California Obstetrical Malpractice Lawyers and Birth Injury Attorneys, Cerebral Palsy, Brain Injury, Brain Damage, Birth Defect, Erb's Palsy, Brachial Plexus Injury, Northern and Southern California in Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area, from San Diego to Sacramento, Orange County San Bernardino, the San Fernando Valley Ventura Santa Barbara Fresno Santa Clara County San Jose and Oakland.

Our California birth injury and obstetrical malpractice lawyers are highly experienced trial attorneys. We invite you to consider our credentials specifically as nationally acclaimed birth injury attorneys and trial lawyers. We discuss California obstetrical malpractice attorney, Ray Henke's acclaim and trial lawyer qualifications in the right column of this page. In the left column appear a list of our most recent birth injury and medical malpractice jury verdicts. And below on this page we provide a more complete discussion of our California birth injury lawyers and obstetrical malpractice attorney credentials. Very briefly, medical malpractice attorney, Ray Henke, is "AV" rated by Martindale & Hubbell, the highest rating awarded by this most respected national lawyer rating directory. The "A" is defined as "very high to preeminent" in "legal ability," the "V" means "very high" ethical standards. According to Martindale & Hubbell, "AV Peer Review Rating shows that a lawyer has reached the height of professional excellence. He or she has usually practiced law for many years, and is recognized for the highest levels of skill and integrity." California obstetrical malpractice and birth injury lawyer, Henke, has served as Governor of the Los Angeles Trial Lawyers Association, elected to the position by the many thousand members of this 5th largest trial lawyer association in the United States, an association which also nominated him for the prestigious "Trial Lawyer of the Year Award." California birth injury attorney, Henke, has focused on medical malpractice litigation along with complex drug product birth injury litigation as his two principle interests for over 20 years. His medical malpractice cases have gained him national acclaim. California medical negligence lawyer, Henke's trial work specifically in medial malpractice cases has been chronicled in feature articles in California and national legal journals from the pages of "California Lawyer" to the "National Law Journal" as well as in dozens of legitimate feature newspaper articles, from the front page of the New York Times to the front page of the Los Angeles Times, from the Washington Post to the San Francisco Examiner and Chronicle. Henke's trial work specifically in medical malpractice cases has also been chronicled in feature national and international television news segments, from Tom Brokaw's NBC Nightly News to CNN, and Mr. Henke has testified before Congress, at the invitation of the Chairman of the Judiciary Committee of the United States House of Representatives, again specifically with respect to his trial work in medical malpractice and hospital negligence cases.

After you have considered the credentials of our California obstetrical malpractice lawyers and birth injury attorneys, we invite you to submit the easy to complete e-mail form "California Obstetrical Malpractice Lawyers - Birth Injury Attorneys Case Evaluation Request" and medical negligence attorney Ray Henke will call you within 24 hours to discuss your baby or child's condition, any information you may have with regard to the events surrounding your baby's delivery and immediate post birth time period, and our California obstetrical lawyers and birth injury attorneys will provide you the benefit of our impressions and recommendations. Our California birth injury lawyers and obstetrical malpractice attorneys serve Southern and Northern California in Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area, from San Diego to Sacramento, in Orange County San Bernardino, the San Fernando Valley Ventura Santa Barbara Fresno Santa Clara County San Jose Berkley and Oakland.

Our California Obstetrical Malpractice Lawyers and Birth Injury Attorneys are Sensitive to the Fact That it May Be Difficult to Look Back Upon the Events Leading Up to the Delivery of Your Baby And Want You to Know That We Understand That This May be Hard For You to Discuss Your Baby or Child's Delayed Development or Diagnosis with Cerebral Palsy or Erbs Palsy or Brachial Plexus Injury or Mental Retardation, or Other Birth Injury. We Understand That You May Not Yet Have All of the Facts, or Just Suspicions Based Upon the Events of the Delivery or Post Birth Medical Care. This is Why You May Wish to Consult Our Obstetrical Malpractice Lawyers, Hospital Negligence and Birth Injury Lawyers as Often Times We Can Help By Investigating the Cause of Your Child's Diagnosis or Symptoms to Find Out Whether The Cause May Have Been Obstetrical or Neonatal, Hospital or Pediatric Negligence.

We look forward to the birth of a baby with such great anticipation and love, sometimes we may be aware that ours is a high risk pregnancy and so we trust in our physicians to use all due care and attention to make sure that our baby enters the world healthy. Sometimes we may be alerted to a problem during the pregnancy, delivery or post birth period, and again we trust our physicians will do all that is required again to assure that our baby is delivered into the world and remains healthy. Unfortunately, sometimes we may find out that our baby was not born healthy, sometimes blue in color, or with a weak arm; perhaps we may not be aware of any adverse event occurring in the birth process or immediate postnatal period, but as we keep track of our baby's progress according to the expected milestones we hope our baby will meet, we find that our baby lags behind, or the baby's pediatricians express concern or refer the baby for examination by a pediatric neurologist or other specialist.

