HALIFAX Birth Injury Lawyer
Learning that your child has suffered a birth injury can quickly fill one of the happiest days of your life with despair. Instead of reveling in the joy your newborn brings, you may be filled with dread, wondering if your child will deal with lifelong disabilities—and whether their injury was preventable.
At Valent Legal, our Halifax birth injury lawyers know how devastating this experience can be. If you believe your child has been harmed by medical malpractice, contact us today for a free consultation. We won’t charge any fees unless you win your case.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- Why Trust Valent Legal With Your Birth Injury Claim in Nova Scotia?
- What To Expect When Filing a Birth Injury Lawsuit With Valent Legal
- What Compensation Can Your Family Recover for a Birth Injury?
- What Are the Most Common Types of Birth Injuries?
- Why Birth Injury Claims Require Specialized Legal Help
- Birth Injury Statistics in Nova Scotia
- Birth Injury Frequently Asked Questions
- Talk to Our Halifax Birth Injury Lawyers Now
Why Trust Valent Legal With Your Birth Injury Claim in Nova Scotia?
At Valent Legal, every case is personal to us. We’re a client-focused personal injury firm with deep roots in Atlantic Canada and a commitment to compassionate, down-to-earth service. Our team has extensive experience handling complex medical negligence cases, including working with medical professionals and experts to build strong claims.
Some of our many accolades include:
- Over $99 million recovered for clients like you
- More than 650 five-star Google reviews
- Recognition from Best Lawyers
- An A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau
- Seven straight Consumer Choice Award wins
We work on a contingency fee basis, meaning we won’t charge you anything unless you win. We also offer a 90-day 100% satisfaction guarantee, allowing you to walk away without any commitments if you’re unhappy with our services.
Meet Our Team of Experienced Birth Injury Lawyers
The award-winning Valent Legal team features skilled lawyers with decades of combined legal experience. Our lawyers are ready to fight to protect your rights in and out of the courtroom.
Mike is the founding partner of Valent Legal. His entire career has been dedicated to representing victims of serious injuries, sexual abuse, medical negligence, and corporate and pharmaceutical wrongs. Over the past decade, he has built a reputation as a tireless victim advocate and a strong promoter of access to justice.
Phil is a partner and a founding member of Valent Legal. He was born in raised in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He practices personal injury law and is dedicated to advancing and protecting the rights of injury victims. He has extensive Courtroom experience and has appeared at every level of Court in Nova Scotia.
Basia joined Valent legal in May of 2020. She started as an articling clerk and now works with us as a litigation lawyer. Basia obtained her undergraduate degree from McGill University in 2017, and her law degree from Dalhousie University in 2020.
What Our Past Clients Say About Working With Our Team
We pride ourselves on guiding, supporting, and fighting for our clients every step of the way. Every testimonial we receive from our clients makes us grateful for the opportunity we’ve had to make a difference in their lives.
What To Expect When Filing a Birth Injury Lawsuit With Valent Legal
When you work with Valent Legal to pursue a birth injury claim, your first step is to sit down for a free case evaluation with our trusted lawyers. Our team will analyze the circumstances of your child’s injury and evaluate whether it likely resulted from medical negligence. If we believe you have a valid claim, we’ll gather evidence to begin building your case, including reviewing your child’s medical records with health care professionals to outline what went wrong.
Once we’ve assembled a strong case against your child’s medical providers, we’ll notify the other party and begin settlement negotiations. If they don’t want to pay your family what you deserve, we’ll file a lawsuit and fight for you all the way to trial if necessary.
Throughout the legal process, our team will handle all the complicated aspects of your case, allowing you and your family to focus on caring for your child.
What Compensation Can Your Family Recover for a Birth Injury?
Our Halifax birth injury lawyers can help your family pursue a wide range of compensation for the impacts your child’s injuries will have throughout their life. In a birth injury settlement, families can recover compensation for the following damages:
- Medical bills, including the costs of lifetime care and rehabilitation
- Loss of enjoyment of life
- Pain and Suffering
- Loss of future earning capacity
- Loss of care, guidance, or companionship for family members
- Other relevant out-of-pocket expenses
What Are the Most Common Types of Birth Injuries?
While some birth injuries are relatively harmless, others can result in permanent disabilities or even death. Birth injuries often result from physical trauma or lack of oxygen during delivery, and many are preventable.
