Maryland Accident Law Blog
Last updated August 21, 2026 · Reviewed by Vadim A. Mzhen
Birth injuries are often identified years after the delivery that caused them. A child misses developmental milestones, a school evaluation raises questions, and a records review eventually points back to what happened during labor. Maryland’s limitations statute for medical claims anticipates that delay, and it treats injuries to young children differently from injuries to adults.
The general rule for a claim against a health care provider is the earlier of five years from when the injury was committed or three years from when it was discovered. For a child who was under 11 when the injury occurred, those periods do not begin to run at all until the child turns 11. A delivery injury to a newborn therefore has a clock that starts on the child’s eleventh birthday rather than at birth.
Timing is the question families raise first about Maryland birth injury claims, and it is where Lebowitz & Mzhen Personal Injury Lawyers usually starts when a family calls about a delivery that went wrong.
The Rule That Applies to a Child Injured at Birth
Maryland’s medical limitations statute is Md. Code, Cts. & Jud. Proc. § 5-109. Subsection (a) sets the general deadline at the earlier of five years from the injury or three years from discovery. Subsection (b) provides that where the claimant was under the age of 11 when the injury was committed, the subsection (a) periods commence when the claimant reaches 11.
The distinction worth holding onto is that subsection (b) postpones the start of the clock rather than lengthening the periods themselves. Both figures in subsection (a) still apply once the clock begins, and they still run against each other, so the operative deadline is whichever arrives first after the child’s eleventh birthday. A description of the rule as giving a child “until 21” or “extra years” states it incorrectly and can cost a family a claim.
Subsection (c) sets a parallel rule at age 16 rather than 11 for an injury to the reproductive system, or one caused by a foreign object negligently left in the body.
What Filing Actually Requires in Maryland
A Maryland medical negligence claim does not begin in circuit court. It begins with a filing in the Health Care Alternative Dispute Resolution Office under Title 3, Subtitle 2A of the Courts and Judicial Proceedings Article.
That filing carries a consequence families rarely know about and that occasionally saves a claim. Under § 5-109(d), filing with HCADRO counts as filing suit for limitations purposes, so a claim brought there within the deadline is timely even though nothing has yet been filed in court. The process also requires a certificate from a qualified expert, filed within a defined window after the claim, and that certificate requirement is a substantive obstacle rather than a formality.
Why Waiting Costs More Than Time
A later start on the clock is not the same as a reason to wait. Obstetric records, fetal monitoring strips, staffing assignments, and nursing notes are the evidence in these cases, and they become harder to obtain and harder to interpret as the years pass. Providers move, memories fade, and record retention schedules are not written with an eleven-year delay in mind.
The medical picture also matters to what a claim is worth. A child’s needs for therapy, equipment, and care become clearer with time, and a case brought years later can present those needs concretely. Both things can be true at once, which is why the practical answer is usually to preserve the records early. If your child was injured during delivery, requesting the complete obstetric file is worth doing now even if you are not ready to decide anything else. Claims involving injuries to minors and children frequently run on this longer arc.
We review delivery records with medical consultants before advising a family whether a claim exists, because the honest answer sometimes is that a difficult birth was not negligently managed. When the records do show a departure from the standard of care, we build the claim around what the documents show rather than around what anyone remembers. Our attorneys have handled medical negligence matters for Maryland families for many years, and no family should conclude a claim has expired without asking someone to check the dates.
Have the Deadlines in Your Child’s Case Checked
No family should decide a claim has expired without having the dates measured against § 5-109 first. Children and families from Baltimore City through Montgomery and Prince George’s Counties are represented by Lebowitz & Mzhen Personal Injury Lawyers. A free case evaluation is available at (800) 654-1949 or through the firm’s contact page. Birth injury claims are handled on contingency, so no fee is owed unless the firm recovers.