The Need Of A Lawyer For Cerebral Palsy

Have any of the following situations happened to you recently;

• Your baby suffered injuries and or complications during or after his/her birth from the hands of the hospital medical staff.
• The hospital staff failed to order and interpret tests results accurately during your pregnancy and/or labor.
• The hospital staff failed to diagnose a change in the condition of the fetus during your pregnancy and/or labor.
• Your child suffers from cerebral palsy due medical negligence.

If you have experienced any of the following situations or have answered ‘yes’ to any of the above statements, it is time that you consulted a lawyer about medical malpractice or medical negligence. The need for a lawyer for cerebral palsy is very important because you can be compensated for the irreparable damage that has been done to your child.

According to experts, a significant number of children are born with cerebral palsy as a result of negligence on the part of the medical practitioner or the hospital staff. Often, during pregnancy or birthing complications, symptoms are improperly diagnosed or overlooked, causing the newborn child to suffer irreparable brain damage, thus giving rise to an increase in the number of children suffering this chronic disorder. If you, as a parent, feel that at any point during your pregnancy or the birth of your child, your healthcare professional did not adhere to the established medical practice standards, you can recover damages from him/her under medical malpractice laws. A lawyer can help you do this if you file your complaint within a valid time frame. Currently cerebral palsy is the most common cause for medical malpractice lawsuits in the US at the moment.

About Cerebral Palsy

According to the United Cerebral Palsy organization more than 500,000 Americans have this disorder, with roughly 10,000 children between the ages of 2 and 3 suffering from cerebral palsy every year. In this disorder, the cerebrum of the brain does not develop or is damaged so that it cannot function properly. The cerebrum is the largest part of the brain and controls an individual’s motor skills, higher mental faculties and voluntary muscle movements. Damage to a child’s cerebrum means that the child will grow up with weakened motor skills and impaired movement. It can also result in the loss of nerve functions to many areas of the body and, hinders the brain’s ability to control movement and posture.

At the moment cerebral palsy is not curable; however there are many treatments that help to control the symptoms of this disorder. And while CP is not a progressive illness, it is indeed a very serious one. The symptoms of this problem occur or are apparent before the ages of 2 or 3, where a child will experience difficulty with motor skills, involuntary movements, maintaining his/her balance, or walking. Experts estimate that a third of children with this disorder are only slightly impaired intellectually, while another third are moderately or severely impaired. The most common and preventable causes for cerebral palsy include; asphyxia, infections during pregnancy, jaundice, premature birth and blood diseases. Asphyxia is perhaps the most common of the above mentioned causes as it can occur when the baby is being delivered from its mother’s womb.

Cerebral palsy is a very debilitating disorder as most children with CP need braces, walkers, or wheel chairs to help them get around. Also roughly 30% of children with cerebral palsy grow up with mental retardation. The most common symptoms of CP include;

• Poor head control
• Difficulty or delay in motor development
• Difficulty learning how to crawl, walk, or pushing up on all fours
• Abnormal crawling
• Overdeveloped or underdeveloped muscles
• Lack of coordination and balance
• Athetosis or involuntary squirming movements
• Spastic paralysis or abnormal stiffness of muscles
• Involuntary hand or leg movements
• Slow overall development
• Speech, hearing, or vision problems

The emotional and financial burden of children with cerebral palsy for most people can be extremely rough. If you feel that your child has cerebral palsy due to injuries suffered as a result of medical negligence, it is important that you speak to a lawyer about it, so that he/she can help protect your child’s legal rights.