El Camino Health Birth Injury Lawyers

If your baby was born at El Camino Health at 2500 Grant Road in Mountain View, in Santa Clara County, and the delivery was frightening or the weeks afterward brought hard news, you may be looking for plain answers. This page is written for parents and family members who delivered at El Camino Health's Mountain View campus and who want to understand what a birth injury is, what signs to watch for, and what choices a family has when it is worried about how a delivery went.

Nothing here says that anyone at the hospital did anything wrong. Many babies who need extra care after birth were simply born early, born with a condition that was already developing, or faced a complication that no one could have prevented. Our goal is to explain the medical terms, the records you are entitled to, the support that is available for your child, and how an independent review of a delivery works, so you can decide what to do next at your own pace.

Birth-injury questions carry real deadlines, and the longer a family waits, the harder it can be to gather records and answers. Reading this page does not start a case and does not make you a client. It is meant to help you ask better questions of your child's doctors, of the hospital's records department, and, if you choose, of a lawyer who reviews birth-injury cases.

Labor and delivery at El Camino Health in Mountain View

El Camino Health is a nonprofit health system with hospitals in Mountain View and Los Gatos. According to the hospital's own website, families can deliver at either campus. In Mountain View, labor and delivery, the obstetrics emergency department and the mother-baby unit are on the first floor of the Orchard Pavilion. The hospital describes private birthing suites with wireless monitoring that lets a laboring mother move around, and private mother-baby rooms after the birth.

The hospital's labor and delivery page lists a care team that includes obstetricians and OB hospitalists, maternal-fetal medicine specialists, anesthesiologists, nurses, pediatricians, lactation specialists and pharmacists. Its Mother-Baby Health pages also describe prenatal and high-risk pregnancy care, a perinatal diagnostic center, childbirth classes, virtual tours and preregistration. Pain-relief choices described by the hospital include epidurals and IV medications as well as natural methods.

For babies who need extra support, the Mountain View campus has a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). The hospital states that its Mountain View NICU is a Level III unit that works in collaboration with Stanford Medicine. According to the hospital's 2024 report to the state (HCAI), the hospital cared for 3,591 newborns in its newborn nursery in 2024, it is licensed for 24 intensive-care newborn beds, and the NICU had 475 discharges that year. Those numbers show a busy program serving families from Mountain View, Sunnyvale, Los Altos, Palo Alto, Cupertino and the surrounding Silicon Valley communities.

Birth injuries families ask about after a difficult delivery

The phrase birth injury covers many different situations, and most of them are not caused by anything a parent or a doctor did. One of the most discussed is hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy, or HIE, a type of brain injury that can happen when a baby's brain does not get enough oxygen or blood flow around the time of birth. Medical reviews describe cooling therapy, called therapeutic hypothermia, as the established treatment for eligible newborns, and it is started within the first hours of life. HIE is sometimes linked to cerebral palsy, but the two are not the same thing.

Cerebral palsy is a group of conditions that affect movement, balance and posture. The CDC explains that it results from abnormal development of, or damage to, the developing brain, that most cases are present at birth, and that in many of them the exact cause is never found. The CDC also notes that lack of oxygen during birth is thought to explain only a small number of cases. This is why families benefit from a careful, independent look at their child's medical records rather than a guess.

Other conditions families ask about include Erb's palsy and other brachial plexus injuries, in which the nerves running from the neck to the arm are stretched during a hard delivery, most often with shoulder dystocia, a large baby or a breech position. Cleveland Clinic explains that many babies recover on their own, while some need therapy or surgery. Families also ask about bleeding in the newborn brain, a broken collarbone or skull fracture, and infections. Group B strep, for example, is a bacteria that a mother can carry without symptoms and pass to the baby during delivery; the CDC says pregnant women are screened and given antibiotics during labor when needed. Mothers can also be hurt, most often through heavy bleeding after delivery (postpartum hemorrhage), a tear, or an infection.

Warning signs of a birth injury in the first days, weeks and months

In the first hours and days, signs that a newborn needs urgent attention include trouble breathing, a weak or unusual cry, seizures or jerking movements, floppiness or unusual stiffness, difficulty feeding, a very low or very high temperature, and unusual sleepiness. Parents may also notice that one arm barely moves, that a shoulder or collarbone looks uneven, or that the baby cries when a limb is touched. If you see any of these, tell the nurse or pediatrician right away and write down what you saw and when.

Over the first weeks and months, developmental signs become easier to see. The CDC lists examples that can point toward cerebral palsy or another motor problem: head lag when a baby under six months is lifted, a body that feels very stiff or very floppy, back and neck arching, legs that stiffen or cross like scissors, not rolling over by about six months, trouble bringing the hands together or to the mouth, or reaching with only one hand. The CDC also says that some children who show these signs do not have cerebral palsy, so a sign is a reason to ask questions, not a diagnosis.

