If you’re trying to find information on medical malpractice claims related to birth injuries, reading the news can give you some great insight. For example, a case in New York was recently concluded when a jury awarded $100 million to the family of a child who developed cerebral palsy. Other claims in the news may not involve such huge jury awards, but they do give good information on how birth injuries happen and how they contribute to cerebral palsy.
Brain Injuries
Cerebral palsy includes a range of conditions that all have to do with specific brain injuries. These brain injuries oftentimes occur before the child is born or during the process of being born. In some cases, they occur shortly after the child has been born.
These brain injuries affect the parts of the brain that control the muscles. Because of this, the child typically has uneven muscle tone, cannot perform tasks that require fine motor skills and, in some cases, the child may suffer some sort of a mental impairment, trouble hearing, and trouble speaking.
Prenatal Care
The case in New York and many others involve the level of care the woman was given before having her child or during when she was actually in labor. Oftentimes, the child will end up being born prematurely due to problems with the pregnancy. Negligence sometimes comes into play in these cases because the doctors failed to realize that the woman was having trouble with her pregnancy or because the woman went into labor too early and medical personnel did not realize what was going on.
Labor and Delivery
In some instances where a child suffers a birth injury, they end up being strangulated by the umbilical cord in the womb or as they are being born. If the doctor could have intervened to prevent this from happening and did not, it can sometimes be construed as medical negligence.
In other cases, the child may end up being pinned in a position where their brain is starved of oxygen, and because of that, suffer a brain injury. This sometimes involves medical negligence as well, and doctors are sometimes found to be responsible for having caused the birth injury.
If your child was injured due to medical negligence, contacting a CP lawyer can help you understand the legal options available to you and your family.