You need your antenatal records, labour and delivery records, neonatal records, proof of financial loss, and any required expert and filing forms for a birth injury claim. A birth injury claim is a legal request for compensation for harm to a mother or baby before, during, or just after birth. Gather files for both mother and baby from every clinic and hospital involved. Complete files show whether staff spotted risks, responded to distress, and caused avoidable harm.
Official resources:
- Read the official guidance from Mi — Use this primary source to verify the official guidance.
- Read the official guidance from Justice — Use this primary source to verify the official guidance.
Table of Contents
- What pregnancy records do you need?
- Why are labour and delivery records central?
- What newborn records prove severity?
- How do you prove financial loss?
- Which forms and deadlines control filing?
What pregnancy records do you need?
Ask for the mother's full antenatal file. According to Boyes Turner, this includes midwifery notes, ultrasound reports, screening results, and blood pressure, urine, and glucose logs in its antenatal records guide. Keep notes about bleeding, high blood pressure, diabetes, infections, reduced movement, and growth concerns.
Those entries show whether providers identified risks and managed them in time. If care moved between clinics, request each location's file. Gaps often hide missed warnings.
Why are labour and delivery records central?
Request obstetric and midwifery notes, CTG or fetal-monitor traces, and induction records. This file often carries the most weight because it tracks distress signals and staff response minute by minute. Include forceps, ventouse, Caesarean, and anaesthesia records when they apply.
They show who decided what, when, and why. Ask for the complete trace, not a summary printout. A short strip can omit the key change.
What newborn records prove severity?
Ask for Apgar scores, resuscitation notes, blood-gas results, and NICU notes. According to Boyes Turner, imaging and notes on seizures, infection, or breathing difficulty also matter, as described in its neonatal records guide. These records help link delivery events to the child's condition.
They also document severity, treatment, and early prognosis. Keep follow-up neurology, therapy, hearing, vision, and developmental reports together. Later records show lasting effects.
How do you prove financial loss?
Save itemized medical bills, pharmacy receipts, and therapy receipts. According to JR Law Firm, families also need future-care estimates or life-care plans to document long-term costs.
Track parental lost wages with pay records and employer letters. Where disability is permanent, keep evidence on the child's reduced earning capacity.
- Medical bills and receipts for hospital, therapy, drugs, and equipment
- Written future-care estimate or life-care plan
- Proof of parental time off and lost pay
- School, therapy, and work assessments showing limits
Which forms and deadlines control filing?
Many states require an expert affidavit or certificate of merit. According to the Expert Institute, about 29 states require expert review confirming breach and causation in its certificate-of-merit review. Michigan law shows the detail required: standard of care, breach, needed action, and proximate cause.
Expertise.com reports that most states allow about two to three years to sue, with special tolled deadlines for minors. Request complete records early with a signed HIPAA authorization and photo ID. For a federal-facility birth, file DOJ Standard Form 95 with a specific sum-certain damages amount.