The joyous process of childbirth occasionally ends in tragedy: a serious injury to the baby, or even death of mother or child. Children who suffer injuries during or just after the birthing process often face enormous medical needs. Families need objective, reliable information to help them understand what happened and why. Once they know whether the injury was preventable, and whether someone may be at fault for causing the injury, then they can make rational choices about whether to pursue a medical malpractice claim.

In this article, I discuss the major preventable causes of serious injury to children during labor and delivery, and in the newborn period. These include....