Pregnancy · sepsis
$9 Million
A settlement for delay in diagnosing sepsis during pregnancy resulting in amputations.
Settlement
Portland Birth Injury Lawyers
If something went wrong during your child’s birth, you deserve to know whether it could have been prevented. For over 30 years we’ve found those answers in the medical records.
Paulson Coletti Trial Attorneys’ birth injury practice is led by partners John Coletti and Jane Paulson, ranked #1 and #2 on the 2026 Oregon Super Lawyers Top 10 list.
- $400M+ recovered
- 50+ years combined experience
- Zero fees unless we win
- We can come to you
Recognized by
The short answer
Do I have a birth injury case?
You may have a case when a provider’s care fell below the accepted standard and that failure caused your child’s injury. Many birth injuries are preventable, and the delivery records usually show which ones were. Finding out costs nothing — we read the records with a specialist and tell you plainly what we see.
- Time limit2 yearsExceptions for children can extend this.Oregon’s deadline rules
- Cost to start$0Contingency fee. We advance case costs.How our fees work
- Who can fileParents or guardiansFiled for the child, with the recovery protected.How a child’s recovery is held
- First stepFree record reviewWe request the delivery records for you.See the whole process
Free case evaluation
Not sure where you stand?
Tell us what happened and we will tell you plainly where you stand.
Case results
Our birth injury case results
Birth injury · VBAC
$3.5 Million
A settlement for a family whose baby sustained a birth injury during a VBAC delivery.
Settlement
Brain injury · delayed c-section
$1.1 Million
A settlement for a family whose child was born with a brain injury after failing to timely do a c-section.
Settlement
Surgical error
$3.55 Million
A settlement for a patient harmed by a surgical error.
Settlement
Results depend on the specific facts of each case. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
One case in full
Portland Birth Injury: Cerebral Palsy
What the records showed, what we did, and where the family is now.
During labor, the fetal monitor showed signs that the baby was in distress. Her heart rate dropped, but the response was delayed. Nurses did not escalate concerns promptly, communication among staff broke down, and the obstetrician who could have intervened was not called in time. Those delays had lasting consequences.
The baby was born with permanent brain damage and later diagnosed with cerebral palsy, injuries directly linked to the failure to respond appropriately during labor.
Read what we found
When the family came to our firm, we conducted a comprehensive review of the medical records and the timeline of care. That review revealed repeated lapses in communication, inadequate supervision, and departures from accepted medical standards. What should have been a coordinated response to a medical emergency became a series of missed opportunities to prevent harm.
Our role was to hold the responsible providers accountable and to seek the resources this child will need for the rest of her life. We also pursued accountability because birth injuries often result from preventable failures—when warning signs are missed or action is delayed at critical moments.
Today, the family remains deeply committed to their child’s care. The recovery has helped secure access to therapy, medical support, and services that will improve her quality of life over time.
“What should have been a coordinated response to an emergency became a series of missed opportunities to prevent harm. That is what the record showed, and that is what we proved.”
Jane Paulson · PartnerRecognition
Recognition that’s earned, not bought.
Most legal awards are paid placements. These are not — each is decided by other lawyers, by judges, or by invitation only.
Best Lawyers “Lawyer of the Year”
Jane Paulson: “Lawyer of the Year” for Medical Malpractice in Portland (2020, 2024, 2026) and Personal Injury Litigation (2027) — a peer-voted honor given to one lawyer per category, per city, per year.
Best Law Firms — Tier 1
Ranked Tier 1 in Portland for Medical Malpractice Law – Plaintiffs, and for Personal Injury Litigation – Plaintiffs.
Inner Circle of Advocates
John Coletti is a member and Vice President of an invitation-only group of the 100 best trial lawyers in America.
American Board of Trial Advocates
Jane Paulson served as the Oregon chapter’s first woman President. She is also a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers — one of only five women in Oregon invited into the College.
Best Lawyers “Lawyer of the Year”
John Coletti: “Lawyer of the Year” for Product Liability Litigation in Portland (2026), and trial counsel on the #1 jury verdict in Oregon.
From your attorney
“Parents come to us carrying a sentence a doctor said once and never explained. What I can promise is that we will find out what happened during those hours, in the records, from people who deliver babies for a living. Sometimes the answer is that nothing could have been done, and I will tell you that. When the answer is that this was preventable, we are prepared to prove it to a jury.”
John Coletti
Partner · Inner Circle of Advocates
What happened to your child?
