What Birth Injuries Cause Cerebral Palsy

• Cerebral Palsy
• What Birth Injuries Cause Cerebral Palsy?

What Birth Injuries Cause Cerebral Palsy?

Any birth injury that restricts the blood flow to the baby’s brain during pregnancy, labor or delivery or even shortly after birth can cause cerebral palsy. Disruption of blood flow reduces or cuts off the supply of oxygen to the baby’s brain. Severe or prolonged oxygen deprivation to the brain tissue causes brain injury and brain damage, such as hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE), which can caused cerebral palsy.

Birth Asphyxia

A lack of oxygen to the baby’s brain is known as “birth asphyxia”. During labor and delivery a condition known as “fetal hypoxia” can occurs if the unborn baby (“fetus”) is deprived of sufficient blood flow, resulting in lack of oxygen to the baby’s brain. During labor and delivery, this dangerous condition can quickly become “birth asphyxia” causing lasting damage to areas of the brain resulting in cerebral palsy. A ruptured uterus, early detachment of placenta, or a compressed umbilical cord during birth may result in restricted blood flow leading to fetal hypoxia and birth asphyxia.

Brain Hemorrhage

When ruptured blood vessels in the baby’s brain cause abnormal brain bleeds (medically referred to as “hemorrhage”) before or during childbirth the resulting damage to the brain tissue can cause cerebral palsy. Preeclampsia (maternal high blood pressure) may also brain hemorrhages. If there is birth trauma to the baby’s brain due to misuse of vacuum extraction or forceps during an assisted vaginal delivery internal bleeding inside the baby’s brain can occur, causing cerebral palsy.

Prolonged or Arrested Labor

Prolonged labor occurs when the first and second stages of labor together last longer than 16 to 24 hours. Arrested labor occurs when the labor process has halted for at least two hours. These conditions can be a result of birth complications, such as fetal macrosomia (baby’s size is larger than average), cephalopelvic disproportion (baby’s head is too large for the mother’s pelvis), or complications with umbilical cord or placenta. The risk of birth asphyxia, HIE, and brain trauma is higher in these conditions, which can cause cerebral palsy.

Premature Birth

Babies born prematurely (before 37 weeks of gestation) often have low birth weight and are more likely to suffer from serious birth injuries, such as hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE). This puts them at a higher risk of developing cerebral palsy. According to the CDC, babies born before 32 weeks of gestation have a particularly high risk of eventually having cerebral palsy.

Maternal Infection

Undetected or untreated maternal infection, such as Group B Streptococcus (Group B Strep) may contribute the premature birth or lead to the baby’s brain damage, sepsis (blood infection), or meningitis (brain inflammation). Damage to the baby’s brain due to these infection birth complications may eventually result in neurodevelopmental impairments, such as vision, hearing or cognitive deficits, or cerebral palsy in more severe cases.

Jaundice Kernicterus

Around the time of birth, some babies may have an abnormally high production of bilirubin (a yellow substance produced in the red blood cells). In milder cases this is referred to as “newborn jaundice”, but in absence of treatment, jaundice can develop into a severe condition called kernicterus. Kernicterus causes extremely high bilirubin levels to build up in the baby’s brain, which cause damage to the brain tissue. This brain damage can cause cerebral palsy.

Medical Negligence During Birth

The following types of medical negligence may sometimes result in serious birth injuries, such as HIE, which may lead to cerebral palsy.

• Misdiagnosis, delayed diagnosis, or lack of diagnosis of a preventable birth injury or complication.
• Failure to properly monitor the baby’s heart rate when there is a known risk or signs of fetal distress.
• Failure to treat or control known maternal or fetal health complications.
• Failure to administer timely and proper medications to induce labor.
• Improper use of vacuum extraction or forceps during assisted delivery.
• Failure to identify, schedule and perform an emergency cesarean section.
• Improper administration of anesthesia.
• Surgical errors during the cesarean section.
• Failure to get oxygen to the baby in time during the birthing process.
• Failure to perform proper neonatal resuscitation, therapeutic hypothermia or other NICU errors.

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