No new parent wants to hear the news that there was an issue during birth and that their newborn baby now has cerebral palsy. At a time when the parents are looking forward to their child’s entire life and all they had planned for the new addition, this news can utterly destroy them and leave them wondering how to pick up the pieces of their shattered future.
What Is Cerebral Palsy?
Being told that your child has cerebral palsy can change everything. Raising a child with a severe disability can mean your entire lifestyle needs to change. Then to find out that your child’s disability might have been caused by the negligence of a medical professional, causing them to be deprived of oxygen during labor and delivery can make the news even more devastating.
Cerebral palsy is a group of disorders that affect the ability to move, maintain proper posture, and balance. There are several different types of cerebral palsy, and they are differentiated by what portions of the body are affected and the severity to which they are affected. They frequently involve not only developmental and intellectual difficulties, but also issues with movement, muscular control, and balance.
Spastic cerebral palsy is the most common and causes stiff muscles and difficult, jerky movement. Dyskinetic cerebral palsy causes slower movements that are also difficult to control. Ataxic cerebral palsy has greater effects on balance and perception of depth, and it frequently makes precision movements hard. There is also the possibility to have multiple types of cerebral palsy at once.
Being told that your child has cerebral palsy can change everything. Raising a child with a severe disability can mean your entire lifestyle needs to change. Then to find out that your child’s disability might have been caused by the negligence of a medical professional, causing them to be deprived of oxygen during labor and delivery can make the news even more devastating.
Common Risk Factors For Cerebral Palsy
While every case is unique, many risk factors can raise the chance of cerebral palsy, such as:
- Lower birth weight
- Preterm birth
- Multiple births, like twins, triplets, and so on
- Infections during pregnancy
- Complications from jaundice
- Complications during birth that disrupt the flow of oxygen to the baby
Why Choose Elstein Legal?
Filing a medical malpractice lawsuit takes both time and money to see through to completion. Even if your doctor did make a mistake that led to cerebral palsy, suing them successfully is not an easy thing to do. Not only will you be up against an insurance company and their lawyers, but you will be under pressure to prove your side of it. When you work with an experienced attorney like Brian Elstein, you leverage significant legal expertise to help you recover more compensation for your damages. He will often take a case on contingency, meaning no money is needed to get started, so there’s nothing to lose.