Doctors. Nurses. Hospitals. Defective products. When a preventable medical mistake leaves your child with a lifelong injury, our M.D./J.D. and Board Certified trial lawyer team traces every responsible party — and makes them answer.
Nationwide catastrophic birth injury representation. Cerebral palsy, HIE, brachial plexus, hypoxic brain injury, defective birth devices. Free, confidential case review.
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By Alex Alvarez, Board Certified Civil Trial Lawyer • Reviewed by Herb Borroto, M.D., J.D., Medical-Legal Expert • Last reviewed:
Most birth injury attorneys hire outside experts to interpret your child's labor and delivery record. Herb Borroto is the medical expert — reading fetal monitoring strips, nursing notes, and Apgar scores with the eye of a physician, the strategy of a trial lawyer.
Where other lawyers see pages of waveforms, Herb Borroto sees the exact minute fetal distress was ignored — instantly identifying deviations from the obstetric standard of care.
From maternal-fetal medicine specialists to pediatric neurologists and life care planners — Herb knows which experts carry the most weight in a catastrophic birth injury case.
Opposing OB/GYN and neonatology experts can't hide behind medical jargon. Herb speaks their language and exposes gaps they hoped no one would catch.
Jurors don't need medical degrees — they need someone who turns complex obstetric medicine into a powerful, understandable story of what should have happened, and what didn't.
"I trained to heal. When the medical system failed my patients, I went to law school to hold it accountable. No injury demands that accountability more than the injury of a child."— Herb Borroto, M.D., J.D.
When the people you trusted most failed your child, you deserve advocates who understand both the medicine and the law. We handle the most complex catastrophic birth injury cases nationwide.
Catastrophic birth injury cases demand two kinds of expertise: the medical knowledge to prove exactly what should have happened during labor and delivery, and the courtroom muscle to make hospitals and product makers pay for what they did instead. We have both.
30+
Years Fighting
for Justice
Before becoming one of Florida's most respected trial lawyers, Alex Alvarez served as a Miami-Dade detective who led the historic "Miami River Cops" investigation — resulting in the conviction of 18 corrupt officers. That same relentless investigative instinct drives every catastrophic birth injury case he takes.
Alex traces the entire chain of negligence — the doctor who missed the warning signs, the nurse who didn't escalate, the hospital that was understaffed, the device maker that knew about the defect. As a Board Certified Civil Trial Lawyer — a distinction held by less than 1% of attorneys — Alex prepares every case to go all the way to a jury.
Most birth injury law firms pay outside medical experts thousands of dollars to interpret labor and delivery records. At The Alvarez Law Firm, that medical expertise is already on your legal team. Herb Borroto earned his medical degree (M.D.) before attending law school — giving him the rare ability to read fetal monitoring strips, nursing notes, Apgar scores, and neonatal charts the way a physician reads them.
In a catastrophic birth injury case, the records hide the case — or reveal it. Was fetal distress recognized? Was the C-section delayed? Was the resuscitation timely? Was the vacuum used too long? Herb finds the exact minute when the standard of care broke down and lays it out with the precision of someone who has been on both sides of the chart.
"When I read a labor and delivery record, I see the moment the team should have moved — and didn't. That moment is your case."
— Herb Borroto, M.D., J.D.
Call us or submit our online form. We will listen to your story, ask about your pregnancy, labor, and delivery, and give you an honest first read on whether what happened to your baby looks like preventable malpractice — at no cost and with no obligation.
We obtain the complete prenatal, labor, delivery, and neonatal records, and Herb Borroto personally reviews them — fetal heart rate strips, nursing notes, Apgar scores, NICU charts, imaging — identifying every place the standard of care was breached and every party who was responsible.
Alex Alvarez and the legal team identify every responsible party — the OB, the nurses, the hospital, the device manufacturer — and assemble a top-tier expert team: maternal-fetal medicine, pediatric neurology, neonatology, life care planners, and economists who project your child's lifetime needs.
