Pediatric Malpractice Attorney

At Roth & Khalife, LLP, we understand that there are few things more devastating than learning your child has suffered harm due to medical negligence. Children represent our most vulnerable population, and when healthcare providers fail to uphold the standard of care, the consequences can be life-altering. Our dedicated pediatric malpractice attorneys have the medical knowledge, legal experience, and compassionate approach needed to advocate effectively for your child’s rights and future. Contact us today for a free, confidential consultation to discuss your child’s case and learn how we can help secure the compensation needed for their care and future well-being.

What is Pediatric Medical Malpractice?

Pediatric medical malpractice occurs when a healthcare provider—whether a pediatrician, nurse, specialist, surgeon, or other medical professional—delivers care that falls below the accepted standard, resulting in injury to a child patient. These cases are particularly complex because children’s bodies are still developing, making both the medical standards and the assessment of long-term impacts more challenging to determine.

Our pediatric malpractice lawyers work closely with medical experts to establish when standards of care have been breached and to connect these breaches directly to your child’s injuries. We understand the unique aspects of pediatric medicine that differentiate these cases from adult medical malpractice claims.

How a Pediatric Medical Malpractice Lawyer Can Maximize Your Child’s Compensation

At Roth & Khalife, LLP, our pediatric malpractice attorneys combine medical knowledge, legal strategy, and child development expertise to secure the full compensation your injured child deserves for both immediate needs and lifelong care.

Comprehensive case investigation: Our pediatric malpractice lawyers conduct exhaustive reviews of medical records, interview witnesses, and consult with multiple medical specialists to identify every instance of negligence that contributed to your child’s injuries.
Early preservation of evidence: Our medical malpractice lawyers take immediate steps to secure critical evidence before it can be altered or destroyed, including sending preservation letters to healthcare facilities, obtaining original medical imaging, and documenting your child’s condition through professional medical assessments.
Pediatric medical expert collaboration: Our team works with renowned pediatric specialists who can authoritatively establish how the healthcare provider’s actions deviated from accepted standards and directly caused your child’s injuries.
Developmental impact assessment: Our pediatric malpractice attorneys employ child development specialists and neuropsychologists to document how the medical negligence has altered your child’s developmental trajectory, providing powerful evidence of long-term effects that might otherwise go unrecognized.
Life care planning: Our pediatric malpractice attorneys work with certified life care planners to create comprehensive projections of all future care needs, from medical treatments and therapies to educational supports and assisted living arrangements throughout your child’s lifetime.
Economic loss calculation: Our pediatric malpractice attorneys collaborate with forensic economists to accurately calculate the financial impact of your child’s reduced earning capacity, factoring in their pre-injury potential and the specific limitations caused by the medical negligence.
Multiple insurance policy identification: Our team investigates all potentially applicable insurance policies, including those of individual providers, medical groups, hospitals, and facility owners to maximize available compensation sources.
Strategic use of medical literature: Our pediatric malpractice lawyers leverage current medical research and established treatment guidelines to strengthen causation arguments and counter defense expert testimonies about standards of care.
Compelling case presentation: Our pediatric malpractice attorneys develop clear, accessible ways to explain complex medical concepts to judges and juries, using visual aids, timelines, and multimedia presentations that powerfully illustrate how the negligence occurred and its devastating impact on your child.
Effective negotiation strategy: Our attorneys conduct negotiations from a position of strength, demonstrating thorough preparation for trial while highlighting the emotional impact a child victim would have on jurors should the defense refuse a fair settlement.
Structured settlement planning: Our pediatric malpractice attorneys consult with financial specialists to arrange settlement payments that provide for your child’s immediate needs while protecting their long-term financial security through structured settlements, special needs trusts, and other financial instruments.
Lien resolution expertise: Our pediatric malpractice attorneys negotiate with health insurers, Medicaid, and healthcare providers to reduce or eliminate liens against your settlement, ensuring more compensation remains available for your child’s future care.

Financial Compensation Possible in Pediatric Medical Malpractice Cases

At Roth & Khalife, LLP, our pediatric malpractice attorneys work tirelessly to secure comprehensive compensation that addresses both the immediate and long-term impacts of medical negligence on your child and family.

