InjuryBirth injury
Birth injury claims in Arizona
A birth injury becomes a legal claim when the care during pregnancy, labor, or delivery fell below what a reasonably prudent provider would have done, and that failure caused the harm (A.R.S. § 12-563). A difficult birth is not malpractice by itself. Cerebral palsy, hypoxic brain injury, and brachial plexus injuries can follow a delayed cesarean, a misread fetal monitor, or a shoulder dystocia handled badly; they can also occur with careful care. If your child was injured, your family may have a claim, and it would be built from the maternal and newborn chart, experts, and the preliminary expert opinion affidavit Arizona requires (A.R.S. § 12-2603). A child's own claim is generally paused until age 18 under A.R.S. § 12-502, but the records that prove it fade sooner.
What Blueshoe does
The groundwork, in order, before you decide anything.
- 01
Collect both charts
The prenatal record, the labor and delivery chart, fetal monitoring strips, nursing notes, the operative report, and the newborn's NICU record, requested in the form the law entitles the patient to, before retention schedules take them.
- 02
Screen the standard of care
What the monitor showed, when it was read, when the decision to deliver was made, and how long it took, organized so an obstetric or neonatal expert can evaluate whether the care met the standard and whether that caused the injury.
- 03
Plan for the child's whole life
Birth injury cases are built around a life-care plan: the therapies, equipment, surgeries, education support, and attendant care the child is expected to need, projected by the appropriate experts rather than guessed at from the bills so far.
- 04
An attorney can take it forward
A licensed Arizona attorney can review the screened record, retain the experts for the affidavit, map the child's and the parents' deadlines, and file, on terms stated in writing first, including how expert costs are handled.
What the law says
What the law says about birth injuries in Arizona
What makes a birth injury medical malpractice in Arizona?
Under A.R.S. § 12-563, a claimant must show the provider failed to exercise the degree of care, skill, and learning expected of a reasonable, prudent provider in the same profession under similar circumstances, and that the failure was a proximate cause of the injury. A poor outcome alone is not enough.
Do I need an expert to bring a birth injury claim?
In most cases, yes. A.R.S. § 12-2603 generally requires a preliminary expert opinion affidavit from a qualified professional certifying that the care fell below the standard. For a birth injury that usually means an obstetrician or a neonatologist reviewing the strips and the chart. The affidavit takes time, so the practical deadline sits inside the legal one.
How long does my child have to bring a claim?
Under A.R.S. § 12-502, the limitations period on a minor's own claim does not begin to run until the child turns 18, so the two years under A.R.S. § 12-542 generally starts then. The parents' own related claims may run on the ordinary clock from the injury, which is why the deadlines should be mapped together early.
If the birth was at a public or county hospital, A.R.S. § 12-821.01 requires a notice of claim within 180 days; how that statute treats a minor's claim is a question to have answered rather than assumed.
Who can be responsible for a birth injury?
The obstetrician, the nurses and midwife who monitored labor, the anesthesiologist, the hospital, and sometimes the pediatrician or neonatologist who treated the newborn. Hospitals generally answer for their employees, but many physicians are independent contractors. Naming the right defendants is a legal call made from the chart, not from the name on the badge.
What does a birth injury claim cover?
Arizona recognizes the child's medical care past and future, the therapies and equipment a life-care plan identifies, lost earning capacity, and the child's pain and loss of enjoyment of life, along with the parents' own losses. The Arizona Constitution (art. II, § 31) prohibits caps on these damages, so the record, not a statute, sets the measure.
What it costs
No fee unless you recover.
Asking costs nothing. If you engage Blueshoe on a contingency basis, the fee is a percentage of what is recovered, stated in a written engagement agreement, and nothing is owed if there is no recovery. Case costs, such as filing fees and records, are set out in the same agreement, including whether they come out before or after the fee is calculated.
- Free to ask
- Written assessment before any fee
- Engagement terms in writing
- No billable hours
Questions people ask
You would not, from the outside, which is why these claims start with records rather than conclusions. The fetal monitoring strips, the timing of each decision, and the nursing notes show whether warning signs were acted on when the standard required. A qualified expert reading that record is the only reliable way to answer the question.
Legally reviewed by Catherine O’Grady, State Bar of Arizona No. 011647
Managing partner & chief compliance officer · 30+ years in practice · Reviewed 2026-10-08 · Full bio →