Kernicterus Lawyers in Philadelphia

Serving Clients Nationwide

Kernicterus can cause severe brain damage to a newborn baby and result in long-term disabilities and even death. If your child was diagnosed with kernicterus, contact the neonatal injury attorneys at Feldman Shepherd. We have extensive experience helping families navigate these heartbreaking cases and pursuing the justice and financial compensation their children deserve.

Understanding Kernicterus

Kernicterus is a rare but serious disease that occurs when severe jaundice in a newborn infant goes undiagnosed and untreated. Many medical experts believe kernicterus is a “never event,” meaning it is entirely preventable with quality and responsive medical care.

If your baby has kernicterus, you may have a medical malpractice claim against doctors, nurses, and other healthcare practitioners who failed to provide proper medical treatment. The malpractice claim is for the harm your child has suffered and for the lifetime cost of care and treatment for your child.

How Undiagnosed and Untreated Jaundice Leads to Kernicterus

Jaundice is a yellowing of the skin that commonly manifests during the first three to five days of an infant’s life. In fact, 60% of term newborns and nearly 80% of premature newborns will develop some level of jaundice without cause for concern.

Bilirubin Buildup

Jaundice is caused when the baby has too much of a pigment formed in the liver, called bilirubin, in his or her blood. Newborns cannot immediately process bilirubin, which causes the skin to turn yellow.

Untreated Hyperbilirubinemia

When too much bilirubin builds up in the child’s blood, this condition is known as hyperbilirubinemia. Hyperbilirubinemia, if left untreated, can result in the excess waste product traveling to the child’s brain. This causes brain cell death, often resulting in permanent sensory and cognitive disabilities, such as hearing loss and cerebral palsy.

Signs and Symptoms of Kernicterus

Common signs that a newborn with jaundice is at risk for kernicterus include:

Yellowing of the skin in the first 24 hours after birth
Yellowing of the whites of the eyes
Lethargy (the baby is not alert, difficult to wake up, or can’t be kept awake)
Shrill, high-pitched cry
Weak, limp, or floppy appearance
Tendency to lie unnaturally in bed, with the body arching or bowing upward when lying on the back

Many times, jaundice will go away without treatment. But its commonality can result in medical negligence when providers fail to recognize the small percentage of cases progressing to dangerous levels, thereby leading to a delay in critical care.

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Treating Severe Jaundice to Prevent Kernicterus

Treatment for jaundice includes:

Phototherapy

If jaundice is severe and treatment is required, the main treatment is to place the baby under special blue lights called “bili lights” for a number of hours, or medical providers can wrap the baby in a “bili-blanket.” This treatment is called phototherapy. It helps remove the bilirubin from the blood, which avoids the development of kernicterus.

Blood Transfusions

When a baby is severely jaundiced, doctors can also perform a blood transfusion to remove the extra bilirubin, referred to as an “exchange transfusion.”

Long-Term Medical Complications Caused by Kernicterus

Babies with kernicterus may suffer from long-term medical complications, including:

Athetoid cerebral palsy
Intellectual disabilities
Hearing loss or deafness
Problems with vision and teeth

Though some disabilities may improve with dedicated therapy, education, and assistive equipment, families typically struggle to cover the costs of this expensive care. All too often, medical insurers deny children with kernicterus complications the quality lifetime care they need, providing the bare minimum benefits instead. That’s why the neonatal injury attorneys at Feldman Shepherd are committed to securing comprehensive financial compensation that will ease the burden on your family and child.

Record-Breaking Recoveries in Kernicterus Cases

Since our firm’s founding in 1987, the neonatal attorneys at Feldman Shepherd have recovered millions of dollars in kernicterus cases.

Attorneys Daniel S. Weinstock and Carolyn M. Chopko obtained a record-setting $20 million settlement for a child who suffered kernicterus and cerebral palsy due to the healthcare providers’ negligence in failing to timely treat his hyperbilirubinemia.

The case arose when the child was born with an isoimmune hemolytic disease at a Central Pennsylvania hospital. That hospital recognized the child’s need for a higher level of care, based upon his severe anemia and hyperbilirubinemia, and transferred him to a regional medical center with a neonatal intensive care unit. In spite of what Weinstock and Chopko argued was clear evidence of the need to perform an immediate blood transfusion, the lifesaving treatment was delayed by nearly 40 hours and performed after the child had already developed kernicterus.

At the time of the settlement, our firm was unaware of any larger pre-trial medical malpractice case settlement in the region, or of any larger recovery in a kernicterus case anywhere. This extraordinary recovery will provide for the child’s lifelong medical needs and developmental support.

