Jacksonville Cerebral Palsy Attorney

Every year, thousands of babies throughout the United States are born with cerebral palsy. The term “cerebral palsy” is relatively broad, and the condition can entail a wide range of symptoms that vary in severity from case to case. Some children born with cerebral palsy have little to no noticeable symptoms or may only struggle with one or two significant symptoms throughout their lives. Others are not so fortunate and develop profound disabilities from this condition. Suppose your family recently welcomed a new child into the world, and they were born with cerebral palsy. In that case, it is vital to understand how this condition most often arises and whether your attending physician is responsible.

Cerebral palsy commonly causes long-term medical complications for the child, leading to significant medical costs for their parents. In addition, when a child has severe cerebral palsy, their parents may need to stop working to provide full-time in-home care for the child. Ultimately, cerebral palsy can be tragic and incredibly costly for any family. Suppose your new child was diagnosed with cerebral palsy. In that case, it’s vital to consult an experienced Jacksonville cerebral palsy lawyer to determine whether this condition could have been prevented with more careful monitoring and appropriate prenatal treatment.

The team at Cronin & Maxwell, PL, specializes in medical malpractice cases, particularly those involving military families. Our firm understands the stress and uncertainty that many military families experience regularly. The sudden news that a new child has been born with cerebral palsy can make an already difficult lifestyle even more challenging. Our team can help you determine whether the cerebral palsy your child has resulted from medical malpractice. If so, we can help you hold the doctor responsible for your damages.

Understanding Cerebral Palsy Affects

It’s important to understand that “cerebral palsy” does not necessarily define a single medical condition but rather a wide range of possible conditions resulting from the same cause. Any brain damage sustained during fetal development can cause cerebral palsy. This condition may also result from abnormal brain development. In the former case, most of these incidents can be prevented with appropriate prenatal care and fetal monitoring. In the latter case, some babies, unfortunately, experience abnormal brain development from an extensive range of possible causes that are extremely difficult to predict.

The effects of cerebral palsy depend on two primary factors: the location of brain damage and its severity. Cerebral palsy can involve significant brain damage in one area of the brain or minor damage throughout multiple regions of the brain. Each section of the human brain governs different aspects of the body, behavior, cognition, and bodily function. The possible symptoms of cerebral palsy can include:

• Cognitive and intellectual impairment. Some children born with cerebral palsy will have extreme cognitive, learning, and intellectual development difficulties.
• Sensory impairment. Blindness, deafness, and other sensory impairments are common symptoms among children born with cerebral palsy.
• Speech and language processing problems. Children born with cerebral palsy are likely to struggle with developing their communication skills.
• Muscular impairment and physical disabilities. Some children with cerebral palsy will have difficulty building muscle mass throughout regions of their body, and some parts of the body may not develop correctly. As a result, cerebral palsy can cause significant issues with mobility, muscle rigidity, poor flexibility, and difficulty with balance and coordination.
• Neurological symptoms, such as involuntary movements and persistent tremors.
• Developmental delays. Children born with cerebral palsy tend to be smaller than other children their age and commonly experience delays in reaching growth milestones.
• Seizure disorders. The brain damage that causes cerebral palsy often also causes seizure disorders that vary widely in severity.

This is not an exhaustive list of all the potential symptoms of cerebral palsy, and it’s common for children born with this condition to experience several symptoms. Additionally, some symptoms may not be immediately noticeable, and it can be a year or two after birth before the child’s parents can accurately evaluate the full range of their child’s cerebral palsy symptoms.

Parents of a child born with cerebral palsy are likely to incur significant medical expenses in treating their child’s symptoms and providing ongoing care as they grow. While some children born with cerebral palsy only display mild symptoms and can lead relatively normal lives, others are not so fortunate and will require intensive ongoing care and therapies. Therefore, if you believe your child’s cerebral palsy diagnosis resulted from medical malpractice, you could have grounds for a medical malpractice claim.

Can You Sue for a Cerebral Palsy Birth Injury?

If their condition resulted from an attending physician’s negligence, it’s possible to file a lawsuit over your child’s cerebral palsy diagnosis. Some of the most commonly reported causes of cerebral palsy that lead to medical malpractice claims in the US include:

• Failure to properly monitor fetal development.
• Failure to appropriately address signs of fetal distress during childbirth.
• Improper technique during delivery that causes physical trauma to the infant’s brain.
• Improper use of medications and medical equipment during prenatal care or childbirth.
• Failure to provide the mother with accurate prenatal information early in pregnancy.
• Failure to properly handle maternal infections.
• Unreasonable delays in medical treatment during the later stages of pregnancy or during labor.
• Improper treatment of umbilical cord problems that lead to asphyxiation in the womb and oxygen deprivation.

All physicians have a professional and legal duty to do no harm to their patients and provide competent, effective medical treatment. When they fail to do so and cause a child to develop cerebral palsy, they become responsible for the family’s resulting damages.

Filing a Medical Malpractice Claim for Cerebral Palsy

A medical malpractice claim is a type of personal injury claim, but there are specific laws in place pertaining to medical malpractice that every potential claimant must understand before filing their claims. Like a personal injury claim, a medical malpractice claim requires the plaintiff to identify the defendant or defendants responsible for their damages and prove they acted negligently in a manner that directly caused their claimed damages. In the case of a medical malpractice claim regarding cerebral palsy, the parents filing the claim must prove the defendant failed to uphold the standard of care the situation in question demanded, or they must prove that the doctor displayed gross negligence in the handling of their child’s birth that resulted in the child developing cerebral palsy.

