What is cerebral palsy?
Cerebral palsy (CP) is a form of brain damage that can result from a doctor’s negligence during labor and delivery. Cerebral palsy is actually a broad term for a group of motor and neurologic conditions that cause a wide range of health problems for children. Most cases that spark medical negligence lawsuits occur as a result of physical head trauma or lack of oxygen to the brain.
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Recognizing Cerebral Palsy
In the majority of diagnoses, cerebral palsy symptoms present within the very first month of the child’s life. Children with cerebral palsy have problems controlling their movements. Maintaining balance, coordination, and posture is difficult. Some cerebral palsy patients may experience bone weakness and deformity with crippling consequences. Depending on the amount of brain damage, a child may have trouble hearing, seeing, speaking, eating, digesting, and breathing. In about half of all cases, CP children also experience delayed or dysfunctional cognitive development.
An experienced birth injury attorney will discuss all of the important details with you during your free consultation, including cerebral palsy causes, diagnosis, and symptoms. Whether your child has been diagnosed with CP or you are concerned your baby might be affected, your attorney can inform you of your legal rights and connect you with objective medical experts who can give you straight answers about your child’s condition.
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Caring for a Child with Cerebral Palsy
If your child has been diagnosed with cerebral palsy, he or she faces a challenging road ahead. CP is a chronic diagnosis, and most children will require the use of adaptive living equipment, such as walkers, braces, or wheelchairs. Physical therapy, special education, and regular medical appointments become part of everyday living.
The measures taken to maximize a cerebral palsy child’s quality of life put an immense amount of financial stress on parents of affected children. Lifetime care can exceed hundreds of thousands of dollars, forcing many families into deep debt. When you hire an experienced birth injury attorney, he will put all of his resources to work to investigate your claim of medical negligence, assess how much your claim is worth, and seek the maximum recovery possible. Remember that your legal battle is about more than the lifetime cost of caring for a birth injury child.
Answers to your cerebral palsy questions can be found when you contact the Birth Injury Lawyers Group.
Cerebral Palsy News
Extreme Filth Found In Home After Police Investigation
Unfortunately, not all cases can be won or are eligible for compensation. Sometimes a lack of help can drive people to do horrible things for the people they are supposed to care for. Such seems to be the case as reported in this incident by Deseret News in Utah.
A woman in Salt Lake City has been arrested and charged after police found her home and family in awful conditions. The woman was supposed to be taking care of her husband, who has dementia, and her daughter, who has cerebral palsy.
Police found the husband wandering outside the house and were told that he wanted to file a complaint against his wife. The police noticed the man was extremely thin and had awful hygiene. No call was made by his wife about his disappearance.
Among his complaints, he said that there was human waste on the walls and that his wife was controlling his finances and behavior. When police came over to investigate, the woman refused the officers entry into the home. However, they noticed feces on the woman’s feet, many flies, and a strong odor.
From this evidence, they were able to obtain a warrant. Multiple dead animals and rotten food were found. The daughter lashed out at officers and appeared to be blind. According to neighbors, they had never seen the daughter outside.
The home was condemned and the husband and daughter were taken in by Adult Protective Services.
Man Assaults Disabled Person For Asking Not To Park In A Handicapped Spot
The Americans With Disabilities Act has helped people with disabilities gain much more independence, but some people choose to ignore their rights. One man has been arrest for assault after harming a man in a wheelchair in California over a simple question.
The man was born with a rare disease called syringomyelia, which is when a cavity grows inside the spinal cord and causes paralysis. The man can only move his arms and head.
He saw an SUV parked illegally in a handicapped spot. After wheeling himself out, he went to talk to the woman in the vehicle asking them not to park there again. Then he went inside a Target to make a return.
The woman’s boyfriend confronted him at the counter, demanding an apology for ‘scaring’ his girlfriend. The handicapped man asked if he could finish his return, but the man grabbed his wheelchair, pushed him through the store, then dumped him onto the ground. The incident broke the 52-year-old disabled man’s wrist.
Security footage caught the incident and store workers were able to give police enough information to arrest the man for felony assault and attempted kidnapping. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges. But the injured man has had his life shattered.
He needs his arm strength to stay independent and now he can’t use one arm, forcing him to depend on a nurse to survive. He cannot get out of his wheelchair on his own, nor can he shop for himself. He has also lost the ability to play guitar.
Nurse Allegedly Burns Young Woman With CP In Shower
Parents of children with severe disabilities might have to hire an in-home nurse in order to care for them while they go to work. There are many amazing people in this profession who do an excellent job helping their charges. But not all of them are skilled enough or compassionate enough for the job.
One nurse is under scrutiny after she allegedly burned a young adult with cerebral palsy by making her shower too hot. ABC 13 reports.
The young woman was born with cerebral palsy and cannot speak or walk. According to her family, a nurse hired through an in-home care service did not properly monitor the water temperature before a shower scalded the victim on her back and private areas. It may have been deliberate.
When her mother discovered her daughter’s heart rate was too high, she took her to the hospital where the burns were discovered. Since the incident, the nurse has been charged and both the nurse and the group that hired her are under a lawsuit.
We hope that a full investigation is completed into this incident and that the family receives due compensation. As most of us know, hot liquids can cause incredibly painful injuries that are worthy of compensation if they are deliberatly caused by someone else.
Senior Student With CP Successfully Completes FFA Course
When children with cerebral palsy or another birth injury get the support and care they need, they can achieve just as much as abled children. A good example of this was reported by the Meridian Star.
A high school senior with cerebral palsy recently competed in an agricultural show showing off a pig that she raised for her Future Farmers of America class.
To help raise the pig, she has a special wheelchair that looks like a tractor to handle the outdoor environment. Working farm tasks from a wheelchair or crutches was tough, but she wanted to be in an independent class where she could move more.
One of the reasons she was able to succeed was because her family encouraged her to participate in anything she wanted to do growing up. She’s even a hunter. By using a mount for her weapon, she has managed to take down several large game animals.
Now she is looking for a community college with an FFA club so she can continue her farm studies.
If you have a child with a disability, don’t let their challenges get in the way of their dreams. There are many ways you can help them to grow up with a sense of independence. Reach out to local disability advocacy groups and find out how you can help.
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