Mixed Cerebral Palsy
Mixed Cerebral Palsy (CP)
Mixed Cerebral Palsy (CP) occurs when a child experiences damage to multiple areas of their brain.
Children living with mixed cerebral palsy generally experience a wide range of physical and neurological symptoms. Several treatment options can help with these symptoms, ranging from light physical therapy to serious medical procedures like osteotomy surgery.
Families of children with mixed cerebral palsy will often need to pay for diverse treatments, increased care, and additional assistance. These costs can place a heavy emotional and financial burden on families who cannot afford the necessary treatment.
Families can sometimes recover these costs when a child’s mixed cerebral palsy symptoms result from preventable medical mistakes at birth. OB-GYNs, maternal fetal medicine specialists, nurses, midwives, and other healthcare providers have a duty to protect babies from harm. Breaching this duty (the “standard of care”) puts the baby at risk for permanent injuries that cause cerebral palsy symptoms. When medical negligence causes irreversible brain injuries, it constitutes medical malpractice.
National Cerebral Palsy Attorneys
Our top rated cerebral palsy attorneys specialize in identifying how medical mistakes during delivery can cause permanent brain injuries. If your baby’s preventable birth injuries led to a mixed cerebral palsy diagnosis, don’t hesitate to contact our firm. We can answer difficult legal and medical questions and investigate the facts on your behalf.
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Cerebral Palsy Lawyers
(888) 987-0005Our Cerebral Palsy Lawyers are available to meet you in your home or the hospital.
Our vast network of medical experts and in-house nursing staff and nurse-attorneys gives us the edge over our competition. When we take your case, we assign you with not just an attorney but an entire medical team. This team includes attorneys, experienced nursing advocates, and seasoned medical experts.
Your team is available to assist with any day-to-day treatment you or your child may need. This includes assistance with obtaining medical records, scheduling doctors’ appointments, providing transportation, and any other problems that may arise.
We offer all of this on a contingency fee basis. This means you will not pay any fees until after we win your case and secure a settlement. Our unmatched track record of birth injury results sets us apart from other birth injury law firms.
Recent Birth Injury Settlement:
Cerebral Palsy Birth Injury settlement against a hospital in which nurses and physicians failed to detect a uterine rupture during delivery causing an HIE event which caused cerebral palsy. Our dedicated cerebral palsy birth injury lawyers recovered $9,200,000 for the family to help with future medical expenses and developmental therapy.
What is Mixed Cerebral Palsy?
Children diagnosed with mixed cerebral palsy exhibit symptoms of two or more types of cerebral palsy. The condition occurs due to damage in several parts of the brain arising before, during, or after birth.
Mixed cerebral palsy is the second most common form of the condition, accounting for around 15% of all cases.
The following are the three primary forms of cerebral palsy:
Spastic Cerebral Palsy
Accounting for over 75% of all cases, spastic cerebral palsy is one of the most common forms of this condition. It stems from injuries to the motor cortex, the part of the brain responsible for voluntary muscle control.
Overall, spastic cerebral palsy causes abnormal nerve firings that make a child’s muscles randomly contract and spasm. It can cause unpredictable movements and varying degrees of paralysis.
Spastic cerebral palsy has three subtypes based on which parts of the body it affects. These include:
Spastic Diplegia
Spastic diplegia is a type of muscle stiffness that primarily affects the legs. It also may cause mild stiffness or spasticity in the arms in some cases. Approximately 35% of children with cerebral palsy have spastic diplegia. Diplegia is common in children born prematurely with cerebral palsy.
Spastic Hemiplegia
Spastic Hemiplegia typically affects muscles on one side of the body. In most cases, it affects the arms more than the legs. Children with this type of cerebral palsy will sometimes have rigidly flexed elbows or wrists that are difficult to move.
Spastic Quadriplegia
Spastic Quadriplegia is the most severe form of cerebral palsy that affects both the arms and legs. It may also impact the muscles in the torso and even cause facial paralysis. According to Translational Pediatrics, 20% of infants with cerebral palsy have spastic quadriplegia.
Children with spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy often have trouble walking, encounter speech impairments, or have seizures. A child born with this condition usually requires lifetime birth injury treatment and support.
