Hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy, or HIE, is a brain injury caused by a loss of oxygen and blood flow around the time of birth, and it is often preventable.Â
When doctors miss the warning signs of fetal distress, wait too long to order a cesarean, or mishandle complications during delivery, a baby can suffer permanent brain damage that careful care would have avoided. If that happened to your child in the Washington, DC area, you have the right to find out why and to hold the responsible providers accountable.Â
At Regan Zambri Long, your case is handled by our medical malpractice team, which includes Partner Jacqueline Colclough, who cared for mothers in labor and critically ill newborns as an obstetrical and neonatal nurse before becoming a trial lawyer. That firsthand clinical experience means we know what should have happened in the delivery room, and we use it to uncover exactly what went wrong. Our DC birth injury attorneys work on a contingency basis, so there are no fees unless we recover compensation for your family. Call now to speak with an experienced attorney.
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Not every case of HIE is the result of a mistake. Some happen despite appropriate care. But many are preventable, and the difference comes down to whether the medical team recognized the danger and acted in time.
HIE occurs when a baby’s brain is deprived of oxygen and blood flow around the time of birth. Brain cells begin to suffer damage within minutes of losing their oxygen supply, and when the interruption lasts too long, that damage can become permanent. Several pregnancy and delivery complications can cut off that supply, including:
The standard of care requires labor and delivery teams to monitor for these risks and respond quickly when they appear. When a full-term baby shows signs of oxygen deprivation, brain-cooling treatment (therapeutic hypothermia) can sometimes limit the damage, but only if it begins within about six hours of birth.Â
That narrow window is why recognizing the problem and acting fast matters so much. When a team fails to monitor properly, waits too long to act, or misses the window for treatment, an injury that careful care would have prevented becomes a permanent one.
Some of the most common breakdowns that lead to a preventable HIE injury include:
The central question is almost always the same: could the oxygen deprivation have been caught and prevented with proper monitoring and earlier action? Our medical malpractice lawyers will read the medical records, pinpoint where the care fell short, and work with medical experts to prove it.
Doctors are not the only parties who may be held liable for your baby’s HIE injury. Other possible at-fault parties include:
Pursuing an HIE claim in Washington, DC, means working within specific legal rules, and a few of them work strongly in your family’s favor.
Unlike neighboring Maryland and Virginia, the District of Columbia does not place a statutory cap on the damages a jury can award in a medical malpractice case, including non-economic damages such as pain and suffering. That matters enormously in HIE cases, where the lifelong impact on a child is profound and an artificial limit would fall far short of what a family actually needs. In DC, a jury can award compensation that reflects the true scope of the harm.
Medical malpractice claims are subject to firm filing deadlines, and the clock can begin sooner than families expect. Special rules can apply when the injured patient is a child, but you should never assume there is unlimited time. The sooner you speak with a lawyer, the more time we have to obtain records, consult medical experts, and preserve the evidence your case depends on.
To succeed, an HIE claim must show that a provider’s care fell below the accepted medical standard and that this failure caused your child’s injury. That requires the medical records, qualified expert review, and often testimony from specialists in obstetrics and neonatology. This is where our firm’s clinical background is an advantage: we know what the records should show and how to identify the moment the care went wrong.
An HIE injury does not end with the hospital stay. It can shape every year of a child’s life, and a fair recovery has to account for that entire future, not just the bills that have already arrived. Depending on the severity of the injury, an HIE claim can seek compensation for several kinds of harm.
Children with HIE often need coordinated medical care for the rest of their lives, from pediatric neurologists managing seizure disorders to physical, speech, and occupational therapists building function and independence. Conditions linked to HIE, such as cerebral palsy, seizure disorders, intellectual disabilities, and developmental delays, can each require years of treatment, medication, and equipment. A claim should account for the full cost of that care over a lifetime, not just what has been spent so far.
A child with significant disabilities may need mobility equipment, assistive and communication technology, in-home nursing or attendant care, and modifications to the family home. These ongoing costs are often the largest part of an HIE claim, because they continue for decades.
Many children with HIE need support beyond what public schools provide: specialized programs, one-on-one aides, private therapy, tutoring, and assistive technology for learning. Those services frequently mean substantial out-of-pocket costs, and they belong in the damages your claim seeks.