Common types of birth injury
Birth injuries range from a temporary nerve stretch to permanent brain damage. Open any one for what it is and what usually causes it.
Cerebral palsyA permanent movement disorder caused by injury to the developing brain.What this is
Often traced to oxygen deprivation or trauma during labor and delivery. Diagnosis frequently comes months or years later, which is why the delivery record matters more than the diagnosis date.Learn more about Cerebral palsy
Brain injury (HIE)Brain damage from a period without enough oxygen or blood flow.What this is
Cooling therapy in the first hours can limit the damage, so a delay in recognizing distress or starting treatment is often the central question in these cases.Learn more about Brain injury (HIE)
Erb’s palsyWeakness in one arm or shoulder after the nerves were stretched at birth.What this is
Usually follows shoulder dystocia. Many children recover with therapy. When excessive traction was used, or the risk was known and no cesarean offered, the injury may have been avoidable.Learn more about Erb’s palsy
Brachial plexusDamage to the nerve bundle controlling the arm and hand.What this is
These injuries range from a temporary stretch to a torn nerve root requiring surgery. Severity is established through examination and imaging over the first year.Learn more about Brachial plexus
FracturesBroken collarbones, arms or skull bones sustained during delivery.What this is
A clavicle fracture can happen in a well-managed birth and usually heals. Skull fractures and injuries associated with forceps or vacuum extraction warrant a closer look at how the instruments were used.Learn more about Fractures
Delayed C-sectionHarm caused when an emergency cesarean came too late.What this is
Once fetal distress appears, hospitals are expected to deliver within a set interval. Cases often turn on the gap between the first abnormal reading and the time of delivery.Learn more about Delayed C-section
InfectionsUntreated maternal or newborn infection that reached the baby.What this is
Group B strep, chorioamnionitis and sepsis are screened for and treatable. Harm usually follows a missed screening, a delay in antibiotics, or symptoms recorded but not acted on.
JaundiceSevere untreated jaundice that became kernicterus, a brain injury.What this is
Newborn jaundice is common and easily treated with light therapy. When bilirubin levels are not checked or treated in time, the result can be permanent hearing loss and developmental injury.
Causes
What causes birth injuries?
Risk factors do not excuse errors. They are exactly the circumstances in which careful monitoring matters most.
Preventable medical errors
- Failure to respond to fetal distress on the monitor
- Delayed cesarean section
- Misuse of forceps or vacuum extraction
- Medication errors
- Untreated infections or preeclampsia
Known risk factors that demand closer care
- Large birth weight
- Premature birth
- Breech position
- Prolonged labor
- Maternal health conditions
Terms you’ll hear
The words on your child’s chart, translated.
Parents shouldn’t need a medical degree to understand what happened.
HIE (hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy)
A brain injury caused when a baby’s brain doesn’t get enough oxygen or blood flow around birth — one of the most serious birth injuries, and often the center of these cases.
Apgar score
A quick 0–10 rating of how your baby was doing in the first minutes of life. A low score that stays low is a signal that something went wrong, not a verdict on your child’s future.
Fetal monitoring strips
The continuous printout of your baby’s heart rate during labor. It is the closest thing to a recording of what the staff could see, minute by minute — which is why we always ask for it.
Cord blood gases
A test of blood from the umbilical cord taken right after delivery. It helps show whether your baby was short of oxygen, and roughly for how long.
Therapeutic cooling
Deliberately lowering a newborn’s body temperature in the first hours after an oxygen injury to limit the damage. Because the window is so short, a delay in starting it can matter a great deal.
NICU
The neonatal intensive care unit — where newborns who need close monitoring or breathing, feeding and temperature support are cared for.
Meconium aspiration
When a baby breathes in a mix of amniotic fluid and their own first stool during delivery, which can block airways. It is a known risk that staff are trained to watch for and manage.
Shoulder dystocia
When a baby’s shoulder catches behind the mother’s pelvic bone during delivery. There are established maneuvers for it; injuries often follow when the response was rushed or too forceful.
Standard of care
What a competent provider would have done in the same situation. A claim is not about a bad outcome; it is about care that fell below this line.
Life care plan
A professional projection of everything your child will need over a lifetime — therapy, equipment, housing, medical care — and what it will cost. It is how a claim accounts for the decades ahead.
A short guide
How to get your child’s medical records
The records hold the answer to what happened. Getting them is simpler than most parents expect.
This guide is yours to use whether or not you ever call us.