Sometimes birth injuries can occur spontaneously, in the absence of negligence on the part of the obstetrician, hospital staff, neonatologist, or pediatrician, but in many cases appropriate investigation by an appropriately qualified California birth injury lawyer or obstetrical malpractice attorney will disclose that one or more of the physicians or hospital staff failed to do what the medical or hospital standard of care required in the best interest of the baby's health. You may recall that the hospital staff failed to timely employ a fetal monitor, or you may recall your obstetrician or hospital staff expressing concern that your baby was in fetal distress; it might be that your obstetrician was delayed in responding to the fetal distress, occupied with another delivery or delayed in getting to the hospital. You may have noticed that it took a long time to deliver the baby following rupture of the membranes. It may be that you recall the concern on the faces of your obstetrician or hospital staff when finally they determined to deliver the baby by cesarean section. I may be that you noticed that there was difficulty in delivering the baby, either because of the way the baby presented, or you may recall the physicians having to turn the baby or use forceps or vacuum extractor to deliver the baby.

You may well have noticed, without being aware of it at the time, the events leading to your baby's brain damage or Erbs palsy or other disability, or you may not have noticed any untoward events at all. Often for a number of reasons the obstetrician, hospital staff or pediatrician may not disclose to you the adverse events or delivery complications as they are occurring, sometimes innocently enough, perhaps to avoid your becoming alarmed. Even when your baby is born blue in color, suggesting hypoxia or a reduction in oxygen to the baby, you physicians may not explain fully the potential implications.

You may only later learn that your baby suffered a birth injury when your physicians diagnose Cerebral palsy or mental retardation, or when you observe, as your baby grows, that he fails to meet his milestones. It may be that you notice that one of your baby's arms is limp or weak, and your physicians tell you that your baby has suffered Erbs palsy or brachial plexus injury, possibly reassuring you that the weakness will resolve within a month, but you find that the arm does not regain normal strength.

If your baby has been diagnosed with any of these conditions, or if you have noticed any of these conditions in your baby or child, it is important that you obtain the representation of a highly qualified California birth injury lawyer and obstetrical malpractice attorney to investigate whether your baby's condition may have been the result of obstetrical, neonatal, hospital or pediatric physician negligence.

Immediately below we will discuss briefly some of the more common birth injuries that may occur as the result of obstetical negligence. Below that we provide our more complete credentials as your California obstetrical malpractice attorneys and birth injury lawyers of choice. California birth injury lawyer, Ray Henke's trial lawyer credentials are also set forth in the right column of this page. In the left column should be identified our most recent jury verdicts in birth injury and medical malpractice litigation.

After reviewing our credentials, our California obstetrical malpractice lawyers and birth injury attorneys welcome you to contact us for a free consultation. You may submit the e-mail form "Obstetrical Malpradtice Birth Injury Lawyers Case Evaluation Request" and our nationally acclaimed California medical malpractice attorney, Ray Henke, will call you to discuss the facts of your case, your baby or child's condition, his or her diagnosis, and information or recollections you may have of the events transpiring during the delivery and immediate post birth period, and he will provide you his initial impressions and recommendations absolutely free of charge. Our obstetrical malpractice lawyers and birth injury attorneys represent victims of medical negligence in Northern and Southern California, in Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area, in San Diego Orange County San Bernardino the San Fernando Valley Ventura Santa Barbara Fresno Santa Clara County San Jose Oakland Berkeley and Sacramento. We are here to serve you in any county in the State of California.

Brain Injury, Brain Damage, Delayed Development, Mental Retardation, Seizure Disorder, and Cerebral Palsy Can All Result From Hospital Staff and Obstetrician, Midwife or Physician Negligence. These Birth Injuries Can Also Result From Natural Causes. Therefore, It is Important to Obtain A Qualified California Brain Injury Lawyer and Obstetrical Malpractice Attorney Review and Investigation to Determine if The Injuries Were Caused By the Negligence of a Health Care Provider. Our Birth Injury Lawyers and Obstetrical Malpractice Attorneys Serve Southern and Northern California from the San Francisco Bay Area to Los Angeles, San Diego Orange County San Jose Oakland and Sacramento. We are Here to Serve You.

Brain injuries sustained at birth may be due to a number of causes, including oxygen deprivation, hypoxia, or traumatic brain injury. There are a number of failures of hospital staff and obstetricians which can lead to brain injury. The hospital staff may not properly or timely apply fetal monitoring or fail to properly assess fetal distress, or they may fail to act sufficiently quickly to alert the mother's obstetrician or the appropriate specialists to deliver the baby by cesarean section before the baby sustains brain damage. The obstetrician may fail to recognize fetal distress or delay delivery including by cesarean section to assure that the baby's brain is not deprived of oxygen.

