Brainpalsy.com – Helping Parents Combat Cerebral Palsy

A brain injury that happens during the development of fetus or a newborn can cause cerebral palsy. The causes of brain damage are not understood by doctors however it is known that there are risk factors that can contribute to the condition such as:

Maternal Infections

The chances your baby will have some level of brain damage increases nine times if the mother gets an infection while pregnant. Some infections include:

Urinary tract infection (UTI)

Infection of the bladder or kidney

Rubella

Infection of the bloodstream such as Sepsis

Chorioamnionitis, a uterus infection

Toxoplasmosis

Maternal infections can be prevented and if left untreated can result in your baby developing this disability. If you are having a baby and you think you may have an infection go see your doctor to get treated.

Prenatal/Neonatal Infections & Complications

The risk of cerebral palsy increases when you have an infection during prenatal/neonatal care:

* Bacterial meningitis

* Viral encephalitis

* Group B streptococcal infection

* Herpes group B

* Sepsis

* Rh incompatibility

* Severe Jaundice

It is difficult to know precisely how these complications result in cerebral palsy. There are facts that prove that prenatal infections can lead to early labor and delivery. More evidence show that infections prompt brain damage which essentially may result in disability.

Premature Birth/Low Birth Weight

Having a baby before 37 weeks of development increases the risk of cerebral palsy. A low birth weight may be indicated as a cause. Premature infants are more defenseless than babies of regular term and they will most likely experience more complications with their health and have to be hospitalized.

Smoking, drug and alcohol use, stress, some infections of the mother, abnormal cervix, and previous pregnancies that were preterm are all factors that will put your baby at a higher risk.

Birth Injuries & Medical Malpractice

Not all cases are inherited (also known as congenital). There have been cases where a child suffers brain damage during the actual delivery that resulted in cerebral palsy. Injuries at birth can and should be prevented. Still, it does happen and here are some examples of procedures that if ignored, can result in an injury to the brain:

• Maternal infections diagnosed and treated promptly

• Identify and act upon fetal distress

• A C-section done in a timely manner

• Treat jaundice in the newborn

• Make sure there is enough oxygen to give

• Use instruments such as forceps correctly

Medical malpractice is not normally done on purpose, but what a family must go through after is unfair. The financial stress alone is overwhelming. It is a family’s right to be compensated for the permanent condition your child is in because of neglect. Families can file a lawsuit when medical malpractice caused your child’s disabilityt. There is help out there for families to recover cost for treatments, medications and other losses.

When to Talk to a Medical Attorney

If your child was diagnosed with cerebral palsy because the delivery of your baby was difficult a medical error may have occurred. You should contact a medical attorney right away. Treating a child with this disability is very expensive and can cost more than $500,000 over the child’s lifespan. It is an unfair situation for families to be put in and that is why you may be entitled to some compensation. You can recover losses when filing a medical malpractice lawsuit and be compensated for treatments, also for mental anguish, pain and suffering and other related costs. Remember there is no cure for cerebral palsy, the cost for care is expensive, you have rights and a medical attorney can go over your legal options.

Cerebral palsy is a group of disorders that affects the person’s muscle tone, body movement, and motor skills. This condition is usually caused by brain damage that occurs before, during, and after child birth – during the first 3 to 5 years of a child’s life. The disorder is non-progressive and non-curable; but with special equipment, therapy, and treatment methods the conditions may be improved. In some rare cases, surgery can also correct the damage or injury in the brain. People who are living with cerebral palsy can have problems in walking, talking, and performing even the simplest body movement.

Every year, about 2 out of every 1000 children are born with cerebral palsy. As one of the most common congenital disorders of childhood – and even while in gestation and delivery period, these cases have exceeded 500,000 in the United States. And most of these cases are caused by medical mistakes made during pregnancy and child delivery.

The consequences are a growing number of medical lawsuits brought against health care providers (doctors, midwives, nurses, hospitals) and hundreds of families awarded with cerebral palsy settlements. The results from any wrongdoing done to patients by medical professionals are often irreversible but some form of compensation may help ease the burden and suffering that often come with any medical errors.

A large number of malpractice cases that involves cerebral palsy are caused by human errors; however, the lack of malicious intent will not excuse the health care provider(s) who committed medical negligence. No infant or parent should suffer from the honest mistakes of everyone responsible on taking care of them.

Infants may be susceptible to cerebral palsy during these instances:

The mother had an infection during the pregnancy period.

During child delivery, the fetus suffered from lack of oxygen for a long period of time.

A disease in the bloodstream was not detected, treated, and monitored properly.

The baby was premature.

If any of these situations had happened to you or to someone you love, you must talk to a medical lawyer. It is very important for you to file a medical lawsuit as soon as possible, or right after your child was diagnosed with cerebral palsy. The medical lawyer will help you fight for your legal rights and seek financial assistance, through a settlement, for your child’s future as someone who will live with cerebral palsy for life.

The most simple answer as to why a child is suffering from cerebral palsy is because they have suffered some form of damage to their brain. Normally such damage will have occurred before, during or after the child has been born. But in order to find out which kind of injury to the brain and the causes of cerebral palsy a doctor will need to carry out various medical and neurological tests on the child.

Unfortunately when medical professionals are investigating why the child has suffered a brain injury find it difficult to know what for sure had caused it. Because they are unable to discover what has caused the initial injury to the childs brain they also find it difficult to have ways of preventing it in the first place. But in many cases where a child is suffering from cerebral palsy there are two injuries to their brain which can be the cause of them suffering from this particular condition.

The first is because the childs brain has been unable to develop properly and is commonly referred to as developmental brain malformation. Unfortunately with this kind of injury to the brain there is very little chance available medically to help prevent such an injury occurring.

The other cause for a child to suffer brain damage whilst still in their mothers womb or as they are being born or after they have been born is through a recognized injury. The kinds of injuries that fall in to this category are infections (such as meningitis), blood has been allowed to bleed into the brain or the child has not been provided with sufficient amounts of oxygen to their brain. Around 10 to 15% of all children who suffer from cerebral palsy will have been caused by such injuries.

Also a large proportion of the cases of cerebral palsy to be found in young children today have been caused through medical mistakes and could therefore have been easily prevented. Often a large number of children who have cerebral palsy will have suffered from some kind of brain damage when they were being delivered and therefore could easily have been prevented.

But just how bad a childs cerebral palsy is will depend on how severe the damage to their brain was. For a baby who is born prematurely and suffers from an intraventricular haemorrhage (bleeding into the brain) will suffer from very extensive brain damage.

Above we have explained some of the causes of cerebral palsy in children today and on average around 6,000 new cases are presenting themselves in the USA each year. Currently the medical bill to cover the costs of caring for such children in the USA alone is running at around $20 billion a year. But the biggest question being asked by many parents today whose child suffers from cerebral palsy was if it could have been prevented or not?