Ask for the complete record
Request the full labor and delivery record, including the fetal monitoring strips — not just the discharge summary.
Know it is your right
You have a legal right to these records and the hospital must provide them.
Source: HHS, “Your Medical Records” (HIPAA, 45 CFR § 164.524).
You don’t owe them a reason
You do not have to explain why you want your records, and you should not feel pressed to.
Or skip all of this
We request the records and read them with a specialist, free, with no obligation to hire us.
Have us request them
The road ahead
What happens after you call
A birth injury case takes time, but almost none of it is yours. Here is the whole path, and what is asked of you at each step.
- Week one
Free record review
We listen to what happened and request the delivery and newborn records.
- You do
- Tell us the story once, and sign a records release.
- We do
- Request, organize and read every page with a specialist.
- Months 1–9
Investigation & experts
Obstetricians, neonatologists and nurses review the care against the standard.
- You do
- Nothing, beyond answering occasional questions.
- We do
- Retain experts and price the lifetime of care.
- On filing
Claim filed
We file in the right court and the hospital’s defense team enters the case.
- You do
- Approve the decision to file.
- We do
- Draft and file the complaint and handle all deadlines.
- Months 9–24
Negotiation
Depositions, mediation and offers, evaluated against what trial would bring.
- You do
- Sit for one deposition, with us beside you.
- We do
- Take the depositions, argue the motions, negotiate.
- Resolution
Trial or settlement
Most cases settle. We prepare every one as though a jury will decide it.
- You do
- Decide whether to accept. It is always your call.
- We do
- Try the case, and protect your child’s recovery after.
Oregon law
How birth injury cases work under Oregon law
Four things decide whether a claim can be brought and what it can recover. This is the orientation; your dates and facts decide the rest.
Was your child born in Washington? Visit our Vancouver birth injury pageFiling deadline
Two years
Measured from the injury, with exceptions for children that can extend the time. Claims involving public hospitals have much shorter notice deadlines.
Source: ORS 12.110
What we must prove
- Duty — accepted standards of care were owed.
- Breach — the care given fell below that standard.
- Causation — that failure caused the injury.
- Damages — the injury has real, provable cost.
Where Portland cases are heard
Multnomah County Circuit Court
Both partners have tried cases to verdict there. Where a case belongs in another county, we file it there instead.
What can be recovered
A lifetime of care
Oregon allows recovery for care across your child’s whole life, not only the bills already paid.
Talk directly to a trial lawyer — not a call center.
★★★★★
“She stood up for me in a way that not only produced excellent results, but also helped me to move on with my life.”
What compensation covers
What a birth injury claim is meant to pay for
A claim is built around what your child will need for the rest of their life, not what treatment has cost so far.
Lifetime medical care
Surgery, specialists, medication and hospitalization for as long as they are needed.
Therapy & equipment
Physical, occupational and speech therapy, wheelchairs, braces, communication devices.
Lost earning capacity
What your child could have earned, and the income a caregiving parent gives up.
Home modifications
Ramps, lifts, accessible bathrooms, an adapted vehicle.
Pain & suffering
The experience of the injury itself, and the life your child and family were denied.
“What is my case worth?” — an honest answer
Anyone who gives you a number in the first phone call is guessing. The value of a birth injury case comes from two things we cannot know yet: what the records prove about the care, and what your child’s life will require decade by decade. We build that second number with physicians, therapists and life-care planners, and we do not negotiate until we have it. What we can tell you early is whether the case is worth pursuing at all.
Fees
How our fees work
Money should never be the reason a family doesn’t get answers.
You pay nothing up front
We work on contingency. Our fee is a percentage of what we recover, agreed in writing before we start.
We advance all case costs
Medical experts, records, depositions and filing fees. In these cases that runs well into six figures, and it comes from us.
If we don’t win, you owe us nothing
No fee, and no bill for the costs we advanced. The risk sits with us, not with your family.
Common questions
Questions we hear
every week.
If your question is not here, call us. The consultation is free and you will speak with a lawyer.
Call (503) 226-6361How do I know if my child’s birth injury was caused by medical negligence?
You usually cannot know from what you were told at the time. The answer is in the fetal monitoring strips, the nursing notes, the timing of orders, and what the staff did between the first sign of trouble and the delivery. That is what a record review looks at, and it costs you nothing.
Jane Paulson, Partner
Is there a statute of limitations for birth injury cases in Portland?