Current medical expenses: Recovery for all costs related to diagnosing and treating injuries caused by medical negligence, including hospital stays, surgeries, medication, specialized testing, and consultations with medical professionals.
Future medical care: Compensation for the ongoing and anticipated medical treatments your child will need throughout their lifetime, which our pediatric malpractice lawyers calculate using life care plans developed by medical and economic experts.
Rehabilitative therapy costs: Funding for physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, cognitive rehabilitation, and other therapeutic interventions necessary for your child to reach their maximum potential.
Assistive technology and adaptive equipment: Reimbursement for specialized medical devices, mobility aids, communication devices, and other adaptive equipment that helps your child function with their injury-related limitations.
Home modifications: Coverage for necessary structural changes to your home to accommodate your child’s new needs, such as wheelchair ramps, stair lifts, widened doorways, accessible bathrooms, or specialized bedroom equipment.
Educational interventions: Compensation for special education services, tutoring, educational therapy, and specialized schooling that may be required due to cognitive or developmental impacts of the medical negligence.
In-home care: Financial support for professional caregivers, nursing services, or compensation for a parent who must reduce work hours or leave employment to care for their injured child.
Pain and suffering: Monetary acknowledgment of the physical pain, discomfort, and reduced quality of life your child has experienced and may continue to face due to the medical provider’s negligence.
Emotional distress: Damages for psychological trauma, anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress, or other emotional suffering experienced by your child as a result of the medical malpractice.
Loss of enjoyment of life: Compensation for activities, experiences, and opportunities your child can no longer participate in or will have limited access to because of their injuries.
Loss of future earning capacity: Financial recovery for the reduced ability to earn income throughout your child’s lifetime due to permanent impairments or developmental delays caused by medical negligence.
Parental damages: In some cases, parents may recover for their own emotional suffering, lost wages while caring for their injured child, and loss of their child’s services and companionship.

Types of Pediatric Malpractice Cases We Handle

At Roth & Khalife, LLP, our pediatric malpractice attorneys have successfully represented families whose children have suffered harm across the full spectrum of medical negligence scenarios.

Birth injuries: Our pediatric malpractice lawyers handle cases involving oxygen deprivation (hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy), improper use of delivery tools, delayed C-sections, and mismanagement of maternal conditions that result in conditions like cerebral palsy, Erb’s palsy, brachial plexus injuries, and skull fractures.
Medication errors: Our pediatric malpractice attorneys represent children harmed by incorrect dosing calculations, administration of contraindicated medications, pharmacy dispensing errors, and failure to monitor for adverse reactions, which can be particularly dangerous for pediatric patients whose developing bodies process medications differently than adults.
Diagnosis failures: Our pediatric malpractice attorneys pursue cases where healthcare providers missed or delayed diagnosing serious conditions like meningitis, appendicitis, cancer, congenital heart defects, or rare genetic disorders despite clear symptoms that should have prompted further investigation.
Emergency room negligence: We advocate for children who received substandard emergency care, including triage errors, delayed treatment of time-sensitive conditions, failure to order appropriate tests, or premature discharge without proper evaluation of concerning symptoms.
Surgical errors: Our team handles cases involving wrong-site surgery, anesthesia complications specific to pediatric patients, inadvertently retained surgical instruments, inappropriate surgical techniques for children’s anatomy, and inadequate post-operative monitoring.
Vaccine injuries: While vaccines are generally safe, our pediatric malpractice lawyers represent children who have suffered rare but serious adverse reactions due to improper administration, contaminated vaccines, or failure to screen for contraindications in the child’s medical history.
Neonatal intensive care negligence: Our pediatric malpractice attorneys pursue cases involving inadequate monitoring in the NICU, failure to respond appropriately to changes in a newborn’s condition, improper ventilator management, and hospital-acquired infections resulting from breaches in infection control protocols.
Pediatric cancer mismanagement: Our pediatric malpractice attorneys represent families whose children experienced delayed cancer diagnosis, improper staging, medication dosing errors in chemotherapy, radiation errors, or failure to manage treatment side effects appropriately.
Anesthesia complications: We handle cases where pediatric patients suffered harm due to improper anesthesia administration, inadequate monitoring during procedures, failure to account for children’s unique physiological responses to anesthetics, or errors in post-anesthesia care.
Medication overdoses in hospitals: Our team pursues cases involving decimal point errors in medication orders, confusion between adult and pediatric formulations, IV pump programming errors, and other medication administration mistakes that occur in hospital settings.
Failure to monitor vital signs: We represent children harmed when healthcare providers failed to recognize dangerous vital sign changes, improperly set monitoring alarm parameters, or neglected to respond promptly to deteriorating conditions that led to preventable harm.
Psychiatric medication mismanagement: Our pediatric malpractice lawyers handle cases involving inappropriate prescription of psychotropic medications to children, inadequate monitoring for serious side effects, failure to try less invasive treatments first, or prescribing doses inappropriate for pediatric patients.

