Living with cerebral palsy is different for each person. While CP does not worsen over time, the symptoms of your child’s CP can change as they get older. Generally, this change is for the better with supportive treatments, medications, and other therapeutic treatments.

Even though there are advances in treatments, children with CP are still more likely to experience other significant health conditions that, along with the cost of treating the symptoms of CP, can get very expensive.

If you believe your child’s birth injury was preventable, you may be entitled to compensation for damages due to medical mistakes.

Under What Conditions Might Legal Recourse Be Available for CP?

If you believe that your child’s cerebral palsy was caused by medical malpractice, you may have options to seek financial compensation under the law. Medical malpractice must meet four specific criteria:

• The physician owed a duty to provide the patient a certain standard of care.
• The physician violated that standard of care.
• The patient suffered an injury caused by the violation of the standard of care.
• The patient has experienced damages as a result of the injury: physical, emotional, and/or financial.

In short, you will need to prove that the CP is a direct result of your doctor’s actions. You do not need to know how to do this alone—that’s where having an experienced CP lawyer to fight on your side is important.

What Can an Experienced CP Attorney Potentially Do for Your CP Settlement?

Even a case filed years after the injury occured can be fought successfully, either all the way to a jury trial or to a settlement that you find acceptable. Your attorney will gather evidence of your child’s life with cerebral palsy, as well as evidence of your doctor’s actions during pregnancy, birth, or early infancy (the details depend on when the CP was caused by medical malpractice). Your legal team may present evidence from medical records, witness testimony, school records, or any other evidence of CP symptoms.

In infants, signs of cerebral palsy may include:

• Skull fractures
• Low oxygen levels
• Low heart rate
• Weak or absent reflexes
• Excessive drooling
• Hands curled into a claw-like shape
• Muscle stiffness or looseness
• Arched back while crying
• Seizures

As children get older, other symptoms may become apparent:

• Difficulty seeing and hearing
• Intellectual disabilities
• Seizures
• Abnormal touch or pain perceptions
• Oral diseases
• Mental health conditions
• Urinary incontinence

No two cases look the same, but proving medical malpractice for your child with CP can be possible. An experienced attorney can help you navigate the specific laws in your state that determine who can file a lawsuit and when.

This time limit of filing lawsuits is called a statute of limitations, and it varies from state to state. In some states, for example, the statute of limitations for a child’s injuries due to medical malpractice will not even begin until the child reaches 18 years of age.

Your attorney will determine if you have a valid case based on details and timeline of events. If you have a provable case, your attorney will begin by gathering evidence and filing motions.

What Might a Settlement Cover for CP?

If a medical professional’s negligence led to your child’s injury, you may have legal options to recover compensation. These monetary damages may cover:

• Medical and other care costs. This compensation includes the past, current, and future costs of your child’s medical care. Visits to physicians, specialists, and therapists as well as the costs of medical procedures make up a portion of this amount. This category may also include in-home care providers to assist with your child’s day-to-day needs (both now and for the rest of your child’s life), equipment to increase accessibility and mobility for your child, and prescriptions and other necessities for your child’s care, both now and in the future. A lifetime of care for cerebral palsy can cost millions of dollars.
• Loss of earning capacity. Your child is entitled to compensation to cover the loss of potential income due to cerebral palsy.
• Pain and suffering. Your child may be entitled to a CP settlement to provide compensation for the difficulties endured, both physically and emotionally, due to having cerebral palsy. In addition, you may be able to recover compensation because seeing your child in pain caused by negligence is devastating for any parent.
• Diminished quality of life. Though there are treatments, therapies, and equipment to help make life with cerebral palsy more comfortable, CP still presents lifelong and often severe impairments. Your child deserves to seek financial recovery for the opportunities and experiences taken from them by the negligence of others.

Did Medical Malpractice Cause Your Child’s Cerebral Palsy?

If you need more information to decide whether seeking a cerebral palsy settlement for your family is right for you, reach out to the Cerebral Palsy Family Lawyers at Janet, Janet & Suggs.