Is Cerebral Palsy a Common Birth Injury

• Cerebral Palsy
• Is Cerebral Palsy a Common Birth Injury?

Birth Injuries and Cerebral Palsy

Cerebral palsy is one of the most common types of preventable serious birth injuries in the United States. Decades of research have proven than the risk of cerebral palsy is greatly reduced when obstetrician and labor and delivery nurses exercise the prevailing standard of care (meaning they act in a reasonable manner to recognize and react to risks that can lead to brain injury causing cerebral palsy).

According to the CDC, cerebral palsy is the most common among all childhood disabilities. As many as three out of every 1,000 babies born in the US are affected by cerebral palsy.

About Cerebral Palsy

Prevalence of Cerebral Palsy in the US

The CDC data reveals the following characteristics and prevalence of cerebral palsy in the US:

• Cerebral palsy is the most common motor disability among children.
• About 764,000 Americans (including children and adults) have at least one symptom of cerebral palsy.
• Over 10,000 babies are born with cerebral palsy every year.
• About 1,200 to 1,500 children going to school are diagnosed with CP every year.
• The Autism and Developmental Disability Monitoring Network (ADDM) of the CDC has estimated that about one in 345 children (approx 3 children per 1,000) are diagnosed with cerebral palsy.
• Premature as well as low birth weight babies have a higher prevalence of cerebral palsy compared to others.
• Nearly 83% of children diagnosed with CP will have spastic cerebral palsy.
• More than 41% of children with cerebral palsy are limited in their ability to crawl, walk, play or run, and 31% depended on the use of special equipment, such as wheelchairs or walkers.
• About 60% of children with cerebral palsy had co-occurring epilepsy.
• Nearly 7.5% children with CP had co-occurring autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
• Medical costs for children with CP alone are about 10 times higher than other children.
• Medical costs for children with CP and intellectual disability are about 26 times higher than other children.

Prevalence of Epilepsy and Intellectual Disability with CP

Epilepsy occurring simultaneously with cerebral palsy is seen in up to 55 to 60% of the children with CP, according to some researchers. Other studies indicate that the incidence may be as high as nine out of 10 children and adults with CP will also have seizure disorders. Epilepsy is generally revealed in the first year of life, or up to five years of life.

Intellectual disability is another common co-occurring impairment in children with cerebral palsy. It further affects the child’s daily activities, quality of life, burden of care, effectiveness of treatments, and longevity. About 40 to 60% of children with CP will experience intellectual impairment.

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