Some children with spastic cerebral palsy may experience abnormal reflexes and distorted movements. They may have crossed knees or walk on their toes to take pressure off tight calf muscles.
Muscle spasticity can also translate into difficulties with eating ad speaking. Children with spasticity in their throat muscles may experience speech impairments like dysarthria or require G-tube feeding to swallow food.
Dyskinetic Cerebral Palsy
Dyskinetic cerebral palsy causes fluctuations in muscle tone from stiff to rigid. Only around 6% of children with cerebral palsy receive a diagnosis with this subtype.
Children with dyskinetic cerebral palsy have problems speaking and controlling their arms, hands, legs, feet, and tongue. The damage to the basal ganglia in their brain causes jerky, uncontrollable movements. Medical professionals categorize symptoms of dyskinetic cerebral palsy into three groups based on different types of involuntary movement:
Athetosis
Athetosis is a symptom of slow, involuntary twisting movements in the hands, fingers, toes, arms, legs, and the neck. Doctors may classify children with severe athetosis as having “athetoid cerebral palsy”.
Chorea
Chorea is a cerebral palsy symptom similar to athetosis that causes involuntary muscle movements. But unlike athetosis, chorea will more commonly affect the child’s face, trunk, and vocal cords.
Children with chorea symptoms may experience constant headaches, slurred speech impairment, and seizures.
Dystonia
Dystonia is another subset of involuntary movement disorders that cause repetitive twisting movements and unnatural postures. This can commonly manifest in the form of cervical dystonia, which specifically affects the child’s head and neck muscles.
Some of the first signs of dyskinetic cerebral palsy can come within the child’s first year of life. Babies with dyskinetic cerebral palsy often miss key developmental delays like crawling, sitting up, and reaching for objects.
The most common combination among children living with mixed cerebral palsy is a mix of the spastic and dyskinetic types.
Ataxic Cerebral Palsy
Ataxic cerebral palsy is the rarest form, accounting for approximately less than 5% of all cases. Children with this form of cerebral palsy experience damage to the cerebellum region of the brain. This is the region of the brain responsible for muscle coordination and balance.
Children with ataxic cerebral palsy typically have issues with balance and depth perception. They may miss when reaching for items or walk with a widened stance to prevent falling.
Children with mixed cerebral palsy may experience symptoms of ataxia alongside other movement disorders. Damage to the cerebellum can often coincide with damage to the motor cortex, which primarily causes symptoms of spasticity.
How can Malpractice Cause Cerebral Palsy?
Mixed cerebral palsy stems from damage to multiple areas of a developing brain during fetal development. But brain injuries can also occur during labor and delivery or even shortly after birth.
In many cases, mixed cerebral palsy results from the negligent action or inaction of a doctor, nurse, or hospital.
Doctors, nurses, and other medical staff must anticipate dangerous complications during the mother’s pregnancy or delivery. When they fail to provide the standard level of care, they could be liable for committing medical malpractice.
Some examples of medical mistakes that can lead to cerebral palsy include:
- Failing to detect or treat fetal distress, such as lack of oxygen (hypoxia)
- Pulling with excessive force on a child's head, neck, shoulder, or arm
- Failing to treat jaundice at birth
- Improper handling of breech presentation
- Failing to detect or properly treat infections in the mother or child
- Putting off a necessary cesarean section (C-section) or not performing one at all
- Failing to recognize umbilical cord issues such as umbilical cord prolapse
- Improperly using delivery tools such as forceps or a vacuum extractor
- Failing to diagnose illnesses and potential health risks before or after birth
- Missing or ignoring signs of eclampsia or preeclampsia
- Failing to manage complications with the placenta
- Prescribing incorrect dosages of labor-inducing medications
- Failing to intervene during a prolonged or arrested labor
Our top rated cerebral palsy lawyers can prove when medical malpractice caused or contributed to a child's adverse conditions and disabilities.
If your child's birth injury occurred due to a preventable medical error, you should consult with a cerebral palsy lawyer who will thoroughly assess the facts of your case. They can help file a medical malpractice lawsuit against a negligent hospital or medical professional on your behalf.