We file your lawsuit and fight for the lifetime resources your child will need. As a Board Certified trial lawyer, Alex Alvarez prepares every case for trial — which puts maximum pressure on hospitals and insurers to resolve the case fairly. No Fees Unless We Recover Money for You.
Nothing prepares a parent for the moment a doctor admits something went wrong during labor or delivery. The grief, the questions, the rage — they are all valid. So is your right to find out what happened and hold the responsible parties accountable.
Your consultation is free, confidential, and comes with zero pressure. We will review your story with both medical and legal expertise and tell you honestly whether your child has a case worth pursuing.
Your information is confidential. Submitting this form does not create an attorney-client relationship.
Time matters. Records can disappear and deadlines vary by state. Get your free case review now →
A catastrophic birth injury is a severe, often permanent injury sustained by a baby before, during, or shortly after delivery that causes lifelong disability and requires lifetime medical care. The most common catastrophic birth injuries include cerebral palsy (CP), hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) caused by oxygen deprivation during labor, traumatic brain injury, brachial plexus injuries such as Erb's palsy, spinal cord injuries, intracranial hemorrhage, and kernicterus caused by untreated jaundice. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, cerebral palsy alone affects roughly 1 in 345 children in the United States, and many of those cases trace to preventable medical errors during labor and delivery. When a catastrophic birth injury is caused by negligent doctors, nurses, or hospitals — or by a defective medical product such as a fetal heart rate monitor or vacuum extractor — the family has a legal right to pursue compensation for lifetime medical expenses, therapy, equipment, lost earning capacity, and pain and suffering.
Medical malpractice requires four elements: a duty of care existed between the healthcare provider and the mother and baby, the provider breached the accepted standard of care, that breach directly caused the injury, and the injury produced measurable damages. Common red flags in a catastrophic birth injury case include delayed response to abnormal fetal heart rate tracings, a C-section that was indicated but not performed in time, improper use of a vacuum extractor or forceps, untreated maternal infection that spread to the baby, untreated jaundice in the newborn period, and failure to recognize and treat a brain injury immediately after birth using therapeutic hypothermia (cooling) protocols. Because medical records often hide the negligence in technical language, the most reliable way to evaluate a potential case is a physician-level review. At The Alvarez Law Firm, Herb Borroto, M.D., J.D., personally reads each chart with the eye of a doctor and the analysis of a lawyer to identify whether the standard of care was breached and who is responsible.
Catastrophic birth injury cases turn on medical evidence that is dense, technical, and often time-sensitive — fetal heart rate tracings that span hours, nursing notes written in obstetric shorthand, neonatal blood gas results, MRI findings, and Apgar scoring at one, five, and ten minutes of life. At The Alvarez Law Firm, Herb Borroto holds both a Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) and a Juris Doctor (J.D.), giving the firm the rare ability to independently read these records, recognize deviations from obstetric and neonatal standards of care, select the best maternal-fetal medicine and pediatric neurology experts, and cross-examine the defendants' experts in their own clinical language. Most birth injury law firms must pay outside medical consultants thousands of dollars to do this work, and they often miss subtleties that an in-house physician would catch. Combined with Alex Alvarez's Board Certification as a Civil Trial Lawyer from the National Board of Trial Advocacy, The Alvarez Law Firm offers a medical-legal partnership built specifically for the catastrophic injuries that demand the highest level of expertise.
Families of children with catastrophic birth injuries may recover compensation for past and future medical expenses, lifetime therapy and rehabilitation, home modifications and medical equipment, in-home or skilled nursing care, special education costs, lost future earning capacity, pain and suffering, the parents' loss of consortium and emotional distress, and in cases involving gross negligence, punitive damages. Catastrophic birth injury verdicts and settlements can reach into the tens of millions of dollars because a child with cerebral palsy, severe HIE, or another lifelong injury may need round-the-clock care for 50 to 70 years. Compensation amounts depend on the severity of the injury, the projected cost of lifetime care (calculated by a life care planner), the strength of the medical evidence, and the laws of the state where the injury occurred. The Alvarez Law Firm handles all catastrophic birth injury cases on a contingency fee basis, meaning the family pays no attorney's fees unless the firm wins their case.
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