What is Cerebral Palsy?
Cerebral palsy (“CP”) is a neurological disorder caused by damage to the developing brain or disruptions in normal brain development.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), cerebral palsy is one of the most common childhood motor disabilities. There are different types of cerebral palsy such as spastic cerebral palsy, dyskinetic cerebral palsy, or ataxic cerebral palsy.
Children with CP may experience various physical and cognitive impairments, sometimes affecting only one side of the body, including:
- Poor muscle tone
- Stiff muscles or tremors
- Involuntary movements
- Delayed developmental milestones
- Intellectual disabilities
- Difficulty with speech or fine motor skills
Symptoms and severity vary significantly from child to child and may be influenced by factors like low birth weight or premature birth, which often place infants at an increased risk.
Many parents ask: How does cerebral palsy happen? While some cases are linked to genetic conditions or infections like meningitis or rubella, other risk factors may result from preventable birth injuries involving a lack of oxygen or traumatic delivery complications.
Signs That a Birth Injury May Have Caused CP
Cerebral palsy is often not formally diagnosed until a child fails to meet developmental milestones between one and two years of age.
Parents may begin noticing:
- Delayed sitting or crawling
- Muscle stiffness
- Poor coordination
- Tremors
- Speech delays
- Difficulty swallowing
- Abnormal muscle tone
Common cerebral palsy treatment options may include:
- Physical therapy
- Occupational therapy
- Speech therapy
- Specialized developmental care
Importantly, parents should not wait for a formal cerebral palsy diagnosis before speaking with a qualified attorney if they suspect malpractice.
Understanding how does cerebral palsy happen medically often requires preserving records and investigating labor and delivery events as early as possible.
Can Birth Injuries Cause Cerebral Palsy?
Yes. Some forms of cerebral palsy are directly related to preventable birth injuries occurring shortly before, during, or immediately after delivery.
Birth injury cases generally involve situations where the baby’s brain suffered damage during the perinatal period — the time immediately surrounding labor and birth.
Ordinarily, a cerebral palsy from birth injury case involves a reduction in the flow of well-oxygenated blood from the mother to the fetus through the placenta and umbilical cord to the baby’s brain. When that reduction in oxygenated blood flow occurs, brain cells can begin to die.
This type of injury is known as hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (“HIE”).
According to the Cleveland Clinic, HIE can lead to permanent neurological injuries, including cerebral palsy.
Understanding what birth injuries cause cerebral palsy often requires a detailed medical review of:
- Labor and delivery records
- Fetal heart monitoring strips
- Placental pathology
- Biochemical markers
- Brain imaging studies
- Neonatal treatment records
Experienced birth injury attorneys and medical experts examine whether the injury likely occurred:
- Before labor
- During labor and delivery
- Or after birth
That distinction is often critical in determining whether medical malpractice contributed to the child’s condition.
Understanding Cerebral Palsy Related Birth Injuries
For many parents and caregivers, a cerebral palsy diagnosis raises painful and difficult questions. Was the condition preventable? Did something go wrong during labor or delivery? Could a birth injury have caused permanent brain damage?
Understanding what birth injuries cause cerebral palsy is not always straightforward. Cerebral palsy is a broad diagnosis involving a group of neurological and developmental disorders that affect movement, coordination, posture, and muscle control. The condition may result from several different medical causes, including preventable complications during pregnancy, labor, delivery, or newborn care.
Preventable complications in the labor and delivery period include the reduction in the flow of well-oxygenated blood from the mother to the fetus through the placenta and umbilical cord to the fetal brain. A number of things can cause that reduction in the flow of well-oxygenated blood (oxygen deprivation or perinatal asphyxia), and when it occurs, brain cells are destroyed. We call that a hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy (“HIE”) injury. Fetal heart rate monitoring will often show if the fetus is not able to overcome the stress of contractions and is suffering diminished flow of well-oxygenated blood to his or her brain. Aside from fetal heart rate monitoring, there are various factors we look for to determine whether that HIE event occurred in the labor and delivery period, whether they likely occurred far earlier, or after birth. Knowledge of the biochemical markers and patterns of injury seen on imaging of the brain is essential to determine whether the injury can be attributed to the labor and delivery period.
Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy (HIE)
HIE is one of the most common and serious causes of cerebral palsy associated with medical negligence.
A fetus depends entirely on the placenta and the blood vessels of the umbilical cord for oxygen delivery. If that oxygen supply becomes interrupted or reduced, the brain may suffer permanent injury.
A number of complications can reduce the flow of oxygenated blood, including:
- Umbilical cord compression
- Placental abruption
- Uterine rupture
- Delayed emergency C-section
- Failure to recognize fetal distress
- Excessively prolonged labor
Fetal heart rate monitoring frequently provides warning signs that a fetus is no longer tolerating labor contractions properly. Experienced medical and healthcare providers are expected to recognize these signs and intervene appropriately.
If they fail to do so, a preventable HIE injury may occur.
For more information about catastrophic medical negligence claims, visit our Medical Malpractice & Negligence page.
Signs of Oxygen Deprivation at Birth
If your child was:
- Blue at birth
- Flaccid or limp
- Not crying
- Born with a low heart rate
- Resuscitated immediately after birth
- Admitted to the NICU
These may be signs of oxygen deprivation or HIE.
Parents should also pay attention if their child received:
- Cooling therapy
- Therapeutic hypothermia treatment
- Seizure treatment shortly after birth
Therapeutic hypothermia is generally used when physicians believe a significant brain injury occurred within the previous several hours.
These warning signs may indicate that the child suffered a birth injury capable of causing the long-term symptoms of cerebral palsy.
Traumatic Delivery Injuries
Not all cerebral palsy birth injury cases involve oxygen deprivation. Preventable events in the labor and delivery period also include traumatic deliveries caused by the misuse of vacuum or forceps causing skull fractures, brain bleeds or by the misuse of Pitocin causing trauma to the fetal head when there is evidence of arrest of descent of the fetal head in labor.
These injuries may occur when delivery tools are improperly applied or when providers continue a dangerous vaginal delivery instead of performing a timely cesarean section.
Families dealing with traumatic birth injuries may also benefit from reviewing our Birth Injury practice area for additional information about preventable delivery complications.
Neonatal Care Injuries
Preventable events in the newborn period include failure to properly treat jaundice leading to kernictereus, and failure to properly maintain blood pressure in the newborn brain leading to a brain bleed (intraventricular hemorrhage or IVH).
Determining whether cerebral palsy resulted from medical negligence requires extensive medical knowledge and experience. At Garland, Samuel & Loeb, our attorneys work with leading experts in:
- Obstetrics (labor and delivery standards of care)
- Neonatal medicine (neonatal standards of care)
- Pediatric neurology (cause of birth injury)
- Pediatric neuroradiology (cause of birth injury)
- Placental pathology (cause of birth injury)
Our firm understands the complex medical and legal issues involved in investigating potential cerebral palsy birth injury claims.
If you suspect your child suffered a preventable birth injury, visit our:
When Should Parents Speak With a Birth Injury Attorney?
Parents should consider speaking with an attorney if:
- Their child experienced oxygen deprivation at birth
- Emergency resuscitation was required
- The baby underwent cooling therapy
- Providers delayed a C-section
- The child required a NICU stay
- Medical staff failed to explain complications during delivery
Birth injury litigation involving cerebral palsy is among the most medically complex areas of law. Experienced attorneys can determine whether the events leading to a child’s injuries were preventable through proper healthcare and medical care during:
- Labor and delivery
- Emergency intervention
- Fetal monitoring
- Neonatal treatment
- Newborn intensive care
You can also learn more about your legal options by visiting our Personal Injury page.
Contact Our Team of Atlanta Birth Injury and Malpractice Attorneys Today
Determining what birth injuries cause cerebral palsy requires careful medical review, experienced legal analysis, and access to highly qualified experts.
If you are searching for answers about what birth injuries cause cerebral palsy, our attorneys can help evaluate whether medical negligence may have contributed to your child’s condition.
If you believe your child may have suffered a preventable birth injury, Garland, Samuel & Loeb can help you understand your legal rights and options.
Our Atlanta birth injury attorneys represent families throughout Georgia in complex medical malpractice and catastrophic injury cases.
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