Other pages in the birth injury section of this site: Articles About Birth Injury Lawsuits And Childbirth Injury Medicine Erb’s Palsy Nerve Damage And Shoulder Dystocia Birth Injuries Can Be Caused By Hospital Negligence |
The connection between cerebral palsy and medical malpractice is well-known. Although most cerebral palsy is not caused by medical malpractice, many children have cerebral palsy, particularly spastic quadriplegic or dyskinetic palsy, as a result of hypoxia at birth and acidosis caused by mismanagement of the pregnancy or negligence in the delivery itself.
Sometimes, the baby became stuck — either as a result of shoulder dystocia or an unusual birth position — and was deprived of oxygen. Other times, the baby showed ample signs of trouble during labor, often in the form of a slowing heart rate (medically speaking, fetal bradycardia, decelerations, or the absence of fetal heart rate variability), but the obstetrician failed to order an emergency c-section soon enough. In many instances, the doctors failed to recognize transfusion problems with the placenta or umbilical cord.
We are intimately familiar with obstetrics, and what fetal heart rates should indicate a problem, how shoulder dystocia should be managed when a baby gets stuck, when an emergency c-section should be ordered for fetal distress, when cerebral palsy was avoidable, how a negligent brachial plexus injury causes Erb’s Palsy, and why babies are referred to head cooling for hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy or to extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) for meconium aspiration.
If your child has been diagnosed with cerebral palsy and you suspect medical malpractice may have been the cause, please contact me using this online form for a free, no-obligation review and consultation by our experienced nurses, doctors, and attorneys. Our experienced neonatal encephalopathy lawyers can help.
If you’re looking for more information about the connection between birth injuries, cerebral palsy, and medical malpractice, here are some of my blog posts relating to the issue:
- New Medical Malpractice “Tort Reform” Just Another Pack of Lies
- The Truth About Those Blockbuster Birth Injury / Obstetrical Malpractice Jury Verdicts
- Walking The Line In Medical Malpractice Cases: New Jersey Appellate Division Vacates $19 Million Birth Injury Award
- No Surprise: Hospital Refuses To Apologize To Pediatrician For Obstetrical Malpractice
- Texas Lowers The Medical Malpractice Bar Again, Tries To Imprison Nurses For Reporting Dangerous Doctor
- Medical Malpractice Liability and Access to Care Debate In Emergency Physicians Monthly
- Can a Patient Consent to Medical Malpractice? (A Followup on the Octuplets)
- A Few Medical Malpractice and Punitive Damages Misconceptions
- Falsehoods About Obstretrical Malpractice & Cerebral Palsy Persist As Smears Against John Edwards
If you’re looking for more information about cerebral palsy, birth injuries, and obstetrical malpractice in general, here are a few links to other sites which discuss the medicine behind the connection:
- Cerebral Palsy Information Page: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)
- Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy: eMedicine Pediatrics: Cardiac Disease and Critical Care Medicine
- The Report of ACOG’s Task Force on Neonatal Encephalopathy and Cerebral Palsy
- Harvard Risk Management Foundation Review of Obstretical Malpractice Claims