Tracy Colman  |  August 16, 2018

Category: Consumer News

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Cerebral Palsy from Birth Injury May Reveal Itself LaterCerebral palsy from birth injury may not reveal itself right away. Symptoms can be delayed for several months or years and become evident as speech and motor developmental milestones remain out of reach.

A late diagnosis makes the attribution of a cause all the more difficult. This is particularly true when you consider that cerebral palsy from birth injury can be the result of pre-labor conditions, delivery conditions, or post-birth conditions.

According to the American Pregnancy Association (APA), cerebral palsy from birth injury occurs most commonly prior to labor or after delivery. A full 80 percent of sufferers sustain the offending trauma—whatever the source–just prior to the start of labor or after delivery. Cerebral palsy from birth injury occurring during childbirth itself is a less common 20 percent.

Potential Causes of Cerebral Palsy from Birth Injury

Cerebral palsy from birth injury prior to labor can happen because of faulty brain development, bleeding in the brain—also known as intracranial hemorrhaging, damage to the white matter of the brain, and maternal infection passed on to the child.

Because a fetus’s brain is still largely undeveloped, it is much more sensitive and cannot withstand situations that a full adult brain could.

Only 10 percent of cerebral palsy from birth injury cases are the result of a lack of oxygen to the fetus yet this was previously thought to be the primary cause. There are four types of brain injury that can end with a diagnosis of cerebral palsy—hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy, periventricular leukomalacia, intraventricular hemorrhaging and cerebral dysgenesis.

Hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy is when blood and/or oxygen flow is grossly reduced or cut off to a fetus, causing asphyxiation. As mentioned, this is relatively rare in a medical era with available fetal vital sign monitoring.

Physicians and nurses can quickly intervene if such technology reveals signs of infant distress to protect the child. It may arise because of too much medication, pre-eclampsia, eclampsia, umbilical chord impingement or placenta abruption. Cesarean section surgery is one alternative to protect mother and child.

Periventricular leukomalacia is damage to the white matter of the brain and can be a direct result of some of these reductions in blood and oxygen flow. When white matter is damaged, it is lost or dies along with nerve cells which receive messages that are necessary with many motor functions. Damage to white matter can also happen secondary to maternal infection.

Intraventricular hemorrhaging or brain bleeds are really common in children born before the full 40-week human gestation period is complete. Underdeveloped blood vessels can become compromised very easy and leak into the brain.

If a mother has high blood pressure, irregularities with the placenta, or gets an infection, these blood vessels can weaken as well.

Cerebral dysgenesis or abnormal brain development can occur because of genetic mutation via infection, fetal stroke, and prenatal head trauma. Since the human brain continues to develop after birth, head trauma occurring in the delivery room after the child is taken from his or her mother can cause cerebral dysgenesis.

Medical negligence often can exacerbate, if not cause, a situation that leads to cerebral palsy occurring just before, during or after birth. Medical teams can fail to communicate signs of fetal or maternal distress, or infection.

Breakdowns in communication lead to intervention delay. Interventions using medical instruments and medication can also be done wrong and constitute medical malpractice.

If you have a child diagnosed with cerebral palsy and believe that medical malpractice is involved, fill out our form to request a consultation with a knowledgeable birth injuries attorney.

Do YOU have a legal claim? If your child suffered severe birth injuries within the past two years, you may have a legal claim. Fill out the form on this page now for a free, immediate, and confidential case evaluation. The medical malpractice attorneys who work with Top Class Actions will contact you if you qualify to let you know if an individual birth injury lawsuit or class action lawsuit is best for you. [In general, birth injury lawsuits are filed individually by each plaintiff and are not class actions.] Hurry — statutes of limitations may apply.

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