There are a number of ways that an appropriately qualified California birth injury attorney and hospital and obstetrical malpractice lawyer can help to discover whether the hospital staff or obstetrician complied with the applicable standards of care. Obtaining the fetal monitor strips, the recording of the of the baby's heart beat in utero, may provide obvious evidence that the hospital staff or obstetrician failed to recognize or appropriately act to deliver the baby before it had sustained brain damage. The obstetrician sometimes will cause a traumatic brain injury during the delivery by his or her negligence in pulling the baby's head out of the birth canal manually or with forceps. The consequences of the brain damage thus inflicted are many, depending upon the aspects of the brain which are injured. Where the fetus suffers hypoxia, the baby may be born "blue," and have other indicators of hypoxia leading to a low APGAR score, which can also serve as important evidence of the specific precipitating cause of the baby's brain damage and the hospital staff's or obstetrician's negligence. If the baby's head is grossly misshapen following delivery this may also be an indicator that brain damage resulting from a traumatic brain injury sustained at delivery. Often testing will be done, such as CT or MRI scans, which will also provide evidence of brain hemorrhage indicative of traumatic brain injury sustained at delivery. The parents may not be aware of magnitude or the significance of the duration of their baby's fetal distress or their baby's APGAR scores, and traumatic brain injury may not be obvious to them as their physicians explain the their baby's initially misshapen head as normal. But the evidence will remain in the hospital charts, in the fetal monitor recordings, in the APGAR scores, the nurses notes, the physicians notes, the records of the results of MRI or CT scans and other tests. It is for this reason that it is important when the parents discover that their baby is brain damaged, or diagnosed with cerebral palsy or mild, moderate or profound mental retardation, that they obtain a consultation from a qualified California birth injury attorney and hospital and obstetrical malpractice lawyer. If upon review of the facts the California birth injury lawyer is suspicious that the baby's brain damage may have resulted from hospital negligence or obstetrical malpractice, with the parents agreement and written authorization, he will obtain the medical records and have them reviewed by an appropriately qualified medical specialist. In most cases this is the only way to confidently determine whether a baby's brain injury may have resulted from the negligence of the involved health care professionals.

Brain injury occurring at birth may manifest in the baby in a number of ways which may be obvious soon after birth or may only become obvious to the parents and even their physicians much later, as baby fails to develop as the parents monitor the baby's progress in achieving expected milestones. The baby may have seizures within the first 24 hours after birth, or may not, or may evidence poor sucking, poor muscle strength, or blue colored skin, which are immediate indicators of possible brain damage; or the baby may suffer deficiencies in motor development, often the result of Cerebral Palsy, or the baby may be diagnosed as mildly or moderately or profoundly mentally retarded. Parents whose baby suffers these symptoms or diagnoses indicative of brain damage should want to find out the cause, and that is where the California birth injury lawyer and obstetrical malpractice attorney can be of aid. If you suspect that your baby may have been brain damaged as the result of hospital negligence or physician malpractice, or if your child suffers from seizure disorder, delayed development, Cerebral palsy or mental retardation and want to discover whether their child's condition may have resulted from hospital negligence or obstetrical malpractice, you are welcome to submit the form e-mail "Obstetrical Malpractice Attorneys Case Evaluation Request" and our California birth injury lawyers will call you within 24 hours to discuss with you the nature of your child's condition, such facts as you may be aware of pertaining to the child's prenatal and obstetrical care leading up to his or her birth, we will provide you our initial impressions and recommendations, and if both the parents and attorney together decide that it would be appropriate to conduct a further investigation, to obtain the medical records and have them reviewed by an appropriately qualified medical specialist, we can elect to do so. Our consultation is free of charge and without any obligation. Our California obstetrical malpractice lawyers and birth injury attorneys serve Northern and Southern California, from Los Angeles to the San Francisco Bay Area, Berkeley and Oakland, Santa Clara County, San Jose and Sacramento, Orange County and San Diego. We welcome the opportunity to serve you by offering our free consultations, implying no obligation whatsoever.

Shoulder Dystocia, Brachial Plexus Injury and Erbs Palsy. Our California Birth Injury Lawyers and Obstetrical Malpractice Attorneys Describe The Symptoms, And Possible Contribution That Obstetrical Negligence May Play In Causing These Injuries. Our Birth Injury Attorneys and Obstetrical Malpractice Lawyers Serve Our Clients in Southern and Northern California from Los Angeles to the San Francisco Bay Area from San Diego to Sacramento, in Orange County Fresno San Jose and Oakland. We Welcome the Opportunity to Serve You.

Brachial plexus injury and Erb's palsy usually occurs as the result of the use of excessive force in delivering the baby after one of the baby's shoulders becomes lodged behind the mother's pubic bone. This is called "shoulder dystocia" which can almost always be overcome by appropriate techniques of manipulation. But it is an obstetrical complication which if not appropriately handled by the obstetrician can lead to brachial plexus injury and Erbs palsy. Shoulder dystocia occurs during birth, after delivery of the baby's head, when the baby's anterior shoulder gets stuck behind the mother's pubic bone, and the baby then doesn't follow out the vagina as it usually would do in normal vaginal deliveries. In much of the older obstetrical literature it is urged that shoulder dystocia cannot be anticipated accurately, or predicted by obstetricians. But there have been significant advances in recent years and several investigators have confirmed a link between maternal size, fetal weight and shoulder dystocia. (Gudmundsson, 2005, Dyachenko, Hamilton, 2006) Emily Hamilton in Montreal Canada has published a screening technique by which it can be predicted the majority of pregnant women whose births will result in shoulder dystocia. Id. This predictive tool, the CALM Shoulder Screen, is currently being applied clinically, and predictive management of shoulder dystocia, as this page is being updated in early 2007, is now becoming accepted as the obstetrical standard of care. Since at least the late 1990s there has been medical literature suggesting that shoulder dystocia could be predicted. (Hassan, 1998). As suggested by the author: "In the majority of cases shoulder dystocia can be anticipated. Risk factors include maternal obesity, diabetes, preclampsia, prolonged gestation and fetal macrosomia." Many obstetricians still insist that shoulder dystocia cannot be predicted with certainty, but there is no doubt that the mother's size and baby's size and the other factors above should suggest to the obstetrician that the delivery may present a high risk for shoulder dystocia and that he should consider the greater safety of delivery by cesarean section. There are other factors too which should add to the obstetrician's concern that the delivery presents a high risk for shoulder dystocia, such as the mother's previous delivery involving shoulder dystocia, given that the woman's pelvic anatomy doesn't change between pregnancies, and is a significant contributory factor to shoulder dystocia.

