If your baby was harmed during labor and delivery, and doctors later told you an infection was involved, you may be looking for answers no one at the hospital seems willing to give. An infant chorioamnionitis lawyer can review what happened and tell you whether the medical team did what the standard of care required. At Fieger Law, our experienced Michigan birth injury attorneys have spent decades holding doctors and hospitals accountable for infections that were missed or mistreated.
Chorioamnionitis is a serious infection of the membranes and fluid surrounding your baby in the womb. Caught early, most mothers and babies recover. Missed or treated too late, it can cause permanent brain injury. This page explains what the infection is, how it should have been handled, how a delay can cause cerebral palsy or HIE, and how Fieger Law can help.
Contact Fieger Law for a free, confidential consultation.
What Is Chorioamnionitis and Why Does It Matter for Your Baby?
Chorioamnionitis, also called intra-amniotic infection or Triple I, is a bacterial infection that takes hold inside the uterus during pregnancy or labor. Bacteria travel up from the vagina into the amniotic sac, infecting the membranes and fluid that surround the baby. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists treats it as a clinical emergency.
Timing is everything. When clinical signs appear, the medical team is supposed to start broad-spectrum antibiotics promptly and consider whether the baby needs to be delivered right away. Every hour of delay increases the risk of harm to the baby.
Certain conditions raise the risk and should put the labor team on heightened alert:
- Prolonged rupture of membranes: when your water has been broken for an extended period before delivery.
- Long labor: extended time between rupture and delivery gives bacteria more opportunity to reach the uterus.
- Frequent vaginal exams: each exam introduces additional risk of bacterial transfer.
- Preterm labor: infection and early labor often go hand in hand, and premature babies are far more vulnerable to its effects.
- Internal fetal monitoring: invasive monitoring carries its own infection risk that providers should weigh carefully.
If your delivery involved any of these factors and your baby suffered a serious injury, call Fieger Law for a free case review.
How Doctors Should Diagnose and Treat Chorioamnionitis
Labor and delivery teams are trained to watch for chorioamnionitis throughout labor. Maternal fever, uterine tenderness, a rapid maternal heart rate, and foul-smelling amniotic fluid all point to infection. One of the most important signs is often what shows up on the fetal monitor: a sustained fetal heart rate above 160 beats per minute. Fetal tachycardia is frequently the earliest signal that the baby is in distress.
Once the clinical picture suggests infection, the standard of care is clear. Providers should start broad-spectrum intravenous antibiotics immediately, continue monitoring the baby’s heart rate, and decide whether an expedited delivery, often by cesarean section, is needed.
What providers should not do is wait. Holding off on antibiotics until lab results confirm what the clinical picture already shows can cost the baby critical time. ACOG guidelines are clear: when the signs are there, treat. A medical team that ignores fetal tachycardia, delays antibiotics, or fails to escalate to a C-section when the baby is clearly in trouble may have breached the standard of care. If that describes what happened to your family, Fieger Law can help you find out.
How Undiagnosed Chorioamnionitis Can Cause Cerebral Palsy and HIE
Untreated infection does not stay confined to the uterus. It can trigger a powerful inflammatory response in the baby, sometimes called fetal inflammatory response syndrome, that releases chemicals capable of damaging developing brain tissue. The infection can also compromise the placenta’s ability to deliver oxygen.
Two of the most serious outcomes are the same two birth injuries Fieger Law sees most often:
- Cerebral palsy (CP): a permanent disorder of movement and posture caused by damage to the developing brain. Inflammation from untreated chorioamnionitis can injure the white matter that controls motor function, producing the spasticity and movement problems characteristic of cerebral palsy.
- Hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE): a brain injury caused by a lack of oxygen and blood flow to the brain around the time of birth. When infection reduces placental function, HIE can follow.
Both conditions are often permanent, and the full impact may not be apparent at birth. Many families are sent home with reassurances, only to watch developmental milestones slip away in the months that follow. If your child has been diagnosed with CP or HIE and an infection was part of the delivery story, you owe it to your family to find out whether the harm was preventable.
Proving Medical Negligence in a Michigan Chorioamnionitis Case
A medical malpractice claim has four elements, and your attorney has to prove each one:
- Duty: the doctors, nurses, and hospital owed a duty of care to you and your baby.
- Breach: the medical team failed to meet the accepted standard of care, such as missing fetal tachycardia or delaying antibiotics.
- Causation: that failure, not some unrelated factor, caused your baby’s injury.
- Damages: your child and family have suffered measurable harm as a result.
One of the most important pieces of evidence in these cases is the placental pathology report. After delivery, the placenta, membranes, and umbilical cord can be examined under a microscope for signs of infection.
Findings like funisitis, which is inflammation of the umbilical cord vessels, can prove that bacterial infection was present and active before delivery. When pathology shows clear infection but the medical record shows nothing was done about it, that gap becomes powerful evidence.