Trust your instincts. A child who misses milestones, has repeated feeding or sleeping difficulties, or whose hearing or vision seems affected deserves a developmental evaluation. The CDC advises that parents can contact their state's early intervention program without waiting for a referral or a diagnosis, and in California that route is called Early Start. Keeping a simple diary of your child's milestones, appointments and any doctors' explanations will help every professional who works with your family later.

Who may be responsible in a birth-injury claim

When a family asks whether a birth injury could have been prevented, the answer depends on many details, and several people and organizations may be involved. A claim may look at the nurses and other hospital staff who watched the mother and baby during labor, the obstetrician or the OB hospitalist who managed the delivery, a midwife, the anesthesia team, the pediatricians or neonatologists who cared for the baby afterward, and the medical group that employs or contracts with those physicians.

One question that surprises many parents is who actually employs the doctor. At many hospitals, including those that are nonprofit, nurses and technicians are employees of the hospital, while some physicians are independent doctors with their own practice or are employed by a separate medical group. The doctor who delivered your baby may have had a private office, and an anesthesiologist or neonatologist may belong to a different group again. Which entity may be responsible can depend on that structure, and it can only be sorted out by reading the records and the contracts.

Responsibility is never assumed. A bad outcome by itself does not mean that anyone made a mistake, and many outcomes are not preventable. The legal question in California is whether a provider failed to meet the accepted standard of care and whether that failure caused the injury. A qualified medical expert, not a family member and not a lawyer, is the person who answers the first part of that question.

How an independent expert review of the delivery works

An independent review begins with the complete chart for both mother and baby. The reviewer looks at the prenatal records, the labor and delivery notes, the physician and nursing orders, the anesthesia record, and the baby's NICU notes. A few items are especially important. The fetal heart monitoring strips show the baby's heart rate and the mother's contractions across the hours of labor. Apgar scores, given at one and five minutes after birth, are a quick snapshot of how the baby was doing. Umbilical cord blood gases measure acid and oxygen levels at birth.

Imaging and later tests matter as well. A brain MRI, often done in the first days of life for a baby with suspected HIE, can show the pattern and timing of an injury. Neonatologists, pediatric neurologists, obstetricians and nurses who practice in the same specialty may each review a different part of the record. They ask what the team knew at each moment, what choices were reasonable at that moment, and whether the injury is more likely to have come from events before labor, during labor or after birth.

The result is usually a written opinion. Sometimes the experts find that care was appropriate and that the injury was not preventable, and the family receives clear answers. In other cases the review may support a claim. Either way, the family learns something it can use. Because the full chart is needed, requesting the records early is usually the first practical step.

What to do now after a difficult birth at El Camino Health

First, take care of your child and yourself. Keep every follow-up appointment, ask the pediatrician or specialist to explain the diagnosis in plain words, and write down the names of the departments and clinics involved. Second, begin a folder, on paper or on your phone, that holds discharge papers, test results, insurance letters, bills, photos and a short timeline of what you remember from the delivery. Notes written soon after an event are often the most useful.

Third, request the medical records for both the mother and the baby. California law gives parents a right to those records, and the hospital's Medical Records Department handles the request. Ask for the complete chart, including the fetal monitoring strips, the nursing notes and the NICU records, and keep a copy of everything you send. Fourth, do not sign releases or settlement papers from insurers or anyone else without understanding them, and be careful about what you post online.

Fifth, consider talking with a lawyer who reviews birth-injury cases, ideally soon. California sets strict deadlines for these claims, and parents' own claims can have shorter deadlines than the child's. The deadlines are explained below on this page. A first conversation is a chance to ask questions and to learn whether an expert review makes sense, and you are not obligated to do anything afterward.

Support for your child while a case is reviewed

Your child's care should never wait for a legal question to be answered. Early therapies such as physical, occupational and speech therapy can make a real difference for babies with motor or feeding difficulties, and the earlier they start the better. Ask your pediatrician for referrals, and ask the hospital's NICU team or social worker which follow-up programs are available after discharge.

In California, children under three with a delay or a risk of delay can be evaluated through the Early Start program, which is run through regional centers. Children who have certain serious conditions may also qualify for California Children's Services (CCS), and Medi-Cal may help cover medical care, therapy and equipment when a family qualifies. Eligibility depends on the child's condition and the family's situation, and no result is guaranteed, so ask each program what it requires.

Parents need support too. The first months with a medically fragile baby are exhausting, and many families find help in parent groups, family resource centers and counseling. Taking care of your own health is part of taking care of your child.

