Cerebral palsy is one of the most serious health problems caused by birth injuries and medical malpractice during labor or childbirth. The condition is believed to be caused by a lack of oxygen to the infant’s brain during childbirth.

Cerebral palsy has a lifelong impact on affected babies and their families.

Cerebral palsy is a medical term for a number of neurological disorders that hinder body movement and muscle coordination. Although a variety of factors can cause cerebral palsy, in the context of birth injuries and medical malpractice, cerebral palsy cases often result from an insufficient amount of oxygen reaching an infant’s brain during labor or birth.

Regardless of whether it is caused by medical malpractice, most children who have cerebral palsy are born with it, although a proper diagnosis may not be made for a few years. Cerebral palsy is a “non-progressive” health condition, meaning that, as debilitating and serious as it may be at its outset, it won’t get worse over time.

Cerebral palsy occurs in approximately two to four out of every 1,000 births in the United States and Europe, according to data from the Mayo Clinic.

Cerebral Palsy and Medical Malpractice

Most children who have cerebral palsy have had it since birth, often due to a lack of oxygen to the brain (called hypoxia) or to the body (asphyxia), premature delivery, or birth trauma — sometimes because of medical malpractice and delivery mistakes during labor or childbirth.

Even when a child is born with cerebral palsy, that doesn’t automatically mean that medical malpractice occurred. But when medical malpractice is linked to a child’s development of cerebral palsy, common causes include:

• Failure to detect and/or properly treat infections (like meningitis) in the mother during pregnancy
• Failure to appropriately monitor fetal heart rate before and during labor and birth
• Failure to detect a prolapsed umbilical cord
• Failure to plan and schedule a cesarean section procedure when a baby is too large to safely pass through the birth canal
• Delay in performing (or failure to perform) a medically necessary cesarean section procedure, and
• Negligence and unreasonable mistakes in using instruments like vacuum and forceps in performing a delivery.

Birth Injury Lawsuits

Cerebral palsy is one of the most common birth injuries caused by multiple improper actions performed by doctors and nurses. Medical malpractice cases that stem from birth injuries and delivery mistakes are complex from both a legal and medical standpoint — usually involving highly technical treatment issues and complicated questions of liability.

In the case of cerebral palsy, children will need special equipment, coverage for lifelong medical expenses, special education funds and both the parents and child may need therapy to work through these difficulties.  A medical malpractice lawsuit or birth injury lawsuit may also help secure compensation for the injured infant.