Common types of birth injuries include:
| Cerebral palsy: This permanent condition results from brain damage, usually caused by a lack of oxygen at birth. Cerebral palsy affects a child’s motor function and muscle control, resulting in lifelong mobility issues. | Cephalohematoma: Minor physical damage during delivery, sometimes caused by assisting tools, can cause blood to pool under the newborn’s scalp. This condition is usually temporary. |
| Brachial plexus injuries (Erb's palsy): Using too much force during a birth can result in damage to the infant’s shoulder nerves. This condition may cause permanent weakness in one extremity. | Intracranial haemorrhage: Infants can suffer a “brain bleed” that may cause long-term disabilities or even death. Premature newborns are at high risk. |
| Hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy (HIE): Brain damage from lack of oxygen at birth can lead to a variety of other conditions, including cerebral palsy. | Spinal cord injuries: While rare, infants can suffer spinal damage during complications like breech births. |
| Bone fractures: In some situations, a physician will break an infant’s bone intentionally to assist with a difficult delivery. | Kernicterus: While jaundice in infants is relatively common, it may develop into kernicterus, a rare and permanent form of brain damage. Birth injuries can raise the likelihood of developing kernicterus. |
| Facial nerve damage: Infants can suffer paralysis of facial muscles from birth complications, though it’s usually temporary. |
Birth injuries can have lifelong impacts. If your child has been affected by a birth injury, our team is available to provide the support and legal expertise needed.
Why Birth Injury Claims Require Specialized Legal Help
Birth injury cases typically involve multiple complex moving parts, making a knowledgeable lawyer an invaluable ally for pursuing a successful claim.
Not all birth injuries are preventable. However, many result from medical malpractice by health care providers who make mistakes during pregnancy, labor, or delivery and cause serious injuries. To recover compensation, you must prove medical negligence led to your child’s injuries, which involves showing that the health care provider failed to meet the professional standard of care.
The right lawyer will have contacts with medical experts who can review your child’s care records, pinpoint what went wrong, and connect the injury with a medical provider’s actions.
Some birth injuries can also take a long time for symptoms to appear, further complicating the timeline. Expensive lifetime care costs require professional analysis to properly estimate, so an experienced lawyer can ensure you’re seeking the full value of compensation you’re entitled to.
Birth Injury Statistics in Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia has experienced a natural decrease in population every year since 2015, with the gap between its birth and death rates consistently widening. In 2023, there were 38 stillbirths and 38 infant deaths against 7,918 live births, a rate of 4.8 per thousand births for both. Of the infant deaths, 26 were within a month of birth.
The Reproductive Care Program of Nova Scotia leads annual perinatal clinical reviews at each regional hospital, assessing care quality to support improvements to newborn health care in the province. The program is also developing a Pregnancy and Postpartum Mortality Review Committee to review infant deaths, identify avoidable birth injuries, and improve care to prevent future harm.
Birth Injury Frequently Asked Questions
How Much Does a Birth Injury Lawyer Cost in Nova Scotia?
Our Nova Scotia birth injury lawyers cost nothing upfront. We work on a contingency fee basis, so we don’t charge any fees unless you win your case.
How Much Does a Birth Injury Lawyer Cost in Nova Scotia?
The limitation period for personal injury lawsuits in Nova Scotia is generally two years after an incident. However, when the victim is a minor, the deadline “clock” does not start until their 19th birthday, meaning they generally have until their 21st birthday to file suit. This allows families much more time to evaluate and consider their options before filing a birth injury claim.
How Much Does a Birth Injury Lawyer Cost in Nova Scotia?
Even if you suspect medical malpractice, it can be difficult to prove. An experienced Halifax birth injury lawyer can review your child’s medical records and consult medical professionals to determine whether medical negligence was involved.
Can I File a Birth Injury Claim if My Child Is Now a Teenager?
Yes, you can file a birth injury claim while your child is a teenager. The limitation period for filing a lawsuit does not run while the victim is a minor, giving you a long period of time to pursue a claim.
Talk to Our Halifax Birth Injury Lawyers Now
At Valent Legal, we have a proven track record of success representing the youngest victims of medical malpractice. If your child has suffered a birth injury that you suspect has resulted from medical malpractice, our experienced Halifax birth injury lawyers are here to provide the compassionate, understanding legal counsel that you and your family deserve during this difficult time.
We work on a contingency fee basis, meaning there are no fees until you receive a settlement or win a judgment in court. To learn more about what our firm can do for you, call our Halifax office or schedule your free consultation through our website.