Where there is evidence that there is a high risk of shoulder dystocia, either from the CALM Shoulder Screen or from the patient history and clinical information, there are a number of options available to obstetricians to avoid the specter of shoulder dystocia including performing an elective cesarean section or to induce labor before the expectant mother's due date to prevent the babies from growing too large to safely deliver vaginally, and an attempt may be made also to limit maternal weight gain and the likelihood of fetal macrosomia through diet and blood sugar control.

Where it is determine that the baby's size creates a substantial risk of shoulder dystocia, delivery by cesarean section may be essential to avoid the risk of brachial plexus injury. O'Leary, 2002, stated: "The presence of macrosomia of 4500 g alone is justification for cesarean section in nonobese women. The presence of macrosomia of 4000-4500 g may in itself be sufficient to warrant abdominal delivery when other risk factors, especially a platypoid (flat) pelvis, diabetes and/or obesity, are present."

Where the mother is diabetic there is even greater agreement that the fetus should be delivered by cesarean section if the fetus is large. Specifically, Langer (1991) stated that "If all infants of diabetic mothers who weighed 4250 g or more were delivered by cesarean section, the overall cesarean section rate would increase by only 0.26% while shoulder dystocia would be reduced by 76%, for infants of diabetic gravidas whose best estimated fetal weight exceeds 4000 grams."

If the shoulder dystocia is not anticipated by the obstetrician and the vaginal delivery progresses, the first duty of the obstetrician is to recognize the shoulder dystocia. There are signs which should alert the obstetrician to shoulder dystocia, including (1) when the baby's body does not emerge with standard, moderate traction and the mother pushing after the fetal head is delivered; and, (2) what obstetricians refer to as "the turtle sign," occurring when the fetal head suddenly retracts back against the mother's perineum after it emerges from the vagina. The baby's cheeks bulge, as obstetricians describe it, resembling a turtle pulling its head back into its shell. The obstetrician should at that point recognize that the baby's anterior shoulder has been caught on the back of the mother's pubic bone, preventing the delivery of the remainder of the baby's body.

Birth injuries occurring in attempting to extract the baby, such as brachial plexus palsy and Erbs palsy most commonly occur as the result of the obstetricians failure to follow standard maneuvers to free the shoulder from its maternal pelvic entrapment or the obstetrician's use of excessive force in traction. Amost all shoulder dystocias can and should be resolved without injury to the baby with the application of the appropriate set of maneuvers.

When the signs of shoulder dystocia are present the obstetrician should immediately call for a second obstetrician and additional nursing staff. A neonatologist or qualified pediatrician should also be called to be available to evaluate the baby and be ready to resuscitate the baby after delivery if necessary. An anesthesiologist should be summoned. One of the hospital staff should be ordered to call out the time at intervals, and another of the hospital staff should be ordered to take notes to record the timing of events.

One benign maneuver commonly used just as a part of a normal delivery to prophylactically reduce the potential for shoulder dystocia is the McRoberts maneuver. If the McRoberts maneuver was not employed before hand, then it should certainly be employed as soon as shoulder dystocia is recognized. The McRoberts maneuver involves flexing the mother's legs back upon her abdomen; the symphysis pubis is rotated cephalad and the sacrum is straightened, and in a high percentage of shoulder dystocias this maneuver by itself will suffice to free the baby's impacted anterior shoulder. A second maneuver after shoulder dystocia is recognized is to apply "suprapubic pressure" to manually dislodge the shoulder from behind the symphysis pubis. The obstetrician performs the maneuver by placing his or her fist just above the maternal pubic bone and pushes the baby's shoulder in one direction or another. Suprapubic pressure when used in conjunction with McRoberts maneuver resolves 50-60% of shoulder dystocias. Neither the McRoberts maneuver nor suprapubic pressure involves direct manipulation of the fetus, so that it is extremely unlikely that either of the procedures will injure the baby. If these manipulations fail to free the shoulder, at this point a large mediolateral episiotomy should be performed. Another maneuver, if the baby still can't be delivered, is what obstetricians call the "Wood screw" procedure, a progressive rotation of the shoulder designed to release the impacted shoulder, also presenting the advantage of flexing the baby's shoulders across its chest, thus decreasing the distance between the shoulders and decreasing the shoulder dimension that must fit through the mother's pelvis. Another effective maneuver is for the obstetrician to deliver the posterior arm. The obstetrician places his hand behind the baby's posterior shoulder, locates the arm, sweeps the arm across the baby's chest and out. When the posterior arm and shoulder are delivered, it is then easy for the obstetrician to rotate the baby and free the anterior shoulder, allowing delivery of the baby. There is some minor risk associated with this later procedure, but not a risk of serious injury to the baby. The risk is that the procedure might fracture the baby's humerus. But almost all humeral fractures heal quickly, and without permanent damage, so this is a reasonable procedure for the obstetrician to adopt when other maneuvers have not worked. When the obstatrician follows the accepted, standard of care, maneuvers, the baby will be delivered without brachial plexus injury.

