Cerebral Palsy Causes

Cerebral palsy is a devastating condition and is caused by an injury to the brain before, during, or shortly after birth. A large number of factors can injure the developing brain including medical negligence, however the main cerebral palsy causes are a failure of the brain to develop properly or neurological damage to the child's developing brain which may be as a result of inappropriate medical treatment.

Many children have a congenital malformation of the brain, which means that the baby has been born with a ‘birth defect’ rather than having been injured as a result of medical negligence. When cerebral palsy is recognized in a newborn, a congenital malformation is initially suspected especially when there is an absence of the risk factors of medical negligence. Good prenatal care is an essential part of preventing congenital problems although they often occur even when the mother has strictly followed her doctor's advice in caring for herself and the developing infant. Though the causes of ‘birth defects’ are usually unknown, there are several factors which appear to predispose a child to injury including:

• Exposure of the expectant mother to certain chemicals including alcohol, cigarettes and cocaine;
• Exposure of the expectant mother to certain infections including rubella, toxoplasmosis and cytomegalovirus;
• severe physical trauma to the mother during pregnancy;
• prematurity;
• low birth weight:

The following are just some of the mistakes made during delivery that have caused children to be born with a birth injury:

• leaving the child in the birth canal too long causing a lack of oxygen to the brain;
• failure to recognize and treat seizures following delivery;
• failure to detect a prolapsed umbilical cord reducing oxygen supply;
• excessive use of vacuum extraction;
• improper use of delivery forceps;
• failure to perform a caesarean section in the presence of foetal distress;
• not responding to changes in the foetal heart rate;
• failure to plan a caesarean section for a potentially large birth weight;
• failure to respond to the mother's high blood pressure or toxaemia;
• failure to diagnose and treat jaundice or meningitis:

The following are indicators of medical negligence that may have been one of the cerebral palsy causes:

• emergency delivery with forceps, or by caesarean section;
• resuscitation (CPR) after birth;
• transfer to an intensive care unit;
• seizures immediately after birth, or within the first 3-4 days of life;
• special testing after birth, such as an MRI scan, CT scan or brain scan;
• oxygen required to facilitate breathing after birth;
• a specialist was called to care for your baby:

Medical mistakes are responsible for many birth injury cases and it would be impossible for a parent, alone, to determine if medical negligence caused their child's injury. It is only through the concerted efforts of a legal and medical team that the cause can be ascertained.

If you believe that your child's injury was caused as a result of a medical negligence and you would like free advice from a specialist then just complete the cerebral palsy causes report form and a solicitor who is a member of The Law Society panel of medical negligence experts will telephone you to discuss your claim.