The words you will hear, defined plainly.

Medical

Apgar score

A quick assessment of a newborn’s condition at one and five minutes after birth, scoring breathing, heart rate, muscle tone, reflexes and color. A low early score prompts attention; it is not by itself a diagnosis or a prediction.

Assisted vaginal delivery

A birth in which forceps or a vacuum device is used to help deliver the baby during the pushing stage. Both have recognised uses and recognised risks.

Brachial plexus injury

Damage to the network of nerves that runs from the neck through the shoulder into the arm, which in newborns can happen during a difficult delivery. Many babies recover over months.

Cerebral palsy

A group of disorders affecting movement, muscle tone and posture, caused by damage to or abnormal development of the brain before, during or shortly after birth or in early childhood. It has several possible causes and in many children no specific cause is found.

Cesarean birth

Delivery of the baby through incisions in the abdomen and uterus, planned in advance or decided during labor.

Cord blood gas

A test on blood from the umbilical cord at birth that gives information about the baby’s oxygen and acid levels around the time of delivery. One piece of information interpreted with everything else.

Electronic fetal monitoring

Continuous recording of the baby’s heart rate and the mother’s contractions during labor, producing the “strip” that clinicians interpret in context.

Erb’s palsy

The most common form of newborn brachial plexus injury, affecting the upper nerves and therefore mainly the shoulder and upper arm.

Hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE)

An umbrella term for brain injury around the time of birth caused by reduced oxygen or blood flow to the brain. Its long-term effects can take months or years to become clear.

Neonatal encephalopathy

Disturbed brain function in a newborn, which can have many causes. Clinical guidance prefers this broader term over HIE when the cause has not been established.

NICU

The neonatal intensive care unit, where newborns who need close monitoring or treatment are cared for.

Placenta pathology

Examination of the placenta after birth, which can give information about events during pregnancy and labor. Not always performed; ask whether it was.

Shoulder dystocia

An obstetric emergency in which, after the head is delivered, a shoulder becomes caught and additional maneuvers are needed. Described by ACOG as largely unpredictable.

Therapeutic hypothermia (cooling)

A treatment that carefully lowers a newborn’s body temperature for a period after birth, used in appropriate cases of moderate to severe HIE.

Legal

Birth-related neurological injury compensation programs

Programs in Florida and Virginia that can provide benefits for certain qualifying injuries without proving negligence, and that can limit or replace a conventional lawsuit for those injuries.

Causation

The link a claim must prove between a breach of the standard of care and the injury. In birth injury matters it usually requires medical experts, because many conditions have more than one possible cause.

Certificate of merit / expert affidavit

In some states, a written statement from a qualified expert that must be filed with or soon after a medical negligence claim. Whether it is required differs by state.

Contingency fee

A fee arrangement in which the attorney is paid a percentage of any recovery and nothing if there is none. The percentage and who pays costs are set in a written agreement.

Damages

The money a court may award to compensate for an injury. Categories and any limits on them differ by state.

Discovery

The stage of a lawsuit in which each side obtains documents and testimony from the other.

Medical expert

A qualified clinician who reviews the records and gives an opinion on the standard of care or on causation. Birth injury matters usually require more than one.

Standard of care

In general terms, what a reasonably careful clinician in the same field would have done in the same circumstances. A claim must show care fell below it; a bad outcome alone does not.

Statute of limitations

The time limit for starting a claim. It differs by state, is often affected by the fact that the injured person is a child, and may come with an outer limit regardless of when the injury was discovered. No deadline is stated on this site until reviewed by an attorney licensed in the relevant state.