Birth Injuries Strike the Most Innocent of Victims
Expectant mothers and their babies rely on medical professionals to give them the care they need. Birth injuries can happen when those doctors, nurses, midwives, and hospitals fail.
Before a baby is born, it’s crucial for doctors to identify and treat any conditions that arise like:
Fetal hypoglycemia that requires close attention to the baby’s blood glucose levels
Brachial Plexus (nerve damage to harms and hands) that requires physical therapy
Was your child injured at birth? If so, our San Antonio Birth Injury Lawyers can discuss your situation during a free consultation. Just call (888) 987-0005 to set up your free consultation.
In the first 28 days following birth, a high rate of the injuries newborns suffer during pregnancy, labor, or delivery result in death. In 2021, 1,977 infants died before reaching their first birthday. The majority of these infants died from medical conditions caused by insufficient medical treatment.
Medical errors are among the leading causes of accidental deaths in the United States. According to the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project, almost 157,000 birth injuries could have been prevented in a single year. OB claims data shows that 40% of OB claims involve labor management errors.
There are several medical mistakes that can occur before, during, and after delivery. Among the most common errors are failing to monitor a mother and fetus while administering labor-inducing medications, failing to recognize and respond to a non-reassuring fetal heart rate (NRFHRS), or failing to diagnose and respond promptly to obstetric emergencies. 41% of obstetric claims result in neurological/brain injuries, while 34% result in death or stillbirth.
Vacuum-assisted deliveries carry significant risks for both the mother and her newborn compared to vaginal deliveries without the use of assistive delivery tools. Women between the ages of 25 and 34 are the most likely group to suffer injuries during delivery from the use of assistive delivery tools, such as forceps and vacuum extractors. When delivering without assistive delivery tools, women between 15-17 are most likely to sustain birth injuries during childbirth.
Birth Injuries Take a Toll on Children and Their Families
Depending on how badly your child was injured, you might be facing years of medical treatment and therapy. Many children with birth injuries need the following kinds of care:
Surgeries and medical treatment
Medication
Assistive devices and equipment
Trained caregivers, and
Special education and training
Dealing with a birth injury is emotionally and financially exhausting.
Miller Weisbrod Olesky is different from most law firms in San Antonio
We provide help NOW.
Many attorneys focus only on pursuing their client’s legal case. At Miller Weisbrod Olesky, we know your child needs help today – not just when your birth injury lawsuit is settled. We have a team focused on helping our clients NOW when they need it most.
We know that children with birth injuries like hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) and cerebral palsy often require intense therapy, specialized medical treatment, and assistive care. The stress of providing for a birth injured child’s needs can be both emotionally and financially draining.
But just ‘knowing’ this is not enough. We act on this knowledge by providing exceptional services to birth-injured children and their families.
Recent Birth Injury Settlement:
Birth Injury settlement against a hospital in which nurses and physicians failed to properly monitor the mother's blood pressure during delivery causing an HIE event resulting in neonatal seizures and cerebral palsy at birth. Our national birth injury lawyers recovered $13,750,000 for the family to help with future medical expenses and developmental therapy.
With the recovery that Miller Weisbrod made for our son, I feel like our voice was heard in a sense of what can possibly go wrong in a delivery and finding us answers. I feel with our settlement, we are now in a comfortable position to provide for our son. Things are different because he's able to be in his own space. He's developing well. He is starting to speak a little bit more and live a bit more independently. He is also in school full-time and he gets help from his nurse aid that helps him with all his appointments, all his therapy. Pretty much, I feel like it kind of helped us in a good way. I feel like they care about your personal needs and how to make you comfortable in any situation.
Lyric, C.
Mother of Miller Weisbrod Olesky Client
While Miller Weisbrod Olesky’s birth injury attorneys aggressively prepare each legal case, another department goes into action to help the families of children we represent. Led by a nurse-attorney, this department acts as a medical case manager for our birth injury clients by:
Regularly monitoring the child’s medical treatment status,
Helping facilitate medical treatment and therapy, and
Arranging transportation and services.
Where necessary, we also help families locate local medical providers specializing in the care and treatment of children who have suffered a birth injury. With Miller Weisbrod Olesky's San Antonio Birth Injury Lawyers, you’re not just a ‘case’. And that’s important when you’re looking for a lawyer who can help you cope with your child’s needs today.
Registered Nurses and Nurse-Attorneys Are a Vital Part of Our Birth Injury Team … and Yours
Most national birth injury law firms will employ one or two nurses to assist the review of cases and medical research. But Miller Weisbrod Olesky offers an unmatched number of nurses and nurse-attorney employees support to both the birth injury attorneys and our clients.
Our team of registered nursing staff and nurse-attorneys bring a deep level of medical and personal insight to every client’s case. Working closely with the rest of the team, they investigate the reasons behind a birth injury and how medical professionals breached their standard of care.
But they do much more.
For our clients, our nurses and nurse-attorneys provide valuable support with medical questions and finding healthcare providers.
Meet our Legal Nursing Team
Linda Chalk
As a registered nurse, Linda practiced ICU nursing for 44 years while caring for a wide range of patient conditions. She has worked closely with founding partner Les Weisbrod for over 30 years, investigating and pursuing birth injury cases.
