Hundreds of Millions of Dollars Have Been Recovered for Injured Babies and Children
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Your life, once measured by trimesters and due dates, is now defined by a whirlwind of specialist appointments and therapy schedules across the East Bay. The happy future you envisioned for your child has been suddenly and unfairly replaced by a present filled with medical uncertainty. Learning that your child suffered a preventable injury during their birth at an Oakland hospital is a devastating blow that leaves families feeling lost and alone.
The Child Injury Firmwas founded on a single, unwavering belief: that a child’s future should never be limited by a preventable mistake in a delivery room. This conviction drives our work every day as we seek accountability for families in Alameda County. We understand the profound sense of injustice you feel, and we are here to provide not just legal representation but a clear path to action and a powerful voice for your child.
This advocacy is critically needed, even here in the Bay Area. The unfortunate truth, confirmed by extensive research showing medical negligence is a major cause of harm in the U.S., is that no hospital is perfect. Our goal is to provide you with the essential knowledge you need to navigate this reality, helping you ask the right questions and make informed decisions for your family.
To determine the cause of your child’s condition, our investigation looks for answers in two very different sets of documents. Evidence of a birth defect typically tells a story that unfolds over months and is found in prenatal records and genetic screenings. Evidence of a birth injury, however, is located in the records of a few critical hours—the labor and delivery itself. These records act as a second-by-second account of the medical team’s actions, and our experts know how to read them to find signs of negligence. We can pinpoint the exact minute a baby’s heart rate became non-reassuring and measure the delay in the team’s response. Our expertise lies in knowing exactly where to look for this evidence and how to interpret it.
Many of the most heartbreaking birth injuries are not unavoidable accidents, but preventable tragedies that occur when medical professionals in an Oakland hospital fail to provide the required standard of care. Our firm has seen the devastating consequences of these failures and has successfully handled cases involving a wide range of negligent acts, similar to:
A preventable birth injury forces a family to adapt to a new and challenging reality. The future becomes a landscape of medical needs, therapeutic goals, and accessibility challenges. The purpose of a birth injury claim is to provide your family with the tools and financial resources necessary to navigate this new reality and ensure your child has every opportunity to thrive.Â
Building a successful medical malpractice case is like following a precise legal recipe. For a just outcome, every ingredient must be present and proven, and the entire process must adhere to the court’s strict rules. If any part is missing or the rules are ignored, the entire case can fail.
The Key Ingredient: A Preventable Mistake (Negligence) The foundation of the recipe is proving that a healthcare provider in the Bay Area made a mistake that a competent peer would not have. This is known as a “breach of the standard of care.” It’s the moment a doctor failed to act on fetal distress, a nurse administered the wrong medication, or a hospital’s system failed. We must show their actions did not meet the minimum professional standard required of them.
The Binding Ingredient: A Direct Link to Harm (Causation) Next, we must prove that this specific mistake was the direct cause of your child’s injury. This ingredient binds the case together, creating an undeniable, medically supported link between the error and the outcome. This is often the most challenging part of the recipe and is proven with powerful, clear testimony from world-class medical experts.
Finally, even with the perfect ingredients, the entire recipe is governed by two of California’s most important legal rules:
The Kitchen Timer: The Statute of Limitations. The most critical rule is the strict filing deadline. The law sets a non-negotiable timer on your right to bring a case. If this timer runs out (often before a child’s eighth birthday), the opportunity to seek justice is lost forever, regardless of how strong the evidence is.
The Rules for Fair Compensation: MICRA Reform. The second rule governs the final outcome. Thanks to a landmark 2023 law (Assembly Bill 35), the rules for compensating families for their immense pain and suffering have been dramatically improved, significantly raising an old, unjust cap on damages. Understanding these new rules is crucial to ensuring the final result is fair and just.
The East Bay is served by several excellent medical centers that handle a high volume of births each year. Some of the major centers for childbirth in and around Oakland include:
Receiving a diagnosis for your child is overwhelming. Finding the best resources near me was a common search for many families we have helped. Here are some trusted, non-legal organizations that can provide invaluable information and support in the Oakland area:
Connecting with these groups can provide comfort, practical assistance, and a sense of community, reminding you that you are not on this journey alone.
A birth injury case is not like a car accident claim. It is one of the most complex areas of law. The hospital and its insurance company will have a team of powerful lawyers whose only job is to deny responsibility and minimize what they have to pay.
To level the playing field in an Alameda County courtroom, your team must have:
This is more than just a case for us. It’s a cause. It’s about securing the resources your child will need for a lifetime of care and holding negligent parties accountable.Â
Key Takeaways
This is a serious concern that requires a sophisticated legal approach. Our experienced attorneys know exactly what a complete medical record should look like. We use legal discovery to access the hospital’s electronic health records (EHRs), including the “audit trail,” which shows every entry, deletion, and alteration made to the file. Evidence of tampering, known as spoliation of evidence, is taken very seriously by the courts and can become a powerful tool in proving a case.
This is a very common scenario in the Bay Area. Liability in a birth injury case is often shared among multiple parties. Our investigation will analyze the entire chain of command. This includes the on-call doctor who performed the delivery, the nursing staff who were monitoring you, and potentially the medical group or hospital itself for its policies, training, and staffing decisions under a legal principle known as vicarious liability. Our goal is to identify and hold all responsible parties accountable.
This is a complex but common situation. In a legal sense, a negligent party is responsible for the harm they cause, which includes making a pre-existing condition significantly worse (an “exacerbation” of an injury). Our task, with the help of top medical experts, is to clearly differentiate between the child’s baseline condition and the additional harm caused by the medical team’s negligence. You can still have a strong case focused on the new or worsened injuries that were preventable.
We understand and deeply respect your family’s privacy. While court filings are technically public records, we take active measures to protect your confidentiality. We use legal tools like protective orders to keep sensitive medical information private. Furthermore, the vast majority of birth injury cases—well over 90%—are resolved through confidential settlement agreements before ever reaching a public trial, ensuring your family’s story remains private.
Yes. For many families, a lawsuit is about more than just money; it’s about getting answers and accountability. The legal discovery process often forces the hospital and doctors to explain, under oath, exactly what happened and why. Furthermore, a successful case can be a powerful catalyst for change, forcing a hospital to re-evaluate and improve its dangerous policies or procedures, which can help prevent another family in the Bay Area from suffering the same tragedy.
Catastrophic child and birth injuries can shatter the lives of not just the babies and children, but also their families. Families are left to navigate a complex maze of medical challenges, financial burdens, and emotional turmoil. But, this is where Jeffrey Killino and his team of dedicated lawyers can provide the support and guidance families need most.
For over 2 decades, Jeffrey Killino and his team have secured life-changing results for babies and children facing catastrophic injuries. Our clients gain access to the best medical care, financial security, and peace of mind, knowing their futures are protected.
Jeffrey Killino and his team of child and birth injury lawyers are committed to go beyond securing multi-million dollar settlements and verdicts. We measure our success by our positive impact on our clients’ lives. We’re dedicated to supporting them throughout their journey, even after their case is resolved.
Jeffrey Killino and his team of child and birth injury lawyers are committed to more than just securing multi-million dollar settlements and verdicts. We measure our success by our positive impact on our clients’ lives, helping them access the best medical care, achieve financial security, and find peace of mind. We also actively work to prevent injuries and promote safety for everyone.
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