The Law Firm You Can Trust for Cerebral Palsy Lawsuits

If your child has cerebral palsy, then it would be a good idea to check to see if there was any kind of negligence coming from doctors who treated your child. You may have a case where you could receive compensation to support your child throughout their life. Here’s some information on how you would go about looking into this.

What Is Cerebral Palsy and What Kinds Are There?

Cerebral palsy describes a group of disorders that limit a child’s ability to do things like maintain balance, move around, and keep a regular posture. It’s the most common type of disability for children with motor problems. In general, it means that a child has damage in their brain that erodes their ability to control their muscles.

Types of cerebral palsy include-

• Dyskinetic – Dyskinetic cerebral palsy affects specifically the Basal Ganglia. It’s characterized by uncontrollable, involuntary motion.
• Ataxic – This kind of CP affects the Cerebellum directly. The person will have movements that are shaky and not fully under their control. It also affects
• Spastic – Spastic CP is the most common type. It affects up to 80% of those who have the condition. An affected persons’ muscles will feel tight, stiff, and difficult to control. It affects the motor cortex.
• Mixed – You can also have a type that affects more than one part of the brain for symptoms from more than one type.

How Do I Find Out Whether My Child’s Cerebral Palsy Was Preventable?

While much of cerebral palsy is not preventable, there are cases where it is. Some cases happen because a baby is not given allowed to take in enough oxygen during delivery, a condition called birth asphyxia. These cases could be preventable. The other cases are congenital, which means that it happens due to a birth defect. Chances of CP also go up when the birth weight is low, when the birth is premature, due to infertility treatments or other complications during birth.

There is also something called “acquired” cerebral palsy, which means it happened after birth due to an underlying cause such as a stroke, meningitis, or something else.

How Long Does a Cerebral Palsy Court Case Take?

A CP court case has a lot of variation in terms of how long it takes based on many important factors such as what jurisdiction you’re in, for example. It can definitely take many years to complete, however. Once you reach a settlement, it’s much faster.

In the case of an easy settlement, it can take just a few weeks or up to 6 weeks to sign everything you need to sign and receive either your monthly payments or one lump sum.

What Kind of Settlement Can I Expect?

This is another situation where the amount can vary widely depending on the case. Some cases have given more than $14 million to a couple in Ohio due to delivery mistakes that caused their son to have cerebral palsy. The amount awarded is often left up to a jury. Some cases have awarded just a few thousand dollars or less, whereas if the negligence was bad enough and crippled a child permanently, then the amounts can be up to millions.

They often award based on potential lost earnings, as well as pain and suffering. In the Ohio case, this amount was $3 million for the boy’s suffering and $11.5 million to care for the boy throughout his entire life since he would be unable to do it himself.

The boy was unable to talk, sit up, or walk at the age of 4 and a half.

The negligence came down to a doctor giving the child a drug to speed up the boy’s birth, but it made him unable to breathe in between contractions. This cut off oxygen to the child’s brain for long enough to cause cerebral palsy. That is the contention of the attorneys and parents in this case.

Cerebral Palsy Lawsuits in the United States

There is no shortage of recent cerebral palsy cases resulting in damages in the United States. An example is where the U.S. Government offered $6.6 million to a mother in the army. The case involved a former sergeant in the army who gave birth to a newborn in Augusta, Georgia. Malpractice resulted in a child that had “catastrophic brain injuries” resulting in quadriplegic CP, a condition where the child cannot move their limbs.

Another lawsuit about the same case resulted in a $3.6 million payout, putting the total at $10.2 million. Now, the child is 4 and is delayed developmentally. He can’t feed himself, can only walk using special devices, and also can’t talk. He can recognize people, but can’t do much to communicate.

Early scans of the child showed that the fetus was in distress. Eventually, he was born with the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck, causing him to not receive enough oxygen, leading to cerebral palsy.

The parties sued including the U.S. Government, a neonatatalist, Trinity, and Augusta Physician services.

First, there was a case that resulted in a $4.72 million settlement in Kansas City involving preventable CP. Secondly, there was one with a $43 million settlement for a woman named Tiffany Busone. Lastly, there was a settlement for $3.7 million involving a woman named Elizabeth Viele and her son, who lost vision and ended up with developmental problems due to CP as well.

Conclusion

If you’re thinking about looking into this yourself, then you need lawyers who have experience in this field. We have our own direct experience in helping clients gain compensation to provide for their children’s needs in the future. This includes a combined compensation of over $600 million.

For more information about how we can help, please don’t hesitate to go ahead and contact us today. The faster you contact us, the faster we can start evaluating your case and determine what can be done. We understand the importance of providing for your child’s future.