Hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy, or HIE, is brain injury caused by a lack of oxygen and blood flow around the time of birth. It is one of the most serious birth injuries and a common cause of cerebral palsy, seizures and developmental delays. In many cases the warning signs, such as an abnormal fetal heart rate, a placental abruption or a uterine rupture, appear in the hours before delivery and call for a fast response.
If your baby was born in Los Angeles and needed resuscitation, cooling therapy or an urgent transfer to a NICU, Beverly Law can review what happened, at no cost and in English or Spanish, and tell you whether the injury may have been prevented.
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Why HIE cases in Los Angeles are different
Los Angeles County has one of the largest and most varied hospital systems in the country, and the hospital where your baby was born shapes the case from the start. The county’s Department of Health Services runs four public hospitals, including Los Angeles General Medical Center (formerly LAC+USC Medical Center), Harbor-UCLA Medical Center and Olive View-UCLA Medical Center. UCLA’s hospitals belong to the University of California, a public university system. Alongside them, large private systems such as Cedars-Sinai, Kaiser Permanente, Dignity Health, Providence and Adventist Health White Memorial deliver a large share of the county’s babies, each with its own records department, protocols and insurers.
HIE is time-critical, and treatment often begins at one hospital and continues at another. Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, UCLA Mattel Children’s Hospital and Cedars-Sinai each operate a Level IV NICU, the highest designation for neonatal intensive care, and receive newborns transported from delivering hospitals across the region. A Los Angeles HIE case therefore usually involves the labor and delivery chart, the resuscitation record, the transport team’s notes and the receiving NICU’s records, and the minutes between each step matter.
The first question we answer is whether the hospital where the injury happened is a public entity or a private one, because the answer changes the deadline and the steps you must take before a lawsuit can be filed.
Many California babies are born at county or University of California hospitals: LAC+USC, Harbor-UCLA, Olive View-UCLA, Riverside University Health System, Arrowhead Regional, UC Irvine, UC San Diego, UC Davis and others. These are public entities, and the Government Claims Act applies. Under Government Code § 911.2, a written claim for injury or death must be presented to the public entity within six months of the injury, before any lawsuit. If the claim is rejected in writing, Government Code § 945.6 gives six months from that notice to file suit. The child’s longer deadline under Code of Civil Procedure § 340.5 does not replace this six-month claim, so families with a public-hospital birth should act right away.
What we look for in the records
An HIE case is often decided by the timeline. Our medical experts reconstruct the hours around birth, minute by minute, from these documents:
- Fetal monitoring strips: the heart-rate tracing during labor, when it became abnormal and how nurses and physicians responded.
- Decision-to-incision time: when an emergency C-section was ordered, when it actually started and what caused any delay in the operating room, anesthesia or staffing.
- The resuscitation record: Apgar scores, when the baby first breathed, whether intubation or chest compressions were needed and who was present.
- Cooling therapy start time: whether therapeutic hypothermia was offered, how soon after birth it began and whether the baby met the criteria.
- Cord blood gases and early labs: pH, base deficit and lactate values that help show when the oxygen deprivation happened.
- Brain imaging and EEG: MRI reports and seizure monitoring from the NICU, plus the transport log if your baby was transferred.
Deadline to file in Los Angeles
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.
Compensation
A child with HIE may need lifelong medical care, seizure medication, feeding support, physical, occupational and speech therapy, specialized equipment, home modifications and, in the most serious cases, round-the-clock care. A claim can seek the cost of that care over a lifetime, the parents’ lost income and the pain and loss of quality of life the child will experience. Our experts prepare a detailed life-care plan so that every future need is counted.
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 Beverly Law helps in Los Angeles
Our office is at 4929 Wilshire Blvd in Los Angeles, and we meet families anywhere in LA County, including at the hospital while your baby is still in the NICU, or by video consultation. Our team speaks English and Spanish, and every consultation is free.
We request and review the delivery, transport and NICU records at no cost, work with obstetricians, neonatologists and pediatric neurologists to evaluate the case, and handle the claim from start to finish. You pay nothing unless we win.
Read our full California guide: HIE / Oxygen Deprivation at Birth in California →
Free birth-injury case review
We review the delivery records with medical experts and tell you honestly whether there is a case. You pay nothing unless we win.
Questions parents ask
Which Los Angeles hospitals are county hospitals?
The Los Angeles County Department of Health Services operates four hospitals: Los Angeles General Medical Center (formerly LAC+USC Medical Center), Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Olive View-UCLA Medical Center and Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center. UCLA hospitals are part of the University of California, a public university. Cedars-Sinai, Kaiser Permanente, Dignity Health, Providence and Adventist Health hospitals are private. If you are not sure where your case falls, we can check for you.
Where is the case filed?
Most birth-injury lawsuits arising in Los Angeles are filed in the Superior Court of Los Angeles County. Civil cases from the central district are heard at the Stanley Mosk Courthouse, 111 N. Hill St., Los Angeles, CA 90012, near downtown. Depending on where the hospital is located, the case may be assigned to another courthouse in the county. We handle the filing and every court appearance for you.
How long do I have to file an HIE claim?
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.
Does a consultation cost anything?
No. The consultation is free and there is no obligation. We review your child’s medical records at no charge, and if we take the case we work on contingency, which means you pay no fee unless we win. You can meet us at our Wilshire Blvd office, at your home anywhere in LA County or by video call, in English or Spanish.
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Los Angeles HIE and Birth Asphyxia Lawyer — Beverly Law
Free case review for families in Los Angeles. We obtain the delivery records, have them reviewed by medical experts and deal with the hospital and its insurer — you focus on your child. You pay nothing unless we win.
Related pages
Los Angeles — Cerebral Palsy · Los Angeles — Erb’s Palsy / Brachial Plexus Injury · Los Angeles birth injury lawyers · HIE / Oxygen Deprivation at Birth in California
Sources
- Children's Hospital Los Angeles – Newborn and Infant Critical Care Unit (Level IV)
- UCLA Health – Neonatology, Level IV NICU at UCLA Mattel Children's Hospital
- Cedars-Sinai – Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (Level IV)
- Los Angeles County Department of Health Services – Our Locations (four county hospitals)
- Los Angeles General Medical Center (formerly LAC+USC Medical Center)
- Los Angeles General Medical Center – Who We Are
- Harbor-UCLA Medical Center – LA County Department of Health Services
- Olive View-UCLA Medical Center – Who We Are
- Superior Court of Los Angeles County – Civil Judges Hearing Trials (Stanley Mosk Courthouse, 111 North Hill Street)
- Superior Court of Los Angeles County – Public Hours Notice (Stanley Mosk Courthouse, 111 N. Hill St.)
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 fee unless we win. Last reviewed: 2026-09-18.