Deadlines for a birth-injury case in California

California gives a child’s birth-injury case its own deadline. Under Code of Civil Procedure § 340.5, a minor must sue within three years of the wrongful act, but a child who was under six when it happened has until his or her eighth birthday if that is longer. For a baby hurt during labor or delivery, that usually means the eighth birthday. The clock runs from the act itself, not from the day the family learned what went wrong, and it is paused only in narrow cases of fraud or collusion. Parents’ own claims, and claims against a public hospital, can have much shorter deadlines, so it is safer to get advice early.

Before a medical malpractice lawsuit can be filed in California, the doctor or hospital must get written warning. Under Code of Civil Procedure § 364, the health care provider must receive at least 90 days’ notice of the intention to sue. No special form is required, but the notice must state the legal basis of the claim, the type of loss and the specific injuries suffered. Under § 364(d), if the notice is served within the last 90 days of the filing deadline, the deadline is extended 90 days from the date of service. The notice is a required step, and it is often the moment a case moves from questions to formal action.

What MICRA caps — and what it does not

California’s MICRA law limits one part of a medical malpractice recovery. Under Civil Code § 3333.2, as amended by AB 35, non-economic damages (pain, suffering, loss of enjoyment of life) are capped. In 2026 the cap is $470,000 for injury and $650,000 for wrongful death, and it rises every January 1 ($40,000 and $50,000 a year until 2033, then 2% a year). Separate caps can apply to doctors, hospitals and unaffiliated providers. Economic damages are not capped: lifetime medical care, therapy, equipment, home modifications and lost earning capacity can be recovered in full, and in a birth-injury case they are usually the largest part of the claim.

How to get the delivery records from El Camino Health

California law gives families a right to these records. Under Health and Safety Code § 123110, a patient or the patient’s personal representative — for a baby, a parent or guardian (§ 123105) — may inspect the records within five working days of a written request and is entitled to a paper or electronic copy, which the provider must send within 15 days after receiving a request that says which records are wanted. For a birth-injury review, ask for both charts: the mother’s labor and delivery record, including the fetal heart rate monitoring strips, and the baby’s newborn and NICU record.

To get the delivery and newborn records from El Camino Health, contact the hospital's Medical Records Department at the Mountain View campus, 2500 Grant Road, Mountain View, CA 94040. The hospital's website provides an authorization form in English, Spanish and Chinese. It must be complete and legible, and a parent or legal guardian can sign it for a baby. You can send it by mail, bring it in person, or fax it to 650-988-8246, and the department's phone number is 650-988-7462. The hospital says records are usually available within seven to 10 business days after it receives the request. Ask for the complete chart, including the fetal heart monitoring strips, nursing notes, anesthesia record and NICU notes, for both mother and baby.

The hospital’s medical records page →

Where a case from Mountain View would be filed

If a birth-injury lawsuit is filed over a delivery in Santa Clara County, civil cases of this size are heard in the Superior Court of California, County of Santa Clara. The court's Civil Division lists the Downtown Superior Court, 191 North First Street, San Jose, CA 95113, as a location for civil cases. The court's website, santaclara.courts.ca.gov, has the current filing instructions. Where a case is filed can depend on where the defendants are located and where the care took place, so a lawyer should confirm the right court.

Superior Court of California, County of Santa Clara (Downtown Superior Court) → — 191 North First Street, San Jose, CA 95113

Help for your child now: Early Start in Santa Clara County

Early Start is California's early intervention program for babies and toddlers under three who have a developmental delay or a condition that may cause one. For families in Mountain View and the rest of Santa Clara County, the regional center is San Andreas Regional Center, 6203 San Ignacio Avenue, Suite 200, San Jose, CA 95119 (sanandreasregional.org). The state Department of Developmental Services lists the Early Start intake line for Santa Clara County as 1-844-700-9889. Any parent, doctor or caregiver can call to ask for an evaluation, and you do not need a diagnosis or a referral. Evaluations are provided at no cost to families, and you can ask for services in Spanish.

San Andreas Regional Center →

Key facts

Questions parents ask

Other Santa Clara County hospitals we cover

Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital · Kaiser Permanente Santa Clara

Related pages

Cerebral Palsy · Erb’s Palsy / Brachial Plexus Injury · HIE / Oxygen Deprivation at Birth · Statute of Limitations · MICRA Damages Cap · All California hospitals · California birth injury lawyers · Birth injury guides

Beverly Law is an independent law firm. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by or speaking for El Camino Health or El Camino Health (nonprofit corporation). Hospital facts on this page come from the public sources listed above.

Important: This page is general information about birth injuries and California law, not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship with Beverly Law. Every case is different — talk to a lawyer about your own situation. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. No fees or costs unless we win. Last reviewed: 2026-09-18.