Along with DJ Weisbrod, Linda heads up the firm’s birth injury intake, screening, and medical literature research team. She personally screens all potential cases to ensure that medical issues have been addressed before we file lawsuits on behalf of birth-injured children and their families.
DJ Weisbrod
Before joining Miller Weisbrod, DJ practiced as a surgical nurse in various hospital and operative settings. She has been with the firm over 30 years.
DJ directs Miller Weisbrod’s birth injury intake and medical screening team. She has also served as firm founder Les Weisbrod’s trial nurse for all cases involving medical negligence and birth injury.
Linda Cuaderes
Linda Cuaderes is both a registered nurse and a licensed lawyer. Linda works exclusively in Miller Weisbrod’s Birth Injury and Medical Malpractice section. Linda acts as the firm’s patient advocate and liaison with our young clients and their parents.
Linda combines her legal and nursing experience along with her exceptional organizational talent and attention to detail to make sure each child we represent is provided the highest level of medical care and attendant care during the pendency of their case. Linda communicates with our parent clients regularly to monitor their birth injured child’s treatment, provide guidance as to additional care and therapies and when necessary assist them in obtaining specialized medical providers.
Linda was raised in Bartlesville, Oklahoma and completed her Bachelor of Science in Nursing with Honors at the University of Oklahoma. She started as an Oncology Nurse at Presbyterian Hospital in Oklahoma City, quickly becoming the Assistant Head Nurse of the Outpatient Endoscopy Unit. Linda then entered the University of Oklahoma College of Law.
She is admitted to practice before the Texas Supreme Court and routinely works on cases pending throughout the United States. Linda has worked with child victims of birth injury, their parents and other victims of medical malpractice in Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Iowa, Ohio, New York, Alabama, Georgia, Arizona, Utah and Missouri.
Education
University of Oklahoma - School of Law, 1990, J.D. - Norman, Oklahoma
University of Oklahoma - School of Nursing, 1985 - Norman, Oklahoma
Bar Admissions
Texas - 1990
Areas of Practice
Birth Injury/Birth Trauma
Medical Malpractice
Associations & Memberships
Texas Bar Association
American Association of Justice
Texas Trial Lawyers Association
Dallas Trial Lawyers Association
Kristin Jones
Kristin combines her medical and legal training to provide invaluable, passionate service to parents struggling to care for their birth-injured children.
Families often have questions as they go through the birth injury lawsuit process. Kristin diligently identifies and investigates all medical issues so the birth injury attorneys at Miller Weisbrod can answer those questions Kristin ensures that our birth injured children’s medical records are thoroughly reviewed and organized. Miller Weisbrod’s birth trauma litigation attorneys and medical experts retained by the firm need her services while pursuing justice for our clients.
Kelly Kunkel
Kelly Kunkel was born and raised in Dallas, Texas. She has 15 years’ experience in hospital based High Risk Obstetrics and Labor and Delivery bedside nursing care. Kelly graduated with an Associate’s Degree in Nursing from El Centro College in December of 1990 and received her Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing from West Texas A&M University in 2008; graduating with honors.
In addition, Kelly has over 25 years’ experience in medical malpractice case management and litigation and has worked with David Olesky for over 22 years. After many years of assisting in defending healthcare providers and hospital systems in medical malpractice cases involving complex litigation matters related to birth injury, catastrophic injury and death, Kelly has proudly joined David Olesky in the national birth injury and medical negligence practice at Miller Weisbrod Olesky.
What Can our San Antonio Birth Injury Lawyers Do For You?
As Birth Injury Lawyers in San Antonio, we fight to get justice for our clients. We believe in holding negligent medical professionals accountable for their negligence.
We do this by:
Discussing your case with you in detail
Using our extensive resources to investigate your baby’s records thoroughly
Providing nurse-attorneys and nursing staff who understand what has happened medically
Consulting with experts who understand how you and your child should have been treated
Seeking compensation for your baby’s injuries from the people who caused them
The compensation our clients receive in birth injury lawsuits makes a difference. They can better care for their child while also covering other expenses like childcare and lost wages.
Get Started Today!
Was your child born with a birth injury? Do they have severe disabilities and struggles that are financially and emotionally exhausting?
Medical malpractice and preventable medical mistakes could be the cause of your child’s injury. If so, we can help.
Schedule a free consultation with one of our experienced San Antonio Birth Injury Attorneys. We have the skills and resources to investigate your potential claim. Our registered nurses and nurse-attorneys on staff provide a deeper understanding of medical issues and an unmatched level of care to our clients.
And we don’t get paid until we win your case.
Please call (888) 987-0005 in San Antonio to get started or send us a completed contact form.
Free Consultations
We do not collect a fee until we win your case
You’re facing some challenging decisions – whether someone caused your baby’s birth injury and how to hold them accountable.
As experienced San Antonio Birth Injury Attorneys, we have obtained verdicts and settlements for clients like you. The millions of dollars our clients received were used for therapies, treatments, assistive devices, caregivers, and planning for the future. Don't hesitate to get in touch with us today to discuss your unique circumstances.
