What Pennsylvania parents should know about cerebral palsy
Cerebral Palsy
When your baby is born, you want everything to go perfectly. Sometimes things go wrong along the way that result in fetal distress and may lead to birth injuries. Cerebral palsy is one of the most common of these injuries and can be present in various levels of severity. Cerebral palsy cannot be cured. It is up to parents, educators, and medical professionals to work with the child’s specific level of disability to improve the child’s quality of life as much as possible. Some of the challenges that those with cerebral palsy face include:
- Involuntary spastic movement
- Muscle stiffness and lack of control
- Problems with balance
- Vision issues, including depth perceptions
- Problems with speech clarity
The level of difficulty each child will suffer can vary greatly from one child to the next. Some will learn to walk, others won’t. Even those children who find effective workarounds to their particular set of cerebral palsy symptoms can face difficulties throughout their lives. Among other things they may have to deal with job discrimination, mobility issues, communication problems, trouble relating to able bodied peers, and even relationship issues.
Standing Up For Your Child
Birth injuries are not always immediately apparent right after birth, so it is up to parents to watch their child’s development closely. If anything seems to be out of line of normal development, you should have your concerns addressed by your pediatrician as well as an expert outside of your regular hospital system. It is also important to take notes of anything unusual that happened during the labor and delivery process, even if no obvious signs of damage are present.
If a child does have cerebral palsy -or shows signs of any other type of birth injury-the hospital and medical staff may be held responsible for medical negligence, but legal action has to be pursued while the child is young. The sooner the child’s issues are addressed the sooner they will get the medical treatment they need. Because a birth injury is not something your child can choose to fight later in their life after they have become an adult, parents need to take the initiative.
Fighting Isn’t Always Easy
If an injury has been caused by medical negligence, your child deserves the opportunity to recoup damages via a lawsuit. A knowledgeable medical malpractice attorney experienced with birth injuries is usually the best place to start.
