When an Ohio parent learns that their child has been diagnosed with cerebral palsy, they often wonder how or why this happened to their child. There are several different types of cerebral palsy, and there are also several different causes. Cerebral palsy is a type of brain malformation or brain injury that occurs during development. This can happen before birth, at the time of birth or afterward. Both genetic factors and environmental factors can lead to cerebral palsy.
Parents are often wise to work to learn the cause of their child’s cerebral palsy, as knowing more about the roots of the condition may provide benefits to the child’s treatment. Determining whether medical negligence – a doctor’s mistake or a hospital’s error – was a factor is also very important. When medical negligence leads to cerebral palsy, parents can hold health care practitioners accountable and seek compensation.
Birth injuries, most commonly oxygen deprivation and head injuries, can result in cerebral palsy. Mistakes in prenatal care, birthing technique, and delayed caesarean sections can also lead to the condition.
A recent case involved a medical center at Fort Hood. The wife of an Iraq veteran underwent an induced labor there in 2008. During the procedure, medical practitioners administered too much oxytocin, which distressed the baby. The baby was ultimately delivered by an emergency c-section, and he suffered brain damage and went on to develop cerebral palsy.
The child, now 5, suffers many challenges. He must be fed by a feeding tube and he cannot walk and does not talk.
His parents sued the hospital for medical negligence, and a judge has recently ordered the federal government to pay the family $6.5 million. While this cannot even begin to make up for this child’s predicament, it will help his family provide for the child’s needs for years to come.