Dov Apfel

Dov Apfel is known nationally as a “child advocate,” who concentrates his practice in cerebral palsy and birth trauma litigation and obstetrical malpractice claims involving birth injuries and children with neurological and intellectual disabilities. Mr. Apfel is regularly contacted by families and lawyers throughout the United States to assist them with the evaluation of standard of care and causation issues that arise in cerebral palsy and birth trauma litigation and potential obstetrical malpractice claims.

Dov Apfel is the recipient of the 2011 Dan Cullan Memorial Award conferred by the Executive Board of the Birth Trauma Litigation Group of the American Association for Justice in recognition of his lifetime achievements in birth injury litigation, education and advocacy.

Mr. Apfel has been admitted to litigate cases, pro hac vice, in the following states: Arkansas, California, Colorado, Georgia, Hawaii, Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, Wisconsin, and Virginia.

Mr. Apfel is the former chairperson of the Medical Negligence Section of the Maryland Trial Lawyers Association and the former co-chair of the Birth Trauma Litigation Group of the American Association for Justice, formerly known as the Association of Trial Lawyers of America.

In addition to his litigation practice, Apfel routinely lectures at national conferences and publishes extensively on legal and medical issues arising in Cerebral Palsy litigation, including the use of expert testimony in cerebral palsy litigation, electronic fetal monitoring, hypoxia, ischemia, asphyxia, meconium stained amniotic fluid and meconium aspiration syndrome, maternal and fetal infection in pregnancy, chorioamnionitis, funisitis, antepartum fetal testing, placental pathology, vaginal birth after cesarean, hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy, trauma, forceps, vacuum extractors, shoulder dystocia and brachial plexus, and the clinical markers establishing a causal connection between the events of labor and delivery and cerebral palsy.

Dov Apfel’s landmark law review article, “Using a Differential Diagnosis to Prove that Intrapartum Asphyxia is a Significant Cause of Cerebral Palsy,” features a comprehensive critique and overview of the litigation criteria and “junk science” used by the obstetrical community to defend cerebral palsy cases.