Can an Injury During Pregnancy Cause Cerebral Palsy

• Cerebral Palsy
• Can an Injury During Pregnancy Cause Cerebral Palsy?

Can an Injury During Pregnancy Cause Cerebral Palsy?

Yes, an injury during pregnancy can cause a brain damage to the baby, which may eventually lead to cerebral palsy. Sometimes the brain damage takes place in-utero (while the baby is in the mother’s womb), while in other cases, brain damage in the form of hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) occurs during labor or delivery. The likelihood of cerebral palsy will increase depending on the severity of the HIE during pregnancy or around childbirth.

Birth asphyxia is a major cause of brain damage in babies during pregnancy or childbirth. Premature babies and low birth weight babies are at an increased risk of birth asphyxia, which causes oxygen deprivation to the baby’s brain.

Placental problems, umbilical cord complications, maternal infections, gestational diabetes, preeclampsia, improper use of devices during assisted delivery, or improper medications to induce labor are some of the factors that may contribute to baby’s brain damage, eventually leading to cerebral palsy.

Types of Birth Asphyxia

Birth Asphyxia means the oxygen flowing to the baby’s brain is cut off or extremely decreased. Injuries during pregnancy that cause birth asphyxia, leading to HIE and eventually cerebral palsy can be divided into three broad categories.

• Acute Near-Total Birth Asphyxia: This acute profound birth asphyxia causes the most severe HIE insult. In this case, the baby typically suffers total, severe and/or prolonged oxygen deprivation. The injury occurs from conditions, such as umbilical cord prolapse, uterine rupture, placental abruption, vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC) complications, or terminal fetal bradycardia (slow heart rate).


• Partial Prolonged Birth Asphyxia: In this type of injury, the oxygen deprivation to the baby’s brain lasts for about 30 minutes. Causes of partial prolonged birth asphyxia include preeclampsia (maternal high blood pressure), oligohydramnios (abnormally low levels of amniotic fluid), placenta previa, umbilical cord compression, or overly strong uterine contractions.


• Mixed Injury Pattern Birth Asphyxia: In acute near total asphyxia, the brain damage usually occurs in the deep gray matter areas, such as the brain stem, thalamus, and basal ganglia. In partial prolonged asphyxia, the brain damage is more likely in the white matter area (cerebral cortex). When elements of both these types of asphyxia are present, a mixed brain injury pattern may be seen with damage to different areas of the brain.

How Birth Asphyxia Causes HIE and Cerebral Palsy?

During pregnancy, the baby’s brain receives oxygen and nutrients from the oxygen-rich blood that flows through the umbilical cord and the placenta to reach the baby. Any injury that disrupts the blood flow to the baby along with pathway can deprive the baby’s brain of oxygen.

For example, umbilical cord compression, placental abruption, a drop in maternal blood pressure, or maternal infection can cut off the blood flow to the baby’s brain, causing birth asphyxia. The brain cannot depend for too long on fetal reserves, and severe or prolonged birth asphyxia may cause hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) brain damage, which could eventually lead to cerebral palsy.

About Birth Asphyxia

Is Your Child’s Birth Injury the Result of Medical Malpractice?

Parents whose children suffer birth injuries want and deserve answers as to whether mistakes by the doctors and nurses contributed to the injury. At Miller Weisbrod Olesky, our award-winning birth injury attorneys have represented families all over the United States in their time of need after a birth injury. We use our skills and expertise to obtain for you and your child a medical malpractice settlement that will help provide specialized medical therapy in order to maximize the quality of life and independence of your child throughout their life.

• Were there signs of birth injury or birth complications during the pregnancy, labor, and delivery process, or presence of risk factors, which were either not recognized or properly treated?
• During the labor and delivery, were there clear indications that the baby was suffering from fetal distress, but appropriate actions were not taken by the maternal fetal specialists, obstetrician or nurses?
• Was there a delay in diagnosis of a likely premature birth that led to later complications, including brain injury?
• Did the medical team fail to order a series of tests to diagnose this birth complication in a timely manner?
• Was the decision to perform a cesarean delivery delayed leading to birth trauma during vaginal delivery or labor?
• Did the neonatal resuscitation team fail to quickly begin important breathing support?
• Should brain cooling (also called “hypothermia therapy”) have been provided to your baby, but the doctors and nurses failed to perform the appropriate tests or ignored the results of the tests?

Our birth injury attorneys have recovered millions of dollars in settlements for families of children that have suffered a birth injury. At no point in our legal intake process will we ask you to pay anything. The medical review of your case and the consultation are free. We only receive payment when you do, no matter how long or tough your case is.

Registered Nurses and Nurse-Attorneys Are a Vital Part of Our Birth Injury Team…and Yours

Most birth injury law firms will employ one or two nurses to assist the review of cases and medical research. But Miller Weisbrod Olesky offers an unmatched number of nurses and nurse-attorney employees support to both the birth injury attorneys and our clients.

Our team of registered nursing staff and nurse-attorneys bring a deep level of medical and personal insight to every client’s case. Our nursing team includes both an experienced labor and delivery nurse as well as an ICU nurse. Working closely with the rest of the team, they investigate the reasons behind a birth injury and how medical professionals breached their standard of care.

Why Should You Talk with the Highly Capable Attorneys at Miller Weisbrod Olesky?

The only way to find out if you have a birth injury case is to talk to a lawyer experienced in birth injury lawsuits. It’s not uncommon that a birth related complication results in a preventable birth injury, including cerebral palsy, but it takes a detailed expert review by a birth injury attorney of the medical records from your child’s birth to determine if the birth injury was the result of medical malpractice.

At Miller Weisbrod Olesky, a team of committed lawyers, nurses and paralegals uses our detailed medical negligence case review process to assess your child’s potential birth injury case. We start by learning more about you and your child and the status of meeting/missing developmental milestones. Then we gather medical records to determine what happened before, during pregnancy. We call in documented and proven medical experts who review your records and let us know if they think medical errors could have caused your child’s injuries.

If we feel medical negligence caused or contributed to wrongful birth in your case, we meet with you to discuss how you can receive compensation from the medical professionals who made the errors. Our birth injury attorneys have recovered millions of dollars in settlements for families of children that have suffered a birth injury.

At no point in our legal intake process will we ask you to pay anything. The medical review of your case and the consultation are free. We only receive payment when you do no matter how long or tough your case is.

Contact Our Birth Injury Lawyers