How to Know if Your Child Has Cerebral Palsy

You may have noticed that your child seems to have difficulties with matters such as walking or swallowing. Perhaps they may have trouble using their arms or legs, are prone to involuntary movements, or miss several development milestones.

If so, your child may have cerebral palsy. In this article, we’ll answer the following questions:

• What are the most common symptoms of cerebral palsy?
• Can medical negligence cause cerebral palsy?
• What should I do if I think medical negligence has caused my child to have cerebral palsy?

At Sommers Roth and Elmaleh, we’re a medical negligence law firm that can help you file a cerebral palsy claim. 

What are the most common symptoms of cerebral palsy?

The symptoms of cerebral palsy vary from person to person and can impact a child’s whole body or just part of it. These are the most common symptoms:

• Seizures.
• Abnormal eye movements or other difficulties with their vision.
• Hearing problems.
• Issues with their bladder or bowels, such as constipation and urinary incontinence.
• Stiff muscles and exaggerated reflexes.
• Lack of balance and muscle coordination.
• Tremors or involuntary movements.
• Favouring one side of the body.
• Difficulty walking.
• Difficulty with fine motor skills. This can include tasks such as buttoning their clothes or using utensils.
• Delays in speech development.
• Difficulty with sucking, chewing or eating.
• Learning difficulties or intellectual disabilities.

If you think that your child has cerebral palsy, you should have them evaluated by a specialist as soon as possible.

Can medical negligence cause cerebral palsy?

Yes, medical negligence can cause cerebral palsy, as this condition is caused by a child’s brain being damaged before, during, or shortly after birth. This brain damage can then lead to a child having permanent problems with motor control, coordination, and balance.

Failure on the part of medical professionals to do any of the following could cause cerebral palsy:

• Correctly detecting or treating infections. A mother getting infected during pregnancy can impact their baby’s development. A baby with a severe infection such as meningitis can also cause brain damage.
• Not detecting fetal distress, such as a lack of oxygen. 
• Not scheduling or performing a required cesarean section (C-section).
• Not detecting a prolapsed umbilical cord.
• Improper use of delivery tools, including vacuum extractors and forceps.

You should contact a medical negligence law firm if you are concerned that your child has cerebral palsy due to medical negligence.

What should I do if I think my child has cerebral palsy due to medical negligence?

If your child has cerebral palsy, this will significantly impact their quality of life, and they may require lifelong care, which can be extremely expensive. 

This will also affect your family. You may need to modify your home, make frequent trips to the doctor, and even have one parent quit their job to be a full-time caregiver. 

If you believe your child’s cerebral palsy has been caused due to medical negligence, you should contact a medical negligence law firm. A hospital or its staff can be held legally liable for birth injuries caused as a result of medical malpractice.

You can obtain compensation if your medical negligence lawsuit is successful, thus enabling you to provide your child with the care they need and your family with the financial stability they deserve.

How can Sommers Roth and Elmaleh help me in their role as a medical negligence law firm?

As a medical negligence law firm, we have extensive experience with a wide variety of medical malpractice cases, including birth injury cases.

If you are interested in filing a medical malpractice lawsuit because you feel your child’s cerebral palsy was caused by medical negligence, we can help! We offer a free consultation, during which we’ll discuss the following with you:

• We’ll learn more about your case, including precisely the situation surrounding your child’s birth and any potential causes of brain damage.
• Our experience fighting different birth injury claims.
• What we’ll do if we think we can proceed to represent you in our role as a medical negligence law firm. 
• Our lawyers will collect a variety of documentation to support your cerebral palsy medical negligence claim, including prenatal and birth records, medical bills, and imaging test results.
• What kind of compensation you may be eligible for if we successfully win your case.

Your primary focus should be on caring for your child. The lawyers from our medical negligence law firm can remove the burden when it comes to pursuing a medical malpractice lawsuit.

You don’t have to deal with this alone

Now you know how to recognize some of the most common symptoms of cerebral palsy and also some of the most common ways medical negligence can cause cerebral palsy.

If you want to pursue a medical malpractice case because a birth injury has damaged your child, then your best chance of success is with the help of a medical negligence law firm.

At Sommers Roth and Elmaleh, we’re a medical negligence law firm with years of experience helping families that have been victims of birth injuries. We can discuss with you the circumstances surrounding your case and let you know how strong we think your case is.

Contact us to learn more about working with a medical negligence law firm

At Sommers Roth and Elmaleh, we only get paid if we win. We also offer a free consultation. To learn more about how working with a medical negligence law firm can help you win your lawsuit, call us at 1-844-777-7372 or contact us online.