Erb's Palsy or Brachial plexus palsy is diagnosed when it appears that the infant can move one arm but not the other. The arm will appear limp. The inability to move the arm is a symptom of injury to the brachial plexus. It is generally recognized that brachial plexus injury and Erbs palsy result from excessive downward traction by the obstetrician on the fetal head during delivery of the anterior shoulder. This may occur if the obstetrician fails to recognize shoulder dystocia or where he fails to use the standard of care techniques of manipulation. When excessive force is used, the brachial plexus over-stretches, resulting in the injury.

The brachial plexus is the network of nerves governing movement and sensation to the arm. Injury occurs by the stretching or tearing of these brachial plexus nerves. If the upper nerves are stretched or torn, the condition is labeled Erbs palsy. Generally speaking, while the infant may not be able to move the arm, he may be able to move his fingers. Injuries that involve both the upper and lower nerves are more severe, resulting in a condition called global palsy. There are four types of nerve injuries to the brachial plexus. Avulsion injuries occur when a nerve is torn from its attachment to the spinal cord, and this is the most serious of brachial plexus injuries. Another is rupture injuries where the nerve is torn, but not from the spinal cord. Neuroma injuries result from scar tissue that forms and puts pressure on the nerve. Stretch injuries, referred to as neurapraxia, involve damage to the nerve but do not involve a tear. These are the most common and most likely to heal on their own, without the necessity for surgery.

A newborn with Erbs palsy will be recognized from one arm hanging limp at the baby's side, often slightly turned with a bent wrist and straight fingers. If it is noted that the baby has a droopy eyelid on the same side as the limp arm, this generally indicates the baby may have suffered a more severe injury. CT or MRI studies may be performed to look for damage to the bones or joints of the neck or shoulder. Electromyogram studies or nerve conduction studies may be performed to see if nerve signals are present in the upper arm muscle. If the infant's symptoms do not resolve over the first three months of life, then nerve surgery can prove helpful, but surgery more than a year after birth will not restore normal function.

If your baby has been diagnosed with brachial plexus injury or Erb's palsy, you may wish to consult our California birth injury lawyers and obstetrical malpractice lawyers. We provide our initial consultations free of charge. You may contact our California birth injury lawyers by submitting the form e-mail "Obstetrical Malpractice Attorneys Case Evaluation Request." We serve as brachial plexus lawyers and Erbs palsy attorneys in Northern and Southern California, in Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area, San Diego Orange County Fresno Santa Clara County San Jose Berkeley Oakland and Sacramento. If you contact us Mr. Henke will provide an initial consultation in which he will ask you about your baby or child's condition, the events you recall surrounding your baby's delivery, and he will provide you his initial impressions and recommendations. If you and Mr. Henke decide to move forward with additional investigation, with your agreement and authorization, he will obtain the hospital chart for the delivery and your obstetrician's records, and obtain a review of the records by an appropriately qualified independent obstetrician to provide his unbiased and candid opinions as to the cause of the brachial plexus injury and whether there is evidence that the obstetrician fell below the applicable standard of medical care. We welcome your call and the opportunity to speak with you.

Our Qualifications as California Birth Injury Lawyers and Obstetrical Malpractice Attorneys for Cerebral Palsy, Brain Injury, Mental Retardation, Seizure Disorder, Brachial Plexus Injury and Erbs Palsy Cases. We Are Nationally Acclaimed And Highly Experienced and Successful Medical Malpractice Lawyers and Birth Defect Attorneys. Our California Birth Injury and Obstetrical Malpractice Lawyers Are Your Medical Malpractice and Hospital Negligence Lawyers of Choice for Northern and Southern California in the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles, San Diego Orange County San Bernardino the San Fernando Valley Ventura Santa Barbara Fresno San Jose Santa Clara County Oakland and Berkeley.

California birth injury lawyer and obstetrical malpractice attorney, Ray Henke, is "AV" rated by Martindale and Hubbell, the highest lawyer and law firm rankings awarded by the most highly respected lawyer rating directory in the United States. Martindale and Hubbell determines the lawyer's ratings by conducting interviews with the judges before whom he has practiced and by interviewing other highly regarded attorneys in the state in which the lawyer practices. The "A" means as "high to preeminent" in "legal ability"; the "V" means "very high" in general ethical standards. As stated by Martindale Hubbell: "AV Peer Review Rating — shows that a lawyer has reached the height of professional excellence. He or she has usually practiced law for many years, and is recognized for the highest levels of skill and integrity."

