NICU Errors Attorney in Maryland
30 Years of Birth Injury Trial Experience, Focused Exclusively on Families Like Yours
Premature and critically ill newborns in a neonatal intensive care unit are among the most vulnerable patients in any hospital. When care falls short of accepted standards, the consequences can include permanent brain injury, cerebral palsy, or death. These aren’t routine malpractice claims. They require an attorney who understands both neonatal medicine and Maryland’s procedural requirements for malpractice cases.
At The Law Firm of Michael H. Bereston, Inc., our practice focuses exclusively on birth injury and obstetric malpractice claims. Michael Bereston brings 30 years of trial experience in this area, and we work directly with medical professionals who have neonatology and obstetrics backgrounds to review records and identify where care departed from accepted standards. We accept NICU malpractice cases throughout Maryland and nationwide.
If your newborn was harmed during a NICU stay, call us at (410) 220-6581 to speak with Michael Bereston in a free, confidential consultation. You pay nothing unless we recover compensation for your family.
Why Maryland Families Choose The Law Firm of Michael H. Bereston, Inc. for NICU Claims
We deliberately limit the number of cases we accept each year so that each family we represent gets direct access to Michael Bereston and the thorough attention these cases demand. You won’t be handed off to a junior associate after your first call.
Our track record reflects that focused approach. Over 30 years, we’ve recovered multi-million-dollar results for injured clients, including a $2.5 million medical malpractice settlement and $18 million in settlements in 2017 alone. Past results don’t guarantee future outcomes, but they reflect the commitment we bring to every case.
Michael Bereston holds an AV Preeminent rating, a Super Lawyers designation, an AVVO 10.0 rating, and membership in the National Trial Lawyers and the American Association for Justice. We represent clients on a contingency fee basis, so there are no upfront costs to pursue a claim.
Common NICU Errors That Support a Maryland Malpractice Claim
Neonatal intensive care cases are complex because neonates are physiologically different from older patients. A dosing error, a missed alarm, or a delayed diagnosis that might be manageable in an adult can be catastrophic for a premature infant. A bad outcome alone doesn’t establish malpractice. The question is whether the provider acted as a reasonably competent neonatal professional would have under the same circumstances.
NICU errors that frequently form the basis of malpractice claims include:
- Neonatal medication errors: Neonates metabolize drugs differently than older patients. Dosing errors can cause permanent neurological damage, cardiac complications, or death.
- Ventilator and oxygen mismanagement: Incorrect ventilator settings that cause over- or under-oxygenation can result in hypoxic brain injury, periventricular leukomalacia (PVL, a form of white matter damage common in premature infants), retinopathy of prematurity, or cerebral palsy.
- Failure to treat neonatal sepsis or meningitis: Infection progresses rapidly in newborns. Failure to recognize and promptly treat neonatal sepsis raises the risk of permanent disability or death.
- Improper tube and line placement: Misplaced feeding tubes, IV lines, or central lines can cause organ damage, stroke, infection, or malnutrition.
- Failure to monitor and respond to vital sign changes: Missing oxygen saturation drops or ignoring alarm changes can lead to hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE), a type of brain injury caused by reduced oxygen and blood flow to the brain.
- Failure to diagnose and treat hypoglycemia, hypothermia, or jaundice: Each of these conditions carries its own risk of lasting neurological harm when left unaddressed.
How Maryland NICU Malpractice Claims Work
Maryland imposes procedural requirements on malpractice claims that go beyond filing a lawsuit. Most claims must first be filed with the Maryland Health Care Alternative Dispute Resolution Office (HCADRO), the state body that screens malpractice claims before they can proceed to circuit court. Within 90 days of that filing, a Certificate of Qualified Expert (CQE) must be submitted. The CQE is a sworn statement from a qualified medical professional attesting that the provider’s conduct departed from the standard of care and that the departure caused the injury.
To establish liability, a family must show that the NICU provider owed a duty of care, that their conduct fell below the standard a reasonably competent neonatal professional would meet, and that the departure caused measurable harm. In neonatal cases, that standard is shaped by national guidelines, including those from the American Academy of Pediatrics, and by the practices of comparable neonatal units.
Hospital defense teams routinely challenge qualified medical professional qualifications, argue that protocol deviations were clinically justified, and introduce alternative theories about causation. We work with qualified medical professionals in neonatology, neonatal nursing, and obstetrics to build the foundation these cases require and to anticipate those defenses from the start.
What Compensation May Be Available in a Maryland NICU Case
A complete NICU malpractice claim accounts for the full scope of harm across a child’s lifetime. Building an accurate damages claim typically requires a life care planner and an economist to project decades of medical, therapeutic, and support costs. That analysis is part of how we prepare every case we take.
Economic Damages
Maryland places no cap on economic damages. A claim can include past and future medical expenses, long-term physical, occupational, and speech therapy, specialized equipment and home modifications, and lost earning capacity if the child’s injuries prevent future employment. Parents may recover costs incurred through the child’s minority; the child may recover the costs of care needed as an adult.
Noneconomic Damages
Noneconomic damages, including pain and suffering and loss of enjoyment of life, are subject to a state cap under Md. Code, Cts. and Jud. Proc. § 3-2A-09, which is adjusted annually. Parents may also recover compensation for emotional distress.
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"Supportive and clear communication."
- Cathleen O. -
"A positive experience from the start. He found things other lawyers did not find. Those things were not all easy to find out. He delivered hard to hear facts about the case in as good a way as you could hope."
- Ryan -
"Mr. Bereston represented me in my case. I found him to be very knowledgeable, professional and easy to talk to about any questions I had concerning my case. He would always promptly return my calls if I had any concerns or questions as the case went on."
- Clyde G. -
"They truly love what they do and love each and every one of their clients like they are their own family."
- Shauna G.
Talk to OUR NICU Attorney in Maryland at No Upfront Cost
If your newborn was harmed during a NICU stay, don’t wait to get legal advice. Maryland’s procedural deadlines leave less time than most families realize, and medical records, monitoring data, medication logs, nursing notes, and staffing records need to be secured promptly before they become harder to obtain.
We offer a free, confidential consultation for families whose newborns may have been harmed by NICU negligence in Maryland. Michael Bereston handles a limited number of cases and is personally available to clients we represent. There are no fees unless we recover compensation on your behalf.
Call The Law Firm of Michael H. Bereston, Inc. at (410) 220-6581 or reach us through our contact form to schedule your free consultation.
Our goal in each case we handle is to obtain the maximum compensation for our clients, which is why we only take on a limited number of cases each year.