Why Pediatric Malpractice Cases Require Experienced Legal Representation

At Roth & Khalife, LLP, our pediatric malpractice attorneys understand that cases involving children present unique challenges that demand specific legal knowledge, medical understanding, and strategic approaches not required in adult medical negligence cases.

Developmental considerations: Our pediatric malpractice lawyers must account for how medical negligence affects a still-developing child, requiring knowledge of normal developmental milestones and the ability to project how today’s injury will manifest differently as the child grows into adolescence and adulthood.
Longer damage timeframe: When representing injured children, we must calculate damages across a potential 70+ year lifespan, requiring sophisticated economic modeling and medical projections that accurately account for inflation, changing healthcare costs, and the child’s evolving needs over decades.
Unique standards of care: Pediatric medicine follows distinct protocols, dosing guidelines, and treatment approaches that differ significantly from adult care, requiring our attorneys to work with pediatric-specific medical experts who understand these specialized standards.
Communication challenges: Young children often cannot articulate their symptoms, medical experiences, or ongoing suffering, requiring our pediatric malpractice attorneys to develop alternative methods of establishing pain, suffering, and the impact of injuries.
Statute of limitations complexities: While New York law provides minors additional time to file medical malpractice claims, these rules have exceptions and limitations that require attorneys with specific knowledge of how these deadlines apply to pediatric cases.
Court approval requirements: Settlements involving minors require court approval and often specialized financial arrangements, demanding attorneys experienced in navigating these additional legal requirements and creating appropriate trusts or structured settlements.
Specialized damages calculation: Our pediatric malpractice lawyers must consider unique pediatric damages including developmental therapy, special education needs, parent caregiving time, adaptive equipment that must be regularly replaced as the child grows, and lost future earning capacity for a career that has not yet begun.
Complex causation issues: Children’s resilient bodies and developmental plasticity can complicate causation arguments, requiring attorneys who understand how to counter defense claims that poor outcomes result from congenital issues rather than medical negligence.
Heightened emotional factors: Cases involving seriously injured children naturally evoke strong emotional responses, requiring our pediatric malpractice attorneys to balance compassionate client management with strategic case handling and thoughtful jury presentation.
Multidisciplinary expertise requirements: Effective representation demands collaboration with pediatric neurologists, developmental pediatricians, child psychologists, education specialists, and pediatric life care planners – relationships that experienced pediatric malpractice lawyers have established.
Insurance coverage challenges: Many pediatric injuries will require lifelong care that exceeds typical insurance policy limits, requiring attorneys skilled at identifying all potential defendants and insurance sources to maximize available compensation.
Governmental program interaction: Settlements must be structured with careful consideration of how they affect a child’s eligibility for Medicaid, Supplemental Security Income, educational benefits, and other governmental assistance programs critical to long-term care.

What To Do If Your Child Is the Victim of Pediatric Malpractice

At Roth & Khalife, LLP, our pediatric malpractice attorneys recommend taking the following critical steps if you suspect your child has been harmed by medical negligence, as these actions can protect both your child’s health and legal rights.

Prioritize your child’s medical needs: Seek immediate treatment from a different healthcare provider to address your child’s condition, stabilize their health, and obtain an independent assessment of their injuries and required care.
Document everything: Keep detailed records of all symptoms, medical visits, conversations with providers, medications, and your observations of your child’s condition, as this contemporaneous documentation will be invaluable to your pediatric malpractice lawyer.
Request complete medical records: Formally request all your child’s medical records, including doctor’s notes, test results, imaging studies, medication records, and electronic health records before they can be altered or become difficult to obtain.
Preserve evidence: Save all medications, medical devices, discharge instructions, and other physical items related to the suspected malpractice, as these materials may provide crucial evidence for your case.
Take photographs: Document visible injuries, medical equipment, hospital conditions, or other relevant visual evidence with dated photographs that can help establish the timeline and extent of harm.
Maintain a symptom journal: Create a detailed log of your child’s daily symptoms, pain levels, developmental impacts, emotional state, and how the injury affects their ability to participate in normal childhood activities.
Track all expenses: Keep receipts and records of all expenses related to your child’s injury, including medical bills, therapy costs, specialized equipment, travel to appointments, and any modifications to your home necessitated by their condition.
Avoid social media: Refrain from posting about your child’s condition, medical care, or potential legal action on social media platforms, as these posts can be discovered and potentially used against your case.
Respect time limitations: Be aware that while children have extended time limits for filing claims in New York, these extensions are not unlimited, and certain notifications may need to be filed much sooner, particularly if a government entity is involved.
Limit communications with insurers: Decline to provide recorded statements, sign releases, or accept settlement offers from any insurance company until you’ve consulted with a pediatric malpractice attorney who understands the full value of your child’s case.
Consult with specialists: Seek evaluations from pediatric specialists in relevant fields who can provide expert opinions on your child’s condition, prognosis, and whether the outcome resulted from substandard care.
Contact a pediatric malpractice lawyer: Schedule a consultation with our experienced pediatric malpractice attorneys who can evaluate your case, explain your legal options, and begin the investigation while evidence is fresh and witnesses’ memories are clear.

