A doctor and hospital’s nurses are responsible for providing a mother and her baby with safe, comprehensive medical care during the infant’s delivery. However, if the delivery room physician makes a mistake, such as failing to account for a potentially serious health issue or wrongfully using an instrument during birth, he or she may cause permanent damage to the child. Likewise, if a nurse makes a mistake, like failing to identify signs of fetal distress and promptly notifying a doctor, serious injuries can happen. Unfortunately, some of these medical errorscan lead to lifelong brain damage in the form of cerebral palsy.
Common Types of Cerebral Palsy
A doctor and nurse must be very careful when delivering a baby, as errors can have permanent consequences for that child’s brain development. If a doctor or hospital’s negligence damages a baby’s brain, it may lead to cerebral palsy which can have a permanent impact on a child’s life. One of the following types of cerebral palsy can result:
- Athetoid cerebral palsy – causing speech and swallowing problems and involuntary movements
- Ataxic cerebral palsy -causing difficulties with balancing, depth perception and muscle coordination
- Spastic cerebral palsy, causing tightness in the muscles and prevent free movement
Families who have suffered because of a doctor’s negligence often need extra help caring for their injured child. To pay for these necessary expenses, families often require financial compensation.
Wagners Law Firm has helped many such families fight for the financial compensation needed to care for their injured child. The following are indicators that a medical mistake may have caused your child’s cerebral palsy:
1. Your child required oxygen to facilitate breathing after birth.
2. A specialist was called to care for your newborn.
3. Following delivery, your child was transferred to a different hospital, or spent time in the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit).
4. Your child had seizures immediately after birth, or within the first 3-4 days of life.
5. Emergency delivery with forceps, vacuum extraction, or cesarean section.
6. Your child required resuscitation (i.e. CPR, bagging) after birth.
7. Your child required special testing after birth, such as an MRI, or brain scan.