Was Cerebral Palsy a Preventable Defect?
By Space Coast Daily // September 2, 2021
Becoming a parent is a cluster of emotions and responsibilities. From their education to health care, you want the best for them. All of it started after you gave birth to them, right? However, if you find that your little one is suffering because of the mistake done by someone else?
It is obvious for you to feel irate about that. As you are reading this article, you must be troubled by the suffering of your child. You must be wondering if your child’s suffering was preventable or not. In this blog, let’s find an answer to your queries.
What is Cerebral Palsy?
Cerebral Palsy is a group of disorders connected with movements and the coordination of muscles. In some situations, it can affect vision, sensation, and hearing. Coming to the causes of the same, it can be either the abnormal development of the brain or damage to the brain when developing.
However, this condition can have its source from birth. Infections during pregnancy, premature birth, placental abnormalities, low birth weight, and congenital brain malformation can all be risk factors. Medical negligence can be another reason behind it.
A preventable birth injury like Cerebral Palsy can happen when the medical practitioner fails to identify or treat a specific circumstance with apt care.
If your child has Cerebral Palsy, and you think medical negligence is the reason, then you may have found yourself with:
■ Neglectful neonatal care
■ Neglectful failure to advise a C-section
■ Neglectful failure to perform a C-section
■ Negligence in treating and handling maternal infection
■ Unrevealed intrauterine growth restriction
■ Negligence in handling shoulder dystocia
■ Negligence in handling breech presentation
How to Know If This Was Avoidable?
Being a parent, you have the right to review your child’s medical records to discover if the illness was preventable or not. For this, you can reach the birth injuries lawyer who can investigate the situation and determine if your situation is the case of medical negligence and issue help about the same.
What Next?
The loss done to the child cannot be undone now, but it can be compensated. Any child suffering from this will need treatment, and birth injuries lawyers can help you with that.
In California, birth injury generally comes under personal injury. As per the MICRA law, California, a patient can get compensation of up to $250,000 for pain and suffering. However, he/she can get recompensed for major damages. It includes the ones in terms of loss of earnings and cost of mandatory medical care for the future, which can go upto millions in many cases.
Now that you have become aware of the birth injuries and the medical practitioner’s role in them, the next thing you need to know is the statute of limitations for it. It refers to a law or regulation that tells about limitations to bring any action in the situation.
In cases of birth injuries, the statute of limitations can be anywhere from six months to eight years. If the birthplace was a state-operated hospital or other public health facility functioning under the state of California, the applicable period might be as less as six months. However, if the birthplace is a private institution, it can go upto eight years.
Final Thoughts
If your child has been facing the consequences of medical negligence in the form of a birth defect, speak to a birth injury lawyer today. Even though this might not help you change the incident, the compensation for a preventable birth defect is your child’s right.
However, proving the doctors or other practitioners to be at fault will need the assistance of a legal practitioner, and for this, you should consult one.
To know more about Birth Injury Lawyer at Grey Law might have the option to help, Call us now or you can visit our website for a free consultation!
