New York City Cerebral Palsy Lawyers

Paul B. Weitz & Associates, PC, provides direct legal representation for families filing medical malpractice claims for infants who developed cerebral palsy (CP) due to medical errors during delivery in New York City.

Our firm investigates delivery room mistakes and holds negligent hospitals, doctors and healthcare providers accountable across Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens and Staten Island.

Learning that your child has CP creates profound grief, uncertainty and stress. Above all, you need answers about what happened and help moving forward.

Unfortunately, doctors and hospital administrators often tell parents that labor complications – even those that sometimes cause CP – “just happen.” In many cases, however, proper medical monitoring and response during delivery could have prevented the injury.

Need Answers About Your Child’s Birth Injury?

Reach out to our firm for a free, no-obligation consultation. We can help you find out whether medical negligence caused your child’s CP and decide what to do next.

Our job is to hold negligent doctors and healthcare personnel accountable for the harm they cause. We do this by filing birth injury lawsuits.

Why Hire A New York City Cerebral Palsy Attorney From Paul B. Weitz & Associates, PC?

Choosing the right legal team directly impacts your child’s financial security and lifelong care. Managing partner Paul B. Weitz and our trial attorneys bring more than 50 years of legal experience fighting for personal injury and medical malpractice victims in New York courtrooms.

Across our firm’s history, we have recovered over $1 billion in financial compensation for our clients.

Our firm maintains a reputation for aggressive litigation and compassionate client care:

• Recognized legal leaders: Two of our attorneys, Paul B. Weitz and Harvey Weitz, are New York Super Lawyers honorees. Paul was selected from 2007 through 2026, and Harvey from 2007 through 2024.
• Proven track record: Our firm has a proven history of securing multimillion-dollar verdicts and settlements, including specifically in complex birth injury and fetal distress cases. Prior results, however, do not guarantee a similar outcome.
• Fully bilingual staff: Se habla español. Our fully bilingual legal team handles all communications directly so language barriers never compromise your legal rights.
• No upfront costs: We operate strictly on a contingency fee model. You pay no attorney fees or case expenses unless we recover money for your family.

How Medical Negligence And Fetal Distress Cause Cerebral Palsy In New York City Delivery Rooms

CP is a permanent neurological condition affecting muscle control, movement and motor skills.

While some cases stem from developmental factors, many instances in birth injury lawsuits result directly from oxygen deprivation during labor and delivery.

When a fetus experiences distress, the brain suffers from a lack of oxygen known as hypoxia or asphyxia. Prolonged oxygen deprivation causes hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy (HIE), a severe brain injury that destroys tissue and leads directly to spastic quadriparesis and cerebral palsy.

Obstetricians and labor nurses track fetal health using electronic fetal monitoring strips. These monitors show real-time changes in fetal heart rates, signaling heart rate decelerations or distress.

When medical personnel fail to read these strips correctly or ignore clear signs of fetal distress, catastrophic infant brain damage occurs.

Hospitals often assert that these injuries were unavoidable, but our independent medical reviews routinely disprove those claims by establishing clear timeline failures in medical care.

(Note: If your child suffered nerve damage in the shoulder or arm during birth rather than a brain injury, please review our information on Erb’s palsy and brachial plexus injuries.)

Common Medical Mistakes During Labor That Lead To Cerebral Palsy Claims

Preventable medical errors during labor interrupt oxygen flow to an infant’s brain. Our firm routinely identifies medical negligence in the following scenarios:

• Delayed emergency cesarean sections: Failing to order or perform a prompt emergency C-section when electronic fetal monitoring reveals fetal distress
• Mismanaged maternal health conditions: Failing to diagnose, monitor or treat maternal health risks, such as preeclampsia or gestational diabetes, which increase delivery risks
• Misuse of labor-inducing drugs: Administering Pitocin (oxytocin) improperly, causing hyperstimulation of the uterus and cutting off oxygen supply to the baby
• Instrument delivery trauma: Using forceps or vacuum extractors with excessive force, causing physical skull trauma and internal hemorrhaging
• Failure to treat infections: Failing to identify maternal infections, such as Group B strep, which transfer to the infant during birth

An attorney can assist your family by launching an immediate, thorough investigation. Our firm subpoenas full electronic fetal monitoring logs, internal hospital communication records and delivery room notes to reveal exactly where standard medical protocols failed.

Understanding The Various Forms Of Cerebral Palsy

CP manifests in several forms, depending on which area of the brain sustained damage during labor:

• Spastic cerebral palsy: The most common form, characterized by stiff muscles, exaggerated reflexes and difficulty moving limbs
• Dyskinetic cerebral palsy: Causes involuntary, uncontrollable movements and fluctuating muscle tone, making posture and sitting upright difficult
• Ataxic cerebral palsy: Affects balance, depth perception and fine motor coordination, resulting in unsteady movement
• Mixed cerebral palsy: Occurs when an infant shows symptoms of multiple forms of cerebral palsy, most frequently combining spastic and dyskinetic types

Each form creates distinct physical hurdles and requires customized lifelong therapy, adaptive equipment and medical care.

How Can You Identify The Signs And Symptoms Of Cerebral Palsy In Your Child?

Early signs of CP appear during an infant’s first few months or years. Parents and pediatricians often notice the following indicators:

• Delays in reaching basic developmental milestones, such as rolling over, sitting, crawling or walking
• Abnormally stiff or floppy muscle tone (hypotonia or hypertonia)
• Favoring one side of the body, such as reaching with only one hand or dragging a leg while crawling
• Excessive drooling or difficulty swallowing, eating and speaking
• Involuntary tremors, muscle spasms or lack of muscle coordination (ataxia)

If your child exhibits these symptoms following a difficult delivery, request a comprehensive evaluation from a pediatric neurologist and consult our office to evaluate the delivery records.

