Medical Error in Cerebral Palsy

Thursday, August 2, 2012

Medical Error in Cerebral Palsy

Written by Malman Law, reviewed by Steve J. Malman.

One of the most devastating experiences that can happen to a child is to suffer from cerebral palsy. Although a child’s condition can improve with treatment, there is no cure for cerebral palsy. While some children develop cerebral palsy naturally, there are cases where cerebral palsy is directly caused by the medical error of the physician or another delivery team member during the birth process. When this happens, we at Malman Law believe that the physician or other medical provider needs to be held accountable for the errors that led to this heartbreaking injury.

What is Cerebral Palsy?

Cerebral palsy is a permanent condition that affects a child or infant’s central nervous system, negatively affecting muscle coordination and movement. This results in a number of coordination problems, such as ataxia (the inability to perform voluntary movements because of insufficient muscle coordination), spasticity (exaggerated reflexes and tight or stiff muscles), a crouched gait, the dragging of one leg or foot while walking, walking on one’s toes, and muscle tone that is too soft or too hard. Symptoms can range from mild to severe.

The following are a few of the mistakes made during delivery that have caused children to be born with cerebral palsy:

• Leaving the child in the birth canal too long causing a lack of oxygen to the brain
• Failure to recognize and treat seizures following delivery
• Failure to detect a prolapsed cord (the umbilical cord can wrap around the child’s neck, cutting off oxygen to the brain)
• Excessive use of vacuum extraction
• Improper use of forceps
• Failure to perform a cesarean section in the presence of fetaldistress
• Not responding to changes in the fetal heart rate
• Failure to plan a C-section (a high birth weight infant could compromise normal, spontaneous, vaginal delivery)
• Failure to respond to the mothers changing conditions, such as high blood pressure or toxemia
• Failure to timely diagnose and treat jaundice
• Failure to timely diagnose and treat meningitis

Proving that a medical error or negligence caused your child’s cerebral palsy can be very challenging. However, at Malman Law our medical malpractice lawyers have the tools, resources, and experience to thoroughly investigate and prove your claim. Our cerebral palsy lawyers’ main goal is that all victims of medical malpractice at birth should be compensated for their injuries.

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