How Do You Prove Medical Negligence Caused Cerebral Palsy?

Parents spend months planning their child’s joyous entry into the world, but when something goes wrong, joy can quickly turn to anxiety for the child’s future. Cerebral palsy is one of the most serious outcomes of preventable birth injuries. Unfortunately, no legal process erases the permanent injury to your child, but if your child’s cerebral palsy resulted from a medical provider’s negligence, you have the right to demand financial accountability and a sense of justice through a birth injury medical malpractice claim.

How Does Cerebral Palsy Occur From Medical Negligence?

Cerebral Palsy is the diagnosis given to individuals who suffer from a group of symptoms, including:

• Problems with posture and movement
• Stiff or floppy muscles
• Uncontrolled movement
• Difficulty swallowing
• Eye muscle problems
• Intellectual disabilities (in some cases)

Some people with cerebral palsy also suffer from epilepsy and may be blind or deaf. Cerebral palsy is caused by damage to the brain during a key stage of its development, typically during the labor and delivery process.

What Types of Birth Injuries Cause Cerebral Palsy?

Cerebral palsy often develops in children who suffered a birth injury, primarily when the injury caused significant oxygen deprivation to the brain. Common causes of birth injuries that sometimes result in cerebral palsy include the following:

• Asphyxia (lack of oxygen to the brain) during the labor or delivery process, and the resulting conditions after birth, such as Hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE)
• Physical trauma to an infant’s head during birth, such as from a forceps or vacuum delivery, or prolonged time in the birth canal
• Maternal infections, which, when undiagnosed and untreated, cause inflammation that constricts blood vessels and disrupts the flow of blood and oxygen through the umbilical cord

Cerebral palsy may also result from severe jaundice when left untreated after birth.

Proving Medical Negligence Caused a Child’s Cerebral Palsy

Doctors have a legal obligation to assess a laboring mother for the risk of complications during childbirth and respond swiftly and appropriately to complications that develop during labor. The hospital nursing staff has a legal duty to carefully monitor a laboring mother and infant and report changes in medical status to the doctor.

Proving medical malpractice in cerebral palsy cases requires evidence of the following legal standards of liability:

• A doctor/patient relationship was in place at the time the malpractice occurred
• The doctor owed the patient a duty of care to treat them with the level of care accepted by the medical community
• They violated this duty of care through negligence
• The violation of duty directly caused the birth injury
• The birth-injured child and their family suffered damages from the injury

Cerebral palsy damages are extensive and lifelong, including medical expenses, parents’ lost income, assistive equipment costs, physical and occupational therapies, and special education costs. A successful claim also recovers compensation for the child’s pain, suffering, and diminished quality of life and for the parent’s emotional anguish.

What Evidence Do I Need to Prove Medical Negligence for Cerebral Palsy?

Establishing that a case meets the above legal elements of malpractice requires compelling evidence. Common evidence in these cases includes the following:

• The mother and child’s medical records
• The patient’s chart and the physician’s notes from the labor and delivery unit on the date of the birth
• The fetal heart monitoring strip from the labor and delivery process
• The child’s diagnostic tests and medical records
• Medical expert testimony
• Eyewitness testimony

A birth injury lawyer for the parents of a child with cerebral palsy investigates all aspects of the case and has access to renowned medical experts to interpret data to make a compelling claim against the responsible doctor or medical facility.