Who Can File A Cerebral Palsy Lawsuit In New York?

When medical malpractice causes a birth injury, New York law grants specific parties the legal right to take action:

• Parents of the injured child: Biological or adoptive parents can file lawsuits on behalf of their minor children to recover financial compensation for the costs of lifetime care, pain and suffering, and other damages.
• Legal guardians: Court-appointed legal guardians hold the right to file claims if parents are unavailable or deceased.
• Estates of deceased infants: In tragic cases involving fatal birth trauma, designated estate representatives file wrongful death claims.

If you are unsure if you are the right person to bring suit, please reach out for a free consultation.

Critical Deadlines: New York Statute Of Limitations And New York City Public Hospital Notice Of Claim

Filing a birth injury claim requires strict adherence to legal deadlines set by New York law:

• New York Civil Practice Law and Rules (CPLR § 208): Under New York law, the standard deadline to file a medical malpractice lawsuit is 2.5 years. For a child injured at birth, the law pauses (or “tolls”) this deadline because of their young age. However, the lawsuit on behalf of the child must still be filed no later than 10 years from the date the medical error occurred (or 10 years from when continuous treatment for that injury ended). It is very important to note that parents’ separate claims – such as lawsuits to recover out-of-pocket medical bills or loss of family services – do not get this 10-year extension. Claims brought directly by parents must be filed within the standard 2.5-year deadline from the date of the medical error.
• New York City public hospitals (NYC Health + Hospitals): If your child was delivered at a municipal hospital operated by New York City – such as Bellevue, Jacobi, Kings County, Elmhurst or Lincoln Hospitals – special municipal claim procedures apply:
  • Notice of claim: A formal notice of claim generally must be served on NYC Health + Hospitals within 90 days of the injury. However, courts may grant permission to file a late notice of claim in appropriate circumstances involving infants.
  • Lawsuit filing deadline: While the deadline to file a child’s lawsuit against NYC Health + Hospitals could be paused as described above, the notice of claim must still be served within 90 days unless the court gives permission for a late notice.

Because municipal rules are strict and complex, contacting an attorney immediately after a suspected birth injury is essential to preserve your family’s rights.

Recovering Lifetime Care Costs Through New York’s Medical Indemnity Fund (MIF)

Children diagnosed with severe birth injuries face astronomical healthcare costs. Under New York Public Health Law Title 4-A, the state legislature created the New York Medical Indemnity Fund (MIF) to pay for the qualifying healthcare expenses of children who suffer neurological injuries due to medical malpractice during delivery.

Enrollment in the MIF covers:

• Physical, occupational and speech therapy
• Customized medical equipment, wheelchairs and adaptive devices
• Home modifications, including ramps and accessible bathrooms
• Prescription medications and 24/7 home nursing care

Enrolling in the MIF covers medical care, while your civil lawsuit seeks to recover direct cash payments to compensate for your child’s pain, suffering and reduced quality of life.

Our attorneys can guide you through enrolling your child into the MIF as part of a legal settlement or court verdict.

Representation For Cerebral Palsy Cases In New York County’s Supreme Court

Major medical malpractice lawsuits in Manhattan proceed in the New York County Supreme Court – Civil Term, located at 60 Centre Street, New York, NY 10007. This court handles high-value civil litigation that requires complex judicial management.

Our legal team regularly presents cases before judges and juries in the New York County Supreme Court. We retain respected independent medical witnesses, life-care planners and economic analysts to demonstrate the full scope of liability and secure maximum compensation for your child.

Frequently Asked Questions About New York City Cerebral Palsy Claims

Our NYC cerebral palsy lawyers understand you may have a lot of questions and are ready to answer your concerns. Here are some of the most common questions we are asked. For answers specific to your case, please reach out to schedule a free consultation. 

How do I know if my child’s cerebral palsy was caused by a delivery error?

You cannot know for certain without a comprehensive review of your labor and delivery records.

Our legal team hires independent medical analysts to review fetal monitoring strips, oxygen readings and delivery logs. These experts review the records for any unaddressed fetal distress, delayed C-sections or improper instrument use that could demonstrate that medical negligence caused your child’s injury.

How much compensation can a family recover in a New York cerebral palsy lawsuit?

Financial recoveries in cerebral palsy cases often reach millions of dollars due to the lifelong costs of medical care, lost earning capacity, and pain and suffering.

Compensation accounts for physical therapy, home modifications, specialized education and loss of life enjoyment. Review our past verdicts and settlements to see our firm’s track record in serious injury claims.

Can we still file a lawsuit if our family speaks Spanish or if we are noncitizens?

Yes. Your legal rights, immigration status and native language do not alter your child’s legal right to compensation for medical malpractice in New York.

Our firm provides fully bilingual legal services and can handle all aspects of your case in Spanish.

How much does it cost to hire a cerebral palsy attorney at Paul B. Weitz & Associates, PC?

Hiring our firm costs nothing upfront. We represent clients on a contingency fee basis.

What that means is that we advance all investigation costs, court filing fees and expert witness expenses. If we are successful in your case, you will pay us part of your settlement or award. You owe us no fees or expenses unless we secure a financial settlement or verdict for your family.

At your free consultation, we will make sure you are comfortable with the fee arrangement.

Contact Our New York City Cerebral Palsy Lawyers Today

If medical negligence caused your child’s cerebral palsy, Paul B. Weitz & Associates, PC, stands ready to protect your legal rights.

Call our Manhattan office today at 646-916-3179 or email us to schedule your free, confidential consultation in English or Spanish. Se habla español. We represent families in New York City and throughout New York state.