Is Cerebral Palsy Caused at Birth?

• Cerebral Palsy
• Is Cerebral Palsy Caused at Birth?

Signs of Cerebral Palsy at Birth

Cerebral palsy usually results from brain damage to the baby that often occurs around childbirth. The most common cause of brain injury around birth is hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE), which takes place when baby’s brain is deprived of oxygen during labor or delivery.

Oxygen is delivered to the baby from the mother via oxygen rich blood through the umbilical cord. When the oxygen supply from the mother to the baby is interrupted completely or for a long time, it can cause more severe HIE injury which is the leading cause of cerebral palsy.

About Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy (HIE)

Causes of Cerebral Palsy During and Just After Birth

In many cases, the factors contributing to cerebral palsy at birth are preventable if the doctors and nurses exercise follow reasonable steps (called the “standard of care”) to anticipate a problem, diagnose the underlying condition, and take proper preventative and treatment steps in a timely manner. Some of the key causes of oxygen deprivation to the baby, leading to cerebral palsy include:

• Placental complications, such as placental abruption (placental detaches from the uterine wall) or placenta previa (placenta partially covers the cervix)
• Uterine rupture (collapse of the uterus)
• Preeclampsia (maternal hypertension)
• Meconium aspiration syndrome (MAS)
• Umbilical cord compression or prolapse (cord slips into the cervix)
• Oligohydramnios (too little amniotic fluid)
• Premature rupture of membranes (PROM)
• Maternal infections, such as Group B Strep or chorioamnionitis (inflammation of the placenta membranes)
• Mismanagement of newborn jaundice, leading to brain damage from kernicterus (which may occur when newborn jaundice is untreated)
• Prolonged or arrested labor leading to mismanagement of Oxytocin medications to induce delivery
• Improper use of vacuum extraction or forceps causing brain injury to the baby during assisted delivery
• Failure to perform cesarean section when it was medically necessary after macrosomia (oversized baby), cephalopelvic disproportion (the baby’s head cannot fit the cervix), breech baby, or other complications related to pregnancy, labor, or delivery
• Improper fetal heart rate monitoring

Diagnosis and Treatment of HIE Injury at Birth

Hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE), which causes cerebral palsy, can be diagnosed using advanced neuroimaging techniques. Three important imaging tools medical providers can use for making an early confirmed diagnosis and timely interventions to reduce the risks of cerebral palsy include: MRI scan, CT scan, and cranial ultrasound.

These images can show the specific brain injury patterns, which will indicate the severity of brain damage to predict neurological outcomes, such as cerebral palsy. Therapeutic hypothermia or brain cooling is a recommended therapy for eligible babies with suspected HIE injury, provided the therapy can be administered within six hours of birth.

About Therapeutic Hypothermia

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