Obstetrical malpractice lawyer, hospital negligence attorney and birth injury lawyer, Ray Henke, is a former Governor of the Los Angeles Trial Lawyers Association, nominated by the Board of the Association for the coveted "Trial Lawyer of the Year Award" specifically for his extraordinary work in a medical malpractice trial representing 5 individual claimants against a hospital and physicians and surgeons, which resulted in a multimillion dollar jury verdict including $1,900,000.00 punitive damage verdict against the hospital.

Birth injury lawyer, hospital negligence and obstetrical and medical malpractice lawyer, Ray Henke, has received national acclaim for his trial work specifically in medical malpractice and hospital negligence cases. His trial work in medical malpractice and hospital malpractice cases has been chronicled in scores of legitimate national newspapers, from the front page of the New York Times to the front page of the Los Angeles Times, from the Washington Post to the San Francisco Chronicle and Examiner. Attorney Henke's trial work specifically in medical malpractice and hospital negligence cases has been the subject of California and national legal journal articles, including the National Law Journal and California Lawyer. His hospital negligence and medical malpractice cases have been the subject of feature segments on legitimate national and international television news programs such as Tom Brokaw's NBC Nightly News and CNN. Mr. Henke has testified before Congress, at the invitation of the Chairman of the Judiciary Committee of the United States House of Representatives, specifically with regard to his prosecution of medical malpractice and hospital negligence cases and his positive use of punitive damages claims to set examples of the bad practice of the physicians and hospitals so that their conscious disregard for lives and health their patients would not be repeated again by them or any other hospitals or physicians in the country.

As a trial lawyer, attorney Henke has obtained many multimillion dollar settlements and jury verdicts, specifically in California medical malpractice litigation and birth injury cases. Henke is listed as one of the "Top Lawyers in America," a member of the "Million Dollar Advocates Forum" commonly referred to as "the most prestigious lawyer organization in the United States."

California obstetrical malpractice lawyer and birth injury attorney, Ray Henke, obtained his Juris Doctorate degree from the University of San Francisco where he served on the Law Review, received the American Jurisprudence Award and externed while in law school at the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Birth injury and medical malpractice attorney, Henke, has written more than 30 legal articles, many of them on topics pertaining to medical negligence, including on effective strategies for the prosecution of medical malpractice litigation, published in "Trial," the "Forum" and the "Advocate," the legal journals of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, the California Trial Lawyers Association and the Los Angeles Trial Lawyers Association. Medical malpractice attorney, Ray Henke, also served in the prestigious office of Editor-in-Chief of the LATLA "Advocate" Journal for several years. LATLA and CTLA have subsequently changed their names to the Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles and the Consumer Attorneys Association of California.

If your child has suffered a birth injury, if he or she has been diagnosed as suffering from brain damage, cerebral palsy, mental retardation, brachial plexus injury or Erb's palsy, or if you suspect that your child may be brain damaged or suffer from a birth injury or birth defect resulting from obstetrical malpractice or hospital negligence, please feel welcome to contact our California obstetrical malpractice lawyers, hospital negligence attorneys and birth injury lawyers for a free consultation. You may submit our "California Obstetrical Malpractice Lawyers - Birth Injury Attorneys Case Evaluation Request" and we will be pleased to discuss the facts of your child's birth injury, any information you may have with regard to the events which may have contribute to the injury, and we will provide you the benefit of our thoughts, impressions and recommendations. We are here to serve you in every county in Northern and Southern California, from San Diego to Sacramento, in the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles, in Oakland and Berkley Santa Clara County San Jose Fresno Santa Barbara Ventura the San Fernando Valley San Bernardino and Orange County.

What Should the Parent of a Child Born With Birth Injuries Look for In a California Obstetrical Malpractice Lawyer, Hospital Negligence Attorney and Birth Injury Lawyer?

You Have the Right to Inquire About Your Prospective California Obstetrical Medical Malpractice Attorneys and Birth Injury Lawyers' Qualifications. And Should Do So.

All good California birth injury lawyers and obstetrical malpractice lawyers should see the sense of your wanting to assure that you will be properly represented in your obstetrical or hospital birth injury case, and should be willing and happy to answer any and all questions you have about their qualifications as medical malpractice lawyers and as hospital negligence lawyers, and their track records specifically in medical malpractice and birth injury cases.

Below we provide a number of specific questions you may wish to ask any California birth injury lawyers or hospital or medical malpractice lawyers whom you would consider to represent you in your obstetrical malpractice or hospital negligence birth injury case.

California medical malpractice birth injury attorney, Ray Henke, will also provide specific and straightforward answers each of the questions, in which he will describe his qualifications as a California medical malpractice, birth injury and hospital negligence attorney, his standing in the California trial lawyer community, some of his accomplishments as a California medical malpractice lawyer, his national recognition as a medical malpractice lawyer, and his track record, including in medical malpractice and hospital negligence litigation.