Other Significant Results Feldman Shepherd Has Achieved

$10 million settlement in a kernicterus/cerebral palsy case in California, where the law at the time imposed a general damages cap of $250,000 in medical negligence cases. Under the unique circumstances of this case, we developed a strong discrimination case as an adjunct to the medical negligence claim, thus rendering the tort reform laws inapplicable. The recovery may be the largest in any such case in the history of the State of California, which pioneered tort reform in the 1970s.
$12 million settlement during the fourth day of trial in Miami, Florida, for a child who suffered kernicterus and cerebral palsy, caused by the negligence of pediatricians and neonatologists who failed to timely treat the child’s alarmingly high bilirubin levels, resulting in a critical 12-hour delay of a necessary blood exchange transfusion.
$8.5 million settlement in a case in which a newborn’s jaundice/bilirubin was not properly tested, and she ended up with severe hyperbilirubinemia leading to kernicterus and cerebral palsy. At the time, this settlement was one of the largest medical negligence settlements ever to come out of upstate New York and was believed to be the largest such recovery since New York State’s passage of the Neurological Injury Indemnity Fund, which is a tort reform law designed to prevent brain-injured babies from recovering full damages in court.
$5 million recovery in a pioneering Philadelphia kernicterus case brought in the 1990s when insurance companies decided that mothers and newborn babies only required—and they would only pay for—a 24-hour hospital stay. Many neonatal problems do not manifest until 3-5 days of life, and during the era of post-delivery 2-week follow-up pediatrician appointments, infants were falling through the cracks and developing kernicterus, often resulting in catastrophic brain injury. Pennsylvania subsequently enacted legislation requiring insurers to pay for at least 48-hour hospital stays for newborns when the issue came to light, in part, through lawsuits, such as that brought by our firm.

Kernicterus Trial Lawyers for Life’s Most Challenging Moments

At Feldman Shepherd, we offer seasoned legal counsel for families navigating the catastrophic consequences of kernicterus. We understand that in addition to creating long-term physical and developmental needs for your child, kernicterus and its associated medical complications also impose significant financial strain and emotional challenges upon your entire family. Our objective is to secure financial compensation that fully accounts for your child's required lifelong medical treatment, specialized therapies, and supportive care.

When you entrust us with your case, transparency and open communication define our professional relationship. You can count on us to fully explain every step of the legal process and to keep you fully informed with regular updates. Most importantly, we operate on a contingency fee basis—meaning you will not be charged a legal fee unless we win your case and secure a recovery for you.

While every kernicterus case has its own story, our commitment is always to provide compassionate, individualized support for each client, including the tiniest ones, while working to secure a maximum financial recovery.

Frequently Asked Questions Kernicterus

How quickly can kernicterus develop once bilirubin levels become dangerous?

Kernicterus can develop rapidly—sometimes within hours—once bilirubin levels reach a critical threshold. Because this window of time is so small, any delay in repeating bilirubin labs or failing to escalate care to intensive phototherapy can have irreversible neurological consequences. Timely monitoring is the only way to prevent high bilirubin from turning into permanent brain damage.

Are certain newborns at higher risk for developing kernicterus?

Yes. Premature infants, babies with blood type incompatibilities (such as ABO or Rh incompatibility), and those with bruising from delivery are at significantly higher risk. Additionally, infants with underlying hemolytic conditions or those who are not receiving adequate intake during early breastfeeding require much closer monitoring to prevent bilirubin from reaching dangerous levels.

Can kernicterus occur after a baby has been discharged from the hospital?

Yes. Many cases of kernicterus occur after discharge due to systemic failures by medical providers to appropriately assess and manage a newborn’s risk. Hospitals and pediatricians have a strict responsibility to ensure that discharge instructions are clear, follow-up appointments are scheduled within the recommended 24- to 48-hour window, and that bilirubin testing is repeated when levels are rising. When providers fail to recognize a high-risk trajectory or neglect to provide a timely follow-up plan, they miss the critical window to prevent permanent brain damage.

What medical records are important in evaluating a kernicterus malpractice case?

Key records often include bilirubin lab results and trends, nursing and physician progress reports, discharge summaries, and feeding logs. We specifically look for gaps in monitoring, delayed escalation to phototherapy, or failures to act upon parental concerns regarding jaundice.

Is kernicterus always associated with visible jaundice?

No. Bilirubin levels can rise to dangerous thresholds without dramatic skin discoloration, particularly in infants with darker skin tones. Medical providers are required to use objective testing, such as blood draws or skin sensors, because visual assessment alone is notoriously unreliable and often leads to a failure to diagnose.

Is it medical malpractice if my child received treatment, like phototherapy, but it failed to prevent brain damage?

Providing inadequate treatment—such as standard phototherapy when intensive phototherapy or an exchange transfusion was medically required—constitutes medical malpractice. If providers fail to escalate to the necessary level of intervention as bilirubin levels rise, they are legally responsible for the resulting permanent injury.