A Kansas family filed a lawsuit alleging that errors in procedures performed during the birth of their son led to him developing injuries that caused cerebral palsy. The procedures included two vacuum extractions, both of which failed. These procedures are dangerous, but sometimes necessary to deliver a child.
The doctors also performed a C-section, which ended up rupturing the uterus, according the lawsuit. The baby had already been in trouble by the time this happened. The baby’s heart rate was too low and doctors believe that he may have had a seizure.
Medical mistakes can cause many different types of birth injuries, and can easily result in a fatality. One of the possible consequences of such mistakes is the child suffering brain damage, which sometimes results in them developing cerebral palsy, such as in the case above.
Cerebral palsy describes a range of conditions. They are characterized by problems controlling the muscles, seizures, sometimes the condition is accompanied by mental impairment and sometimes not. The range of severity varies tremendously, from people who only have minor problems with spasming muscles to people who cannot eat solid food and who need around the clock care.
Filing Lawsuits
Cerebral palsy does not always result from medical mistakes. It’s possible for a child to have cerebral palsy without ever having been the victim of any sort of medical malpractice. An attorney will have to determine whether or not medical negligence was the cause of your child having Cerebral Palsy before they’ll know if it’s worth it for you to pursue a lawsuit. If you don’t have a realistic chance of winning, there’s no sense going forward.
These lawsuits sometimes assign varying levels of responsibility to the entities involved in the negligence. For example, a jury may find that a child’s injuries were 60 percent the fault of the hospital and 40 percent the fault of the doctor. The jury may also decide to award all or a portion of the total sum being sought by the family for their child.
These lawsuits can take a long time to get through the court system, so realize that you may wait years to get a ruling. There is a chance that the defendant may offer you a settlement, which allows you to skip going to court and the associated fees. The first step in all of this is speaking with an attorney, which you need to do quickly because of limitations on how long you have to file.