Protect Your Child’s Future. Contact Our Pediatric Malpractice Team Today.

When medical negligence harms your child, you need legal representation that understands both the medicine and the unique challenges of pediatric injury cases. At Roth & Khalife, LLP, our pediatric malpractice attorneys offer compassionate guidance, thorough case evaluation, and dedicated advocacy for families facing these difficult circumstances. Contact us today for a free, confidential consultation to discuss your child’s case and learn how we can help secure the compensation needed for their care and future well-being.

Pediatric Malpractice Attorney FAQs

How is the standard of care determined in pediatric malpractice cases?

The standard is based on what a reasonable, similarly trained healthcare provider would have done when treating a child patient under comparable circumstances. Our pediatric malpractice attorneys work with board-certified experts who establish this standard using current medical literature, pediatric practice guidelines, and protocols that recognize children’s unique physiological needs.

What makes pediatric medication errors particularly dangerous?

Children receive weight-based medication dosing with narrower margins of error than adults. Their developing organs process medications differently, and many pediatric medications must be specially compounded from adult formulations. Additionally, children often cannot communicate adverse reactions until they become severe. Our pediatric malpractice lawyers understand these unique risks when evaluating medication error cases.

How long will a pediatric malpractice case take to resolve?

Most pediatric malpractice cases take 2-4 years to resolve due to their complexity, the need to assess developmental impacts, involvement of multiple specialists, and the calculations for lifetime care needs. Our pediatric malpractice attorneys work efficiently while ensuring all future needs are properly evaluated and included.

Can we still pursue a claim if we signed a consent form before treatment?

Yes. Consent forms acknowledge known procedural risks but don’t waive your child’s right to receive care that meets medical standards. Our pediatric malpractice lawyers can determine whether providers properly explained all risks and delivered care consistent with professional standards. Consenting to treatment never means consenting to negligence.

What if we’re not sure whether medical negligence caused our child’s injury?

This uncertainty is common. Our pediatric malpractice attorneys offer free consultations to help determine if negligence played a role in your child’s condition. We conduct preliminary record reviews and consult with medical experts to assess whether substandard care, rather than an unavoidable complication, likely caused your child’s injury.

How are settlements for injured children structured and protected?

Settlements for children require court approval and special protective arrangements. Depending on the amount and the child’s needs, our pediatric malpractice lawyers may recommend court-supervised accounts, structured settlements with scheduled payments, special needs trusts, or combinations of these approaches to ensure the compensation serves your child’s long-term interests.

What if my child’s injury might not show its full impact for years to come?

Our pediatric malpractice attorneys work with developmental specialists to project future impacts and may recommend delaying settlement until certain developmental milestones are reached. When appropriate, we ensure compensation structures account for potential worsening conditions and include provisions for future complications or emerging developmental issues.

If the hospital has offered to cover additional treatment costs, should we still consult an attorney?

Yes. While such offers may seem helpful, they typically cover only immediate costs and overlook long-term care needs, developmental therapy, home modifications, lost earning capacity, and pain and suffering. Our pediatric malpractice lawyers can review any offer before you sign releases that may waive your child’s rights to full compensation.

How do you handle cases where a child has both pre-existing conditions and injuries from malpractice?

Our pediatric malpractice attorneys work with medical experts to distinguish between outcomes from the underlying condition and additional harm caused by negligence. We focus on establishing how proper treatment would have resulted in a better outcome despite pre-existing conditions, countering defense arguments that poor outcomes were inevitable.

What is the role of the parent in a pediatric malpractice case?

Parents serve as the child’s legal representatives, provide essential information about the child’s condition before and after the alleged malpractice, and coordinate between legal and medical professionals. Our pediatric malpractice lawyers view parents as essential partners in the litigation process while supporting families already caring for an injured child.