In Oregon the general deadline is two years from the injury, and there are exceptions that can extend the time when the injured person is a child. Because the exceptions turn on your specific facts, call before you assume a deadline has passed.
My child was born at OHSU or another public hospital — does that change my deadline?
Yes, significantly. Claims against public hospitals and their employees fall under different rules, with notice deadlines that can be a matter of months rather than years. Missing that notice can end an otherwise strong case, so call promptly and we will check which rules apply to your delivery.
Are birth injuries and birth defects the same thing?
No. Birth defects arise from genetics or development before birth. Birth injuries happen during labor and delivery, and they are often preventable. The distinction matters because only one of them can be traced to how the delivery was handled.
Why can a delayed C-section lead to a birth injury?
When a baby is in distress, every minute without adequate oxygen matters. Hospitals are expected to be able to move to delivery quickly once the monitor shows a problem. When staffing, communication or an unavailable operating room stretches that interval, permanent brain injury can follow.
Why are medical experts important in a birth injury lawsuit?
A claim requires proof of what the accepted standard of care was and how the care given departed from it. That testimony comes from obstetricians, neonatologists and labor nurses. We retain and pay for those experts, and their review is also how we decide whether to take a case at all.
Do I really need an attorney for this?
The hospital had lawyers involved from the day the incident was reported. These cases turn on thousands of pages of records and on expert medical opinion no family can assemble alone, and the costs of building them run into six figures. That is the work a firm does.
John Coletti, Partner
What happens to the money — is it protected for our child?
Yes. A settlement for a minor is approved by the court, and the funds are held so they are available for your child’s care as needs arise — often through a structured settlement or a trust. We walk families through those options before anything is finalized.
How long can a child receive compensation for a birth injury?
A recovery can be built to cover a lifetime of care. That is why we work with life-care planners to project therapy, equipment, housing and medical needs decade by decade rather than settling on what has been spent so far.
Can I get my child’s medical records myself?
Yes. You have a legal right to the complete record, including the fetal monitoring strips, and you do not have to say why you want it. Our short guide above walks through how to ask. If you would rather not deal with it, we will request and review the records for you at no cost.
We live outside Portland. Can you still help?
Yes. We represent families throughout Oregon and travel to meet you — at home, or at the hospital if that is where you are.
Local proof
Birth injury cases in Portland
Portland deliveries happen inside a handful of large systems — OHSU, Legacy, Providence and Kaiser Permanente among them — and each has its own risk-management team and defense counsel. We have litigated against hospital systems and their insurers for decades, and we know how their records are kept, which means we know what to ask for and what its absence tends to mean.
Cases arising in Portland are generally heard in Multnomah County Circuit Court, where both partners have tried cases to verdict. Where a case belongs in another county, we file it there. We represent families throughout Oregon, and we travel to them rather than asking a parent with a medically fragile child to travel to us.
“Families here are usually still inside the hospital system that caused the harm, still relying on it for their child’s care. Part of our job is making sure that never becomes a reason to stay quiet.”
Jane Paulson · PartnerOffice
385 First Street, Ste 217Lake Oswego, OR 97034
Fifteen minutes from downtown Portland. If travel is difficult, we can come to you — at home, or at the hospital.
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“Jane Paulson is a champion for her clients! She stood up for me in a way that not only produced excellent results, but also helped me to move on with my life. Her honest and forthright demeanor made it easy to trust her expertise and guidance.”Read all testimonials
Go deeper
More on the cases we handle
- Cerebral Palsy Birth Injury LawsuitsWhat has to be shown to link a cerebral palsy diagnosis to the care given during labor.Read more
- HIE & Oxygen Deprivation CasesHow timing — of recognition, delivery and cooling — decides these claims.Read more
- Erb’s Palsy & Brachial Plexus InjuriesWhen a nerve injury at delivery was avoidable, and what recovery looks like.Read more
- Delayed Diagnosis of Fetal DistressThe interval between fetal distress and delivery, and why hospitals are held to it.Read more
- Medical Malpractice in PortlandOur full medical negligence practice, of which birth injury is one part.Read more
- ArticleSigns of Fetal Distress During Pregnancy and LaborKnow the signs of fetal distress that can signal oxygen loss during pregnancy or labor, and when delayed care may cause harm.Read the article
This page has been written, edited, and fact-checked by our team of legal writers in accordance with our editorial guidelines. It has been approved by partners Jane Paulson and John Coletti — respected trial attorneys with decades of experience representing personal injury victims.