Qualification Questions To Ask Any California Obstetrical Malpractice Lawyers, Hospital Negligence and Birth Injury Attorneys Whom You Would Consider To Represent You.

QUESTION: Is the California obstetrical malpractice lawyer rated by Martindale and Hubbell? And if so, what is his "Legal Ability" rating and "General Ethical Standards" rating?

ANSWER: California birth injury lawyer, Ray Henke's answer is that he has the very highest Martindale & Hubbell rating, "AV." "A" refers to "very high to preeminent" in "legal ability, the "V" is defined as "very high" in "general ethical standards." It is a rating that Henke has received for all of the past two decades of his career. According to Martindale Hubbell: "AV Peer Review Rating shows that a lawyer has reached the height of professional excellence. He or she has usually practiced law for many years, and is recognized for the highest levels of skill and integrity."

QUESTION: Has the California birth injury attorney served as prosecuting counsel in substantial medical malpractice and birth injury litigation, and then obtained substantial settlements and jury verdicts?

ANSWER: California obstetrical malpractice lawyer, Ray Henke, has served as lead counsel in many serious injury cases over the course of his career and has obtained numerous substantial settlements and jury verdicts, including specifically, multimillion dollar settlements and multimillion dollar jury verdicts in some of the most complex California medical malpractice, hospital negligence and birth injury cases. Examples demonstrating the breadth of Mr. Henke's trial successes in medical negligence cases include a $1.5 million dollar settlement in a birth injury limb defect case, a 3.8 million dollar gross jury verdict in a failure to diagnose atrial myxoma case, atrial myxomas being the most rare tumors in the human body; and most recently, a 2.9 million dollar jury verdict in a hospital negligence and medical malpractice case in which Mr. Henke tried the consolidated cases of 5 plaintiffs in one 4 month trial against multiple physician and hospital defendants.

Required Disclaimer. The results obtained in those cases were dependent upon the facts of the cases, and the results will differ in other cases based on different facts.

QUESTION: Have the California obstetrical malpractice and hospital negligence birth injury lawyers been recognized by their peers as established, superior trial attorneys?

ANSWER: California medical malpractice attorney, Henke, was elected, and then reelected again and again Governor of the Los Angeles Trial Lawyers Association by the membership of this 5th largest trial lawyer association in the United States. LATLA was subsequently renamed Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles.

Malpractice lawyer, Ray Henke was nominated by the LATLA Board for the most highly coveted "Trial Lawyer of the Year" Award, specifically for his successful prosecution of a hospital and medical malpractice litigation.

Attorney Henke served for several years in the prestigious position of the Editor-in-Chief of LATLA's legal journal, "THE ADVOCATE."

QUESTION: Have the California obstetrical malpractice attorneys and birth injury lawyers obtained positive recognition in and outside the legal profession?

ANSWER: Medical and hospital malpractice birth injury attorney, Henke, has a national reputation as an effective, determined and successful California medical malpractice trial attorney as reflected in scores of newspaper articles about his legal work specifically in medical malpractice and hospital negligence cases in legitimate national newspapers from the front page of the New York Times to the front page of the Los Angeles Times, from the Washington Post to the San Francisco Chronicle/Examiner, in national legal periodicals from California Lawyer to the National Law Journal, and national and international television, Tom Brokaw's NBC Evening News, CNN. Attorney Henke has also testified before Congress at the invitation of the Chairman of the Judiciary Committee of the United States House of Representatives specifically about his California legal work in several medical malpractice cases, including his use of claims for punitive damages to set examples of the physician and hospital defendants who consciously disregarded the safety, health and rights of Henke's medical malpractice claimants.

QUESTION: Can the California obstetrical malpractice lawyer and birth injury attorney verify that he is an effective legal advocate. Can he cite to important published appellate victories he has achieved, including in significant medical malpractice and birth injury cases? The California medical malpractice lawyers appellate success matters because it is a good measure of the medical malpractice attorney's vitally important general ability to argue and persuade on legal issues. It is an ability that is not just essential on medical malpractice appeals. It is an ability essential to the California medical malpractice or birth injury attorneys effectiveness in meeting all the big and small challenges presented at every stage of medical malpractice litigation, e.g., in pretrial motions, which can seriously affect settlement posture as well as the respective parties' important advantages or disadvantages at the medical malpractice trial. Your California medical malpractice and hospital negligence attorneys' willingness to ask the appellate court to immediately reverse a bad pretrial decision that guts the medical malpractice case may also be essential to achieve the quickest and best result. Your California birth injury lawyers' legal advocacy is also a talent essential during a medical malpractice trial, as the obstetrical or hospital malpractice lawyers must be able to effectively argue legal issues, e.g., the defendant's admission fault or the inadmissibility of the plaintiff's prejudicial medical or character evidence, and perhaps most critically for the medical malpractice case, the permissibility or impermissibility of medical malpractice expert opinion testimony. Then, if you "hit big" at trial, the defendant physician or hospital is almost certain to appeal your favorable malpractice verdict, and you may then require superior legal advocacy to hold on to your victory.

