How Lawyers Can Help a Family Affected by Cerebral Palsy

You trust your doctor and OBGYN to care for you and your baby throughout pregnancy and during childbirth. Sadly, a medical error on their part could cause your child lifelong disability from severe cerebral palsy (CP). This disease can be traced back to brain injuries during birth in many cases. Up to 10,000 children are diagnosed each year, many of whom suffered damage during birth that could have been prevented with the appropriate standard of care every physician swears to uphold.

Cerebral palsy drastically affects every aspect of your child’s life. This disease comes with a massive financial burden, which adds up to an average of $1 million for your child’s lifespan. Medical malpractice claims are around for this very reason. These settlements help cover medical costs including medications, home modifications, lost wages from time away at the doctor, special education, physical therapy, speech therapy, and countless other expensive factors of raising a child with CP.

Medical Malpractice Claims for Cerebral Palsy

Medical malpractice claims involving birth injuries such as cerebral palsy are complex and often difficult to determine whether the medical professional(s) involved was at fault. An experienced medical malpractice attorney knows how to investigate a cerebral palsy claim and how to proceed so your family has the financial freedom to pursue CP treatment and improve your family’s overall quality of life.

Our attorneys in Baltimore understand the devastation and hardships a CP diagnosis puts on your child and your family. There are several ways we can help you seek compensation for the birth injury or negligence that led your baby to develop cerebral palsy. We can help you compile the evidence, documentation, and expert testimony required in these personal injury cases.

Medical malpractice can lead to CP in several ways, including:

• Failure to address fetal lack of oxygen during labor, which is marked by an absence of the baby’s heart rate accelerations that tell the doctor the baby is healthy and getting enough oxygen. A physician who does not check for these accelerations or finds them absent but fails to try to stimulate them could be found at fault for the baby’s CP development.
• Misinterpretation of the Fetal Admission Test, which is designed to screen for distress in the fetus during labor. It monitors the fetal heart rate, breathing, and movement. Misinterpreting these readings or failure to act on what the readings show is another form of medical malpractice for CP.
• Failure to act on or misinterpretation of Apgar Assessments can prevent your baby from being diagnosed early and having a good treatment plan. A medical professional who inaccurately assesses this test could be considered medical malpractice as well.

These are just three of several issues during pregnancy and childbirth that can lead to CP development.

Speak with a Birth Injury Attorney in Baltimore

If your child has been diagnosed with cerebral palsy and you believe it could stem back to an injury caused during pregnancy or birth, please contact our medical malpractice attorneys in Baltimore today at (410) 995-1515 for a FREE case evaluation. Portner and Shure provide personal injury, criminal defense, and immigration law services to clients in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington DC.