Traumatic birth can cause cerebral palsy in some situations. In fact, traumatic births present several serious risks for newborns, including the risk of cerebral palsy. During a traumatic birth, both physical trauma and disruption of the brain’s oxygen supply can cause brain damage, and this can lead to a cerebral palsy diagnosis in some cases.
With this in mind, if your child had a traumatic birth and was later diagnosed with cerebral palsy, you should talk to a lawyer about filing a birth injury lawsuit. With today’s medical technology, traumatic births and their consequences can—and should—be avoided in many cases. If your child’s cerebral palsy diagnosis was preventable, your family may be entitled to significant financial compensation, and recovering this compensation could be essential for managing the financial and non-financial effects of your child’s diagnosis throughout his or her lifetime.
While cerebral palsy can have a variety of causes, in many cases, newborns develop cerebral palsy before or during the delivery process. As the Mayo Clinic explains, “Cerebral palsy is a group of conditions that affect movement and posture. It’s caused by damage that occurs to the developing brain, most often before birth.”
As the Mayo Clinic also explains, symptoms most often appear “during infancy or preschool years and vary from very mild to serious.” Thus, even if a child develops cerebral palsy due to a traumatic birth, it may not be possible to diagnose his or her condition until months, or even years, later. As a result, regardless of when your child is diagnosed, if your child had a traumatic birth, you will want to speak with a lawyer about your family’s legal rights.
Some specific examples of issues during a traumatic birth that can cause cerebral palsy include:
As we mentioned above, these are issues that doctors frequently can—and should—prevent. If an issue cannot be prevented entirely, it may still be possible to address the issue (whether through a cesarean section delivery or otherwise) before it causes permanent brain damage resulting in cerebral palsy. Given that this is the case, when doctors fail to prevent or address these issues effectively, their failure will constitute medical malpractice in many instances.
If you believe that your child’s traumatic birth may have caused cerebral palsy, your family may have a medical malpractice claim. In this situation, it will be important to:
To the extent you can, you will want to collect your family’s medical records dating back to, if not before, your child’s birth. This includes medical records related to your child’s birth, any neonatal care your child received after delivery, and your child’s cerebral palsy diagnosis and treatment. Along with your family’s medical records, if you have copies of medical bills, receipts, and statements of benefits from your health insurance company, you should gather these as well.
It will also be helpful for you to prepare a list of notes related to your child’s birth. Why was your child’s birth traumatic? Did you have concerns about the quality of care your family received at the time? Did any of the doctors or nurses say anything to suggest that something may have gone wrong that shouldn’t have? These are all details that could be relevant to your family’s medical malpractice case.
It will be helpful for you to prepare a list of questions as well. You should take some time to write down all of the questions you want to ask your lawyer. This will help ensure that you get as much as possible out of your initial consultation.
Finally, you should schedule an appointment with a birth injury lawyer. If your family is entitled to financial compensation for your child’s cerebral palsy diagnosis, hiring a lawyer will be the first step in the process of seeking the financial compensation your family deserves.
If you believe there may be a link between your child’s traumatic birth and cerebral palsy diagnosis, we encourage you to contact a birth injury lawyer at Coplan + Crane. Your family may be entitled to compensation for your physical, financial, and emotional losses.
Contact Coplan + Crane today online or at 708-358-8080 to schedule a FREE case evaluation. We welcome clients from across Illinois, including Chicago, Oak Park, Rockford, and other areas. We handle these cases on a contingency basis, which means you don’t pay unless we win.
