Could Your Child’s Brain Injury Be Caused By Cerebral Palsy Malpractice?

By Author: duffy duffy
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Doctors can make mistakes during labor and delivery and the obstetrician’s negligence may entitle the family to bring cerebral palsy malpractice lawsuit to recover damages. Here are some important things to know about this type of medical malpractice litigation:

Common causes of cerebral palsy

Over ¾ of the children affected by C.P. were born with it. If you child has been diagnosed with brain damage, resulting in cerebral palsy, you may be wondering how it could have happened. Majority of infants born with cerebral palsy are that way because of mother’s drug or alcohol abuse during pregnancy, pre-natal malnutrition, inherited mental retardation, infections, early labor and delivery or head injury. Nevertheless, 20% of C.P. cases are due to doctor’s malpractice which happens during the delivery process.

What could the doctor have done wrong?

Medical malpractice cerebral palsy attorneys, working closely with medical experts can thoroughly review the records and take the mother’s history of what happened during the labor and delivery process that could have led to C.P. malpractice. The ...
... health care professional could have done the following mistakes to cause brain injury to the newborn:

• failure to properly monitor and timely responds to fetal distress (for example: umbilical cord wrapped around the baby’s neck)
• failure to perform emergency c-section
• failure to timely and properly diagnose and treat jaundice in an infant
• failure to properly use vacuum and forceps, leading to use of excessive force

The doctors and their staff have access to the latest medical technology, allowing them to observe the fetus during the birthing process through the use of frequent vaginal exams and fetal strip monitoring, thus their inability to notice a problem and timely correct it can lead to the infant suffering oxygen deprivation, leading to brain damage.

Why contact cerebral palsy malpractice attorney?

There is presently no cure for cerebral palsy, other than drugs and lifelong treatment. However, the cost of therapy and necessary medication is staggering, and may be prohibitive to many families. Obtaining legal representation and instituting a lawsuit against the negligent health care professional can lead to the family being able to recover damages to assist with the cost of care lifelong for the child. The family can bring an action on behalf of the child for medical expenses, both past and future, loss of enjoyment of life, loss of services on behalf of the parent, and of course, pain and suffering of the child. Effects of cerebral palsy are devastating and can result in the child being unable to speak, lack control of his muscles or being unable move his arms or legs. As such, he will probably be unable to find suitable employment in the future, and another type of damage the cerebral palsy malpractice attorney can sue for is loss of future earning capacity.

The attorney will be in the best position to review the medical documents and other pertinent material and advise the family on the probability of success of their case.

At Duffy and Duffy - cerebral palsy attorney, our cerebral palsy lawyers have the experience to help families whose child has been the victim of cerebral palsy.