Orlando and Orange County are home to some of Florida's most prominent medical institutions. Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children — part of Orlando Health — is a nationally recognized pediatric hospital and one of the busiest neonatal intensive care units in the southeastern United States. AdventHealth Orlando (formerly Florida Hospital) is one of the largest hospitals in the country by bed count. Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women & Babies, also part of Orlando Health, is one of the highest-volume delivery hospitals in the United States.

The volume and prestige of these institutions does not make them immune to error. Birth injuries — including hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE), cerebral palsy, brachial plexus injuries, and neonatal brain bleeds — occur at hospitals of every size and reputation. When a birth injury results from preventable medical error, Florida law gives families the right to seek justice.

HIE is brain damage caused by oxygen and blood flow deprivation to the baby's brain around the time of birth. It is one of the most serious and most preventable birth injuries. Common causes include:

• Failure to recognize and respond to abnormal fetal heart rate patterns on electronic fetal monitoring
• Delayed emergency cesarean section when fetal distress is identified
• Umbilical cord prolapse or compression that is not promptly managed
• Placental abruption that is not recognized and treated in time
• Uterine rupture in VBAC deliveries
• Failure to diagnose and treat maternal infections (chorioamnionitis, GBS)

HIE can cause cerebral palsy, intellectual disabilities, epilepsy, vision and hearing impairment, and death. The severity of the outcome depends in part on how quickly the oxygen deprivation is recognized and treated — including whether therapeutic hypothermia (cooling therapy) is initiated within six hours of birth.

Cerebral palsy is a group of permanent movement disorders caused by brain damage before, during, or shortly after birth. Children with cerebral palsy may require lifelong physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, adaptive equipment, and personal care assistance. The lifetime cost of care for a child with severe cerebral palsy can exceed $10 million.

Brachial plexus injuries occur when the nerves controlling the arm and hand are stretched or torn during delivery, typically in shoulder dystocia cases. These injuries are often caused by excessive traction applied by the delivering physician.

Failure to screen for Group B streptococcus (GBS) and administer prophylactic antibiotics can result in neonatal sepsis and meningitis — serious infections that can cause brain damage, hearing loss, and death.

Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women & Babies is one of the highest-volume delivery hospitals in the United States, delivering more than 13,000 babies per year. As part of Orlando Health — a private, not-for-profit health system — Winnie Palmer is not subject to Florida's sovereign immunity statute. Birth injury claims against Winnie Palmer proceed under standard Florida medical malpractice law.

The sheer volume of deliveries at Winnie Palmer creates specific risks: staffing ratios, communication failures between nurses and physicians, and the management of multiple simultaneous high-risk deliveries can all contribute to birth injury risk.

Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children provides neonatal intensive care for critically ill newborns and is a major referral center for birth injury cases in Central Florida. Birth injury claims involving Arnold Palmer often arise from NICU care failures — delayed diagnosis of HIE, failure to initiate cooling therapy within the required window, or errors in neonatal resuscitation.

AdventHealth Orlando (formerly Florida Hospital Orlando) is one of the largest hospitals in the United States by bed count. As a private, faith-based institution, AdventHealth is not subject to sovereign immunity. Birth injury claims against AdventHealth proceed under standard Florida medical malpractice law.

UCF Health and HCA Florida Osceola Hospital serve the Kissimmee and Osceola County areas, which are part of the greater Orlando metropolitan area. These private institutions are not subject to sovereign immunity.

Florida's medical malpractice statute (§766.106, Fla. Stat.) requires a mandatory pre-suit investigation before a birth injury lawsuit can be filed:

1. Notice of intent to initiate litigation — served on all prospective defendants
2. 90-day investigation period — during which the defendant's insurer investigates the claim
3. Verified written medical expert opinion — a qualified expert must review the records and provide a written opinion that the standard of care was breached

The pre-suit process must be initiated before the statute of limitations expires. For birth injuries to minors, the statute of limitations is tolled until the child's eighth birthday, but the absolute four-year cap from the date of the incident still applies in most cases.

Florida's NICA program (§766.301–766.316, Fla. Stat.) provides no-fault compensation for certain birth-related neurological injuries at participating hospitals. Orlando Health and AdventHealth are NICA-participating hospital systems. Whether a birth injury qualifies for NICA — and whether NICA is the exclusive remedy — is a complex legal question. In many cases, families have the right to pursue a civil lawsuit even when NICA is involved.

Therapeutic hypothermia (cooling therapy) is the standard of care for newborns with moderate to severe HIE. To be effective, cooling must be initiated within six hours of birth. Failure to initiate cooling therapy within the required window — or failure to maintain the correct temperature protocol — is a form of medical negligence that can worsen the outcome for a baby with HIE.

If your baby was diagnosed with HIE at an Orlando hospital and cooling therapy was delayed or not offered, contact an attorney immediately to evaluate whether the delay constitutes medical negligence.

Recoverable damages in birth injury cases include:

• Past and future medical expenses — NICU care, surgeries, therapies, medications, adaptive equipment
• Future care costs — personal care attendants, residential facility costs, lifetime medical management
• Lost earning capacity — the child's projected lifetime earnings
• Pain and suffering — the child's physical pain and emotional distress
• Loss of enjoyment of life
• Parental damages — in wrongful death cases, mental pain and suffering of the parents

Economic damages in severe HIE and cerebral palsy cases routinely exceed $5 million to $15 million when lifetime care costs are properly calculated by a life care planner and economist.

Juan Cordero Lawyers represents Orlando and Orange County families in birth injury and HIE cases on a contingency fee basis — you pay nothing unless we win. If your baby suffered a birth injury at an Orlando hospital, call 305-525-8957 for a free consultation.

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• Birth Injury and HIE: When Is It Medical Malpractice?
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