants and toddlers with developmental delays or disabilities.
Families of children 3 years and younger qualify for the services, and they must have an official diagnosis that deems them eligible. To check if your child’s conditions meet eligibility standards, you can check here.
GVRA is a statewide program designed to help both children and adults with disabilities live and work independently. Georgia residents who qualify can use GVRA for referrals to treatments and therapies, employment services, and information on steps toward independent living.
The Georgia Department of Education website’s section for specialized education provides detailed information on the specific action taken to support children with special learning needs. The web page attached features links to the state’s performance plan and annual results, state and federal data reports, outreach opportunities, and links to other resources such as dispute resolutions and parent mentorship programs.
Utilizing available resources can be helpful for families who are coping with the effects of a birth injury. Joining support groups can help to ease the emotional impact of birth trauma and the child's resulting needs. They provide a safe space for you to share your experiences, fears, and frustrations while also receiving empathy and understanding.
Using these resources can help you progress toward coping with social, emotional, physical, and financial effects of serious birth injuries. Miller Weisbrod Olesky can help you find the appropriate resources, information, and services while seeking full and fair compensation for your family.
Miller Weisbrod Olesky
At Miller Weisbrod Olesky, the attorneys, nurses, and staff understand that parents of children with birth injuries feel overwhelmed. So, every client has the attention and support of a team of trained, compassionate professionals. But we don’t just offer compassion.
We offer a process to help you discover whether your child’s birth injury, HIE, cerebral palsy or brain injury was caused by a medical error.
Call our offices today at 888.987.0005 for experienced assistance in a free consultation.
Lyric C. I feel like our voice was heard in a sense of what can possibly go wrong in a delivery and finding us answers. I feel with our settlement, we are now in a comfortable position to provide for our son.
Lyssa L. They are not just people that say “hey let's get you money and let's go” The law firm was very thorough with us. It was awesome. I don't want to cry, because I think about and it's amazing that they were able to help me and that we were able to help my son and get the story out there.
Jay C. Throughout the process, one thing was clear to us, the ultimate interest of our child was the utmost concern of Max and his team and as parents navigating a situation like that, that was refreshing to know we had them firmly on our side. I highly recommend them.
Maternal healthcare reporting organization March of Dimes gave Georgia an “F” rating in their 2024 maternal health report card. They found that Georgia’s preterm birth rates, infant mortality rates, and maternal vulnerability index all exceeded the national average. These unfavorable outcomes have a lower chance of occurring when healthcare providers take proper action during prenatal care.