We also look at fetal monitoring strips, nursing notes, the timing of antibiotic administration, and communication records between nurses and physicians. Comparing that timeline against ACOG guidelines is how negligence cases are built.
These cases are document-heavy and expensive to litigate, and they require qualified medical experts willing to review the records in detail. Fieger Law has the resources and the trial experience to take them on. Contact us for a free consultation.
Compensation Families May Be Entitled to Seek
A child living with cerebral palsy or HIE may need a lifetime of medical care, therapy, and support. A successful malpractice claim is often the only way to secure the resources a child will need. Through a chorioamnionitis case, you may be entitled to seek compensation for:
- Past and future medical expenses: hospital bills, surgeries, medications, and ongoing specialty medical care.
- Therapy and rehabilitation: physical, occupational, speech, and developmental therapy across your child’s lifetime.
- Assistive equipment and home modifications: wheelchairs, communication devices, ramps, and accessible vehicles.
- Special education and lifelong care: tutoring, specialized schooling, in-home aides, and residential support if needed.
- Lost earning capacity: for the child and, in many cases, for parents who must leave work to provide care.
- Pain, suffering, and emotional distress: for the child, you, and your family.
A free consultation with Fieger Law is the first step toward understanding what your family’s case may be worth.
Why Detroit-Area Families Trust Fieger Law With Birth Injury Cases
Fieger Law has been representing injured Michigan families since 1950, and we have built our reputation in the courtrooms of Wayne and Oakland Counties trying the cases other firms turn down. Our Southfield office sits just outside Detroit, and we serve families delivering at every major Metro Detroit hospital system, including Detroit Medical Center, Henry Ford, Beaumont/Corewell Health, Ascension St. John, and McLaren Oakland.
Our experienced birth injury attorneys have secured some of the largest birth trauma verdicts in Michigan history, including a $144.5 million birth trauma verdict that was upheld on appeal. Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome, but they reflect the depth of experience your family gets when you call us. We prepare every case for trial from day one.
Contact us for a free, confidential consultation. You pay us nothing unless we get money for you.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can You Sue a Hospital for Failing to Diagnose Chorioamnionitis?
Yes. If a hospital’s labor and delivery team failed to recognize the clinical signs of chorioamnionitis, failed to administer antibiotics promptly, or failed to deliver the baby quickly enough to prevent harm, the hospital and the individual providers can be held liable for medical malpractice. The case has to show that the breakdown in care caused your baby’s injury.
What Are the Long-Term Effects of Untreated Chorioamnionitis on a Baby?
Untreated chorioamnionitis can cause permanent brain injury, cerebral palsy, HIE, neonatal sepsis, meningitis, vision and hearing impairment, seizure disorders, and developmental delays. The severity depends on how long the infection went untreated and how the baby responded. Many of these conditions require lifelong medical care.
How Is Chorioamnionitis Different From Neonatal Sepsis in a Malpractice Claim?
Chorioamnionitis is the infection inside the uterus before birth. Neonatal sepsis is a systemic infection that develops in the newborn after birth, often as a direct result of untreated chorioamnionitis. A malpractice claim may involve both, with the failure to diagnose chorioamnionitis in time being the underlying breach.
How Does a Placental Pathology Report Help Prove a Chorioamnionitis Case?
The placental pathology report is the laboratory analysis of the placenta, membranes, and umbilical cord after delivery. Findings such as funisitis or membrane inflammation can confirm that bacterial infection was present and active before birth. When pathology shows clear infection but the medical record shows nothing was done about it during labor, that contradiction becomes critical evidence of negligence.
Does It Cost Anything to Talk to a Fieger Law Birth Injury Attorney?
No. Consultations with Fieger Law are free and confidential. We handle birth injury cases on a contingency fee basis, which means you pay us nothing unless we recover money for your family.
How Do I Know if My Child’s Cerebral Palsy Was Caused by an Infection During Labor?
You may not know on your own, which is why these cases require a thorough review of medical records by qualified medical witnesses. Signs that infection played a role include a maternal fever during labor, fetal tachycardia on the monitoring strips, prolonged rupture of membranes, and a placental pathology report showing inflammation. Our experienced birth injury attorneys can review your records at no cost and tell you what we find.
Talk to an Experienced Michigan Birth Injury Attorney Today
If your baby was harmed during labor and delivery, you are exhausted, you are scared, and you are juggling more than any family should have to. You do not have to figure out the legal side of this on your own. The birth injury lawyers at Fieger Law can take that weight off your shoulders so you can focus on your child.
Contact us online for a free, confidential consultation. You pay nothing unless we get money for you.
The information on this website is for general information purposes only. Nothing on this site should be taken as legal advice for any individual case or situation. This information is not intended to create, and receipt or viewing does not constitute, an attorney-client relationship.