ANSWER:

Attorney Henke has had extraordinary published and verifiable appellate victories, both in medical malpractice cases and birth injury cases. As one example, in a birth injury drug product liability class action case, on behalf of a single aggrieved child with limb defects, attorney Henke obtained the reversal of a $120,000,000.00 Ohio Federal District Court approved settlement purporting to bind 1000 birth injured claimants joined in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of Ohio and all others suffering birth injuries nationwide as the result of the pharmaceutical product. On a petition for writ of mandate to the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, California birth injury attorney, Ray Henke also obtained the reversal of the Ohio Federal District Court's certification of a national mandatory class action. Attorney Henke's argument, accepted by the Court of Appeals as requiring both decisions was that attorney Henke's infant client with a substantial limb defect, was denied his right to the representation of the California attorney of his parents choice and control over their individual California litigation. The appellate decision effected an important and enduring change in the federal law severely restricting the availability of mandatory, as opposed to voluntary class actions in mass birth injury pharmaceutical liability litigation.

As another example, when a California trial judge applied newly enacted tort reform legislation to deprive Attorney Henke's medical malpractice clients of their punitive damage claims against their physicians and hospital, attorney Henke obtained a stay of the trial and filed in the California Court of Appeals an "extraordinary writ" seeking an immediate reversal of the California trial court's order. The California Court of Appeals granted the writ of mandamus, ordering the California trial judge to reverse its order and permit attorney Henke's medical malpractice clients to pursue their punitive damage claims against the physicians and hospital. The California Court of Appeals also rendered an important published appellate opinion reinterpreting the repressive California medical malpractice tort reform legislation to deprive it of its unconstitutionally oppressive force and effect.

The California medical malpractice lawyers recognition by Martindale Hubbell, his recognition by his peers, his local and national reputation, his medical malpractice trial successes and his appellate successes in medical malpractice and birth injury cases are all matters which you should want to inquire about in selecting the right California medical malpractice lawyer for your serious injury case. If your child suffers from cerebral palsy or other brain injury or brain damage, mental retardation, Erbs palsy or other brachial plexus plexus injury and you suspect that your child's injury may have resulted from the negligence of a health care provider, please consider that you are welcome to contact our California birth injury lawyers and hospital and obstetrical malpractice attorneys whether your case arises in Northern or Southern California in Los Angeles or the San Francisco Bay Area or in San Diego Orange County San Bernardino Ventura Santa Barbara Fresno Santa Clara County San Jose Berkley Oakland or Sacramento. We welcome the opportunity to speak with you, to learn about your child's birth injury, to explore any information you may have with regard to the delivery events which may have caused your child's birth injury and to explore with you also whether it might be prudent for us, with your authorization, to obtain your child's medical records and have them reviewed by an appropriately qualified medical specialist.<br><br>
You may contact us by submitting the "California Birth Injury Lawyers and Obstetrical Malpractice Attorneys Case Evaluation Request" and Mr. Henke personally will call you within 24 hours to discuss the facts of your birth injury case and offer his impressions and recommendations.

Our California Birth Injury Attorneys and Hospital and Obstetrical Malpractice Laywers Serve Those Who Have Suffered Birth Injuries, Cerebral Palsy, Brain Injury, Seizure Disorder, Mental Retardation, Braichial Plexus Injury and Erbs Palsy in Southern, Central and Northern California. Our California Birth Injury Lawyers and Obstetrical Malpractice Lawyers Represent Birth Injured Children in Hospital and Medical Malpractice litigation in San Diego and Los Angeles, Orange County Riverside and San Bernardino, Ventura and Santa Barbara, Fresno, the San Francisco Bay Area, Berkeley and Oakland Santa Clara and San Jose and Sacramento.

For a free consultation with our California birth injury lawyers, hospital and obstetrical malpractice attorneys, you may submit the "California Birth Injury Attorneys Case Evaluation Request" from anywhere in California, and you will speak Mr. Henke directly. As California birth injury attorneys and obstetrical malpractice lawyers we serve all of Southern Central and Northern California in every county from Los Angeles County and Orange County to Marin County to San Juaquin, Kern County, Ventura. County, Imperial County, Kings County, and the Inland Empire. As California birth injury attorneys we will consider representing infants and children suffering from cerebral palsy, other brain injury, mental retardation, seizure disorder, braichial plexus injury and Erbs palsy in Southern California from San Diego to Los Angeles and Beverly Hills as well as in Pasadena and Santa Monica, the San Fernando Valley Burbank Van Nuys Encino Sherman Oaks Thousand Oaks Torrence and Woodland Hills, Pomona Santa Ana Bakersfield Riverside and San Bernardino, Ventura County and Santa Barbara. Our California birth injury laywers and obstetrical malpractice atorneys will also represent infants and children with brain injury including cerebral palsy, as well as children with Erbs palsy and braichial plexus injury in Northern California, the San Francisco Bay Area, San Jose Santa Clara Palo Alto Berkeley Oakland and Sacramento as well as Fresno and all of Central California. California birth injury lawyer, Ray Henke is licensed to practice in all the Courts of the State of California and will be pleased to consider the medical malpractice cases in any County in the state.