A child injured at birth may grow up with a reduced ability to earn a living compared to the life they would otherwise have had. Economic and medical experts can work together to project how a specific disability is likely to affect future earnings, so that the loss is fairly valued.
Beyond the measurable costs, the law recognizes the physical pain, the loss of life’s normal experiences, and the profound toll an HIE injury takes on a child and family. Because DC places no cap on these non-economic damages, a jury can value them fully.
Choosing the right firm for an HIE case matters because these are among the most complex and medically demanding claims in all of personal injury law. They take a team that understands both the medicine and the courtroom.
Most firms have to hire an outside nurse to make sense of a delivery record. We have one on the team. Partner Jacqueline Colclough spent years as an obstetrical and neonatal nurse, caring for mothers in labor and critically ill newborns, before she became a trial lawyer. She knows the monitoring protocols, the warning signs, and the split-second decisions that separate appropriate care from negligence, and that perspective lets us find a preventable error in the records that others might miss.
Regan Zambri Long has recovered substantial results for clients harmed by preventable medical errors, including a $15 million recovery for a patient catastrophically injured by a hospital’s failure to follow basic protocol, a $5.3 million recovery for a patient left with permanent brain injury after a delayed diagnosis, and a $3.65 million recovery for a family whose 10-year-old son’s brain tumor went undiagnosed. Past results never guarantee a particular outcome, but they reflect our willingness to take hospitals to trial and win.
The firm’s named partners are board-certified in civil trial advocacy by the National Board of Trial Advocacy, a credential held by only a small fraction of attorneys that requires documented trial experience and a rigorous examination. Partners Patrick Regan and Victor Long have been inducted into the Lawdragon Hall of Fame. For your family, that means seasoned trial lawyers who are ready to go to court when a hospital will not offer a fair settlement.
We represent families across DC, Maryland, and Virginia, and we know the hospitals and standards of care in this region. We work with leading experts in obstetrics and neonatology who can testify about what should have happened in your child’s delivery. Because we handle these cases on contingency, you pay nothing unless we recover compensation for your family.
Yes, if the HIE was caused by a medical provider’s negligence. Not every case leads to a lawsuit, but when a preventable error during pregnancy, labor, or delivery caused your child’s brain injury, you may have a medical malpractice claim. A free case review is the way to find out.
No. Some cases of HIE happen despite appropriate care. But many are preventable and trace back to missed warning signs, delayed intervention, or errors during delivery. The only way to know which applies to your child is to have the medical records reviewed.
There is no set figure. The value depends on the severity of the injury, the lifetime cost of medical care and therapy, lost earning capacity, and the pain the injury causes. Because Washington, DC does not cap damages in medical malpractice cases, a claim can reflect the full, lifelong impact on your child.
It depends on severity. Children with mild HIE may recover with few or no lasting effects, while more serious cases can lead to lifelong conditions such as cerebral palsy, seizure disorders, or developmental delays. Many children fall somewhere in between.
Usually, showing that a provider’s mistake, rather than an unavoidable complication, caused the injury. That takes detailed records and qualified medical experts, which is where our obstetrical and neonatal nursing background gives us an edge.
Medical malpractice claims have strict filing deadlines, and special rules can apply when the patient is a child. Do not assume you have unlimited time. Contact a lawyer as soon as possible so your deadlines are protected and the evidence is preserved.
If you believe your child’s HIE may have been caused by a medical mistake, the most important thing you can do right now is get answers. Regan Zambri Long offers free, no-obligation case reviews for families across Washington, DC, Maryland, and Virginia. We will listen to what happened, explain your options in plain terms, and tell you honestly whether we believe medical negligence may have played a role.
The right compensation can be the difference between struggling to afford care and giving your child every opportunity to reach their full potential. There is no fee unless we win, so it costs nothing to find out where you stand. Call today or complete our online form, and a member of our team will reach out.
Have you or your loved one sustained injuries in Washington DC, Maryland or Virginia? Regan Zambri Long PLLC has the best lawyers in the country to analyze your case and answer the questions you may have.