Did Medical Malpractice Cause My Child’s Cerebral Palsy?
Both improper action and also inaction during delivery can result in brain damage that potentially justifies a medical malpractice claim.
If a family believes medical negligence worsened a child’s brain damage at birth, legal support may be an option. A specialized cerebral palsy attorney can review the medical records and circumstances to assess whether a claim exists.
Families who have experienced the effects of brain injuries from negligent medical care deserve to know whether they were avoidable. Our top rated cerebral palsy lawyers will help you find those answers and obtain the necessary funds to secure treatment.
Our nationally recognized cerebral palsy team will thoroughly investigate the facts, holding responsible parties accountable by pursuing medical malpractice claims.
What is the Statute of Limitations in a Birth Injury Lawsuit?
A statute of limitations (SOL) is a law that sets a time limit on how long an injured person has to file a lawsuit after an accident. It is essential to understand that statutes of limitations vary based on the case and the state where you file. For instance, the deadline for birth injury claims is typically different from other claims, such as injury to private property.
Generally, the clock starts ticking on the date the injury occurred. However, there are exceptions to this rule. In some cases, the statute of limitations starts when a person discovers or reasonably should have discovered an injury. When dealing with government agencies, SOLs can become even more complex.
For example, if the party that injured you was:
- A federal employee
- Employed by a military hospital, Veterans Administration facility, or a federally funded medical entity
You may need to file a birth injury claim under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA). In FTCA cases, claimants must go through certain administrative procedures before filing a lawsuit. In some states, you may have less time to give notice if:
- The negligent party was a local or state government hospital
- The doctors and medical providers are employees of a governmental entity
If you file your case outside of the statute of limitations, the court will typically dismiss it. This means you will not be eligible to recover compensation for you or your child’s injuries.
Determining when a statute of limitations begins on your case can be tricky. If you are considering pursuing compensation for a birth injury, contact a cerebral palsy attorney as soon as possible.
How Can Our Cerebral Palsy Attorneys Help?
A detailed expert review of the facts and circumstances of your pregnancy and your child's birth can reveal many things. Namely, it can determine whether a child’s mixed cerebral palsy diagnosis and related complications were the result of medical malpractice.
Our Process
Our team of committed cerebral palsy attorneys, nurses and paraprofessionals works to answer these questions and seek compensation. We use our detailed medical negligence case review process to assess your potential cerebral palsy case.
We start by learning more about your pregnancy by gathering records to determine what happened during and after your delivery. This includes evaluating the fetal heart rate strips during labor and any action medical professionals took in the NICU.
We will call in skilled medical experts who review your records and provide insight into where medical professionals went wrong. If we feel medical negligence caused or worsened your baby’s brain damage, we meet with you to discuss further.
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 once you do. The sooner you reach out, the sooner we can investigate your case and gather the evidence to support your claim.
We work on a contingency fee basis, meaning you will not pay any legal fees until we win your case. We do not purse any medical malpractice cases unless we fully believe we can win.
Contact us today to schedule your free consultation by calling our toll-free line at (888) 987-0005. You can also reach us by filling out our online request form.
Miller Weisbrod Olesky
At Miller Weisbrod Olesky, the attorneys, nurses, and staff understand that parents of children with birth injuries feel overwhelmed. So, every client has the attention and support of a team of trained, compassionate professionals. But we don’t just offer compassion.
We offer a process to help you discover whether your child’s birth injury, HIE, cerebral palsy or brain injury was caused by a medical error.
Call our offices today at 888.987.0005 for experienced assistance in a free consultation.
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Testimonials
- Lyric C. I feel like our voice was heard in a sense of what can possibly go wrong in a delivery and finding us answers. I feel with our settlement, we are now in a comfortable position to provide for our son.
- Lyssa L. They are not just people that say “hey let's get you money and let's go” The law firm was very thorough with us. It was awesome. I don't want to cry, because I think about and it's amazing that they were able to help me and that we were able to help my son and get the story out there.
- Jay C. Throughout the process, one thing was clear to us, the ultimate interest of our child was the utmost concern of Max and his team and as parents navigating a situation like that, that was refreshing to know we had them firmly on our side. I highly recommend them.