Cerebral palsy, birth injury, and medical malpractice

April 05, 2014 (Press-News.org) The medical story

Most everyone has heard of, or knows someone with, cerebral palsy. But what, exactly, does this term refer to? "Cerebral palsy" can be described as a neurological disorder appearing in infancy, or in the early years of childhood, which disorder permanently affects the body's movement and coordination, but which doesn't worsen over the years. The causation is abnormalities in that part of the brain controlling movements of the muscles.

Most children who have cerebral palsy are born that way, the damage occurring during pregnancy (75 percent of the time) or during childbirth (5 percent of the time), although detection may be delayed for months or years. However, technological innovations by hospitals and others, such as medical imaging, are making early diagnoses possible.

The legal story

Despite the above, and the efforts to prevent and treat cerebral palsy, the fact is, medical errors in the thousands occur each year. If your child is injured during childbirth due to the negligence of a doctor or other medical professional and suffers from cerebral palsy, you will probably be faced with major costs (for example, medication, therapy, and special education) to care for your disabled child. Consequently, you may need to hire a personal injury lawyer to seek and secure compensation for your injuries.

Parents often lay the blame on themselves when their child develops cerebral palsy. They may think that deficient prenatal care caused the harm. However, a child is born with this disorder for any number of reasons, including congenital abnormalities and mismanagement during delivery. Cerebral palsy may well affect children with vigilant parents who have not done anything wrong during prenatal care.

Various causes lead to this condition, including rubella or toxoplasmosis infections, the mother's exposure to chemicals, fetal trauma, malnutrition, or malpractice. As far as malpractice is concerned, this may involve a number of situations, such as a physician waiting too long before making a decision to perform a required caesarian section; not noticing and properly treating fetal distress; or errors when using equipment during delivery, such as the use of forceps. Because of these complications, proving medical malpractice as the cause of cerebral palsy is challenging, but by no means undoable.

Most doctors and nurses are highly qualified, delivering hundreds of babies with utmost care. However, errors in the delivery room do occur, causing preventable cerebral palsy, for which you are entitled to compensation.

Conclusion

If your child is born with what appears to be cerebral palsy, or seems to develop such a condition during his or her early years, it is extremely important to immediate consult medical experts for proper diagnosis and treatment. If you think you are not at fault, and that a medical professional might have caused this condition through his/her carelessness or negligence, it is also extremely important to consult and experienced cerebral palsy personal injury attorney.

If you need to pursue a legal claim, your chances of success may well depend on the quality of the legal advice you receive. An expert cerebral palsy attorney can tell if you have a strong case, based on previous cases which are similar to your own, and will do what is necessary to secure a maximum damage recovery to offset the exorbitant costs associated with lifelong medical care.

Article provided by Law Office of John J. Garvey, III
Visit us at www.johngarveylaw.com