Causes of Cerebral Palsy

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 What Is Cerebral Palsy?

The term “cerebral palsy” is used to refer to a group of persistent diseases that impair the ability to move and control one’s muscles. Damage to the brain before, during, or after birth may be the reason for it.

Cerebral palsy can occasionally be a birth injury brought on by negligent medical care.

What are a Few Cerebral Palsy Causes?

Cerebral palsy does not have a single identifiable cause. However, brain injuries that occur before, during, or after birth can cause cerebral palsy.

Children who were born with cerebral palsy as a result of medical errors include:

  • Failure to perform specific pregnancy tests or incorrect interpretation of those tests
  • The mother’s condition during the pregnancy, such as high blood pressure or diabetes, is not addressed
  • Neglecting to react to fetal health changes while pregnant
  • Not doing a C-section when it is essential
  • The absence of a prolapsed cord diagnosis (when the umbilical cord wraps around the fetus’s neck, preventing the brain from receiving oxygen)
  • Using excessive amounts of Pitocin to start labor
  • Keeping the infant in the delivery canal for too long, which prevents the brain from getting enough oxygen
  • Use of vacuum extraction in excess
  • Improper forceps use
  • Not treating seizures after delivery
  • Not treating jaundice
  • Not treating meningitis

Congenital cerebral palsy develops during pregnancy for a variety of reasons, including illness, damage, and placement, and it accounts for 70% of cases. 10% of the time, the disorder is brought on by an illness or injury that occurs in early childhood when the brain is still developing.

Twenty percent of the time, the illness is brought on by a birth injury that was either inevitable or the result of the medical professional’s carelessness. Because cerebral palsy is not recognized at birth, it is only discovered when a child falls behind on certain developmental milestones. Many children don’t receive a definitive diagnosis of this illness until they are two or three years old.

What Signs Are There?

Rigid and incessantly clenched muscles, automatic or chaotic motions of the body and face, lack of control over the arms and legs, muscle tightness and spasms, impairment of sight, hearing, or speech, impairment of brain function, and more are all signs of cerebral palsy.

Coordination issues and difficulty with swift or accurate motions are also symptoms.

What Is the Therapy for Cerebral Palsy?

People with cerebral palsy can expect to live normal, productive lives when given the right care. They frequently require medical care, surgeries, treatments, and adaptive equipment, which can be expensive financially and in terms of time over a lifetime.

You can get a medical assessment to determine whether a healthcare provider’s carelessness caused your child’s cerebral palsy and whether you have a case for a medical malpractice lawsuit.

The Function of Medical Error in Cerebral Palsy

Several medical errors can result in cerebral palsy, including:

  • The absence of a prolapsed umbilical cord catch.
  • The improper monitoring of fetal heart rate before, during, and after labor and delivery.
  • The mother’s infections going unnoticed or not being treated properly when she is pregnant.
  • The failure to plan and perform a c-section when a baby is too big to birth safely.

What Conditions Must Be Met Before Filing a Medical Malpractice Claim?

Medical malpractice is when a doctor or hospital neglects its duty to treat your child and violates the law. Cerebral palsy claims seek evidence that the condition of your child could have been avoided if the medical staff or facility had been more attentive.

The inquiry will need to demonstrate that your child displayed some signs or symptoms of a birth injury and that the medical professionals or institution showed indicators of neglect or misconduct. If you believe that a delivery doctor, nurse, or hospital fell short of the appropriate level of care, you may be able to file a medical malpractice claim.

Who Is Responsible in a Lawsuit for Medical Malpractice?

Medical malpractice lawsuits can come with a number of difficulties. Finding the malpractice may be simple in certain instances but challenging in others. Existing medical conditions may have influenced the victim’s harm. Furthermore, it’s possible that several caregivers for a victim contributed to their injury.

When treating a patient, doctors are responsible for treating them with due care. Physicians have a duty of care to their patients to offer treatment that is at least as excellent as the standard of care for medical professionals in good standing. Patients are also entitled to attention from other healthcare professionals. That applies to all hospital employees, including nurses, lab technicians, and hospitals.

Consider a scenario in which a doctor, hospital, nurse, or other healthcare professionals negligently treats a patient in a way that is subpar to their profession. They are responsible for medical malpractice in that situation.

What if Multiple Parties are Accountable for the Injuries?

The possibility of many healthcare providers being held accountable for a patient’s harm raises yet another issue with medical malpractice liability. The comparative negligence law allocates to each responsible person or entity only the portion of liability that their behavior supports. It is the admission that a malpractice incident may have included multiple healthcare professionals.

Medical therapy encompasses multiple steps, such as intake, diagnosis, pre-treatment consultation, and follow-up, in addition to the typical medical operations doctors perform. Any of these phases is susceptible to medical errors.

A nurse, for instance, can be given wrong instructions regarding the dosage of a certain anesthetic. The next question is whether the nurse was responsible for identifying the mistake and suggesting that the doctor adjust the dosage. This may depend on various elements, including the nurse’s level of expertise and the type of instructions they were given. During the diagnosis stage of medical care, there are many instances of malpractice.

Hospital management companies may be held accountable for errors made in patient care. An illustration of this may be negligence in emergency rooms. Not a contractor, but the hospital that hires a doctor or nurse who treats a patient negligently may be held accountable for malpractice.

The hospital might be liable if more than one member of the team who was in charge of a patient’s treatment was careless. The hospital may be liable for a patient’s injuries if hospital management mistakes are to blame. If any hospital employee performed a task assigned to them negligently, the hospital could be held liable for malpractice.

If a doctor or surgeon is responsible for treating a patient and their treatment falls short of the standard of care that is at least as good as the customary practice of doctors in good standing in the community, that doctor or surgeon is liable for malpractice. Unfortunately, medical malpractice is a common occurrence.

According to experts’ estimates, one patient injury resulting from healthcare personnel’s incompetence occurs every 100 hospital admissions. As many different operations and treatments are given to patients by various healthcare practitioners, a variety of malpractice can also occur.

Can I Sue for Medical Malpractice Without a Lawyer?

The worth of your case and the types of remedies that are possible for you to pursue should be discussed with an experienced personal injury lawyer if your kid was born with cerebral palsy due to medical negligence.

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