Most medical malpractice claims require a formal medical board review. First, the claimant must submit a complete and detailed claim to the defendant’s medical board. Once the medical board receives this claim, members must review it carefully to determine whether a violation of the claimant’s standard of care occurred. If so, the medical board will approve the claim for further legal action.

Working with a Jacksonville cerebral palsy attorney is the best way to approach this difficult situation. While it is technically possible to file a medical malpractice claim on your own, this would be an incredibly challenging option, especially for a military family struggling to manage a new baby’s cerebral palsy symptoms and treatments. You would need to meet rigorous procedural requirements for your case, perform extensive legal research to accurately establish the full scope of your damages, and manage your personal life and military duty all at once. Instead of undertaking this incredible burden on your own, have a Jacksonville cerebral palsy lawyer represent your claim.

Your attorney can assist you in gathering the evidence you may require for proving the defendant in your claim demonstrated medical negligence. This may involve consulting with other similarly skilled medical professionals who can attest to whether the defendant named in your medical malpractice claim adhered to the standard of care your situation demanded. You can also rely on your attorney to help you calculate the full scope of the damages you are legally entitled to claim.

Potential Compensation for a Successful Medical Malpractice Claim

Cerebral palsy can be incredibly expensive to treat, and this type of diagnosis can pose several economic strains on the family for years to come. However, your Jacksonville cerebral palsy attorney can potentially help your family secure compensation for:

• Medical expenses. Suppose your child requires immediate medical treatment and extensive ongoing care due to a doctor’s negligence. In that case, the doctor is responsible for all medical expenses resulting from their failure to meet the standard of care. Your attorney can help you accurately calculate all claimable medical expenses, including those you are likely to incur in the future as your child grows.
• Lost income. Military families often have stricter work schedules than civilian families, but the military can be generous when allowing leave or time off to address family medical issues. However, suppose one parent is a civilian and must leave their job to provide constant in-home care for a baby born with cerebral palsy. In that case, they have the right to claim compensation for income lost due to the defendant’s negligence.
• Pain and suffering. Florida state law allows plaintiffs in medical malpractice claims to secure compensation for noneconomic damages, including physical pain and emotional distress. However, state law caps noneconomic damages in medical malpractice claims at $500,000. This cap increases to $1,000,000 if the malpractice results in death or a vegetative state. Therefore, parents should consult their attorneys to determine the scope of pain and suffering compensation they can reasonably expect to receive from successful medical malpractice claims.

Ultimately, you and your family could potentially secure a substantial amount of compensation for your child’s cerebral palsy diagnosis when you have the right Jacksonville cerebral palsy lawyer representing your case.

Help Is Available To Jacksonville Families Dealing With Cerebral Palsy

This time of your life should be one of the happiest. Now you are left wondering what you should do next. As veteran naval officers, the attorneys of Cronin & Maxwell understand the challenges faced by every member of the military. From our office in Jacksonville, Florida, we focus on representing military personnel and their families in medical malpractice claims throughout the world. For a free initial consultation to learn about your rights, contact one of our experienced medical malpractice and wrongful death lawyers today. Any type of birth injury or fetal distress can have devastating effects on the health and safety of your child.

Cerebral palsy is a medical condition that can seriously affect your child’s quality of life. A number of factors including doctor negligence can cause this condition. We focus on holding negligent military doctors, hospitals and medical personnel responsible for causing your child’s brain damage, fetal distress or another type of serious injury.

The effects of fetal distress may not show up immediately, but they can have devastating consequences. Cerebral palsy refers to a number of chronic disorders that impair a child’s movement. A child may be left unable to control their muscles. The long-term challenges faced by a child with this type of fetal disorder are almost incalculable.

Is Cerebral Palsy Always the Result of Malpractice?

Cerebral palsy can occur due to many possible factors, not all of which are entirely predictable. While cerebral palsy is not always caused by medical malpractice, a large portion of all cerebral palsy cases diagnosed in the US directly result from medical negligence and the failure of doctors to properly monitor their patients. The determining factor as to whether a cerebral palsy case qualifies for a medical malpractice lawsuit is the standard of care. Suppose the attending physician failed to meet the standard of care their patient required, and cerebral palsy resulted from their ineffective or incomplete treatment. In that case, this is an example of a violation of the standard of care and a clear sign of medical malpractice.

Parents should have every tool at their disposal to prevent a disorder of this magnitude. Doctors who carelessly monitor a fetus may miss the known risk factors. This should not happen — military personnel deserve the same level of medical care for their families as any civilian.

Most cerebral palsy cases result from failure to monitor a fetus for signs of distress or failure to address recognized signs of fetal distress appropriately. Ultimately, suppose you believe your child developed cerebral palsy due to your doctor’s failure to adequately monitor their fetal development or address a known medical complication appropriately. In that case, it is essential to speak with a Jacksonville cerebral palsy attorney as soon as possible to discuss your options for legal recourse.

Talk To Our Lawyers About Your Cerebral Palsy Claim

At Cronin & Maxwell, we understand the challenges associated with filing a medical malpractice claim against the military. To learn more about holding military doctors liable for a fetal distress injury, call us at 904-388-9555 or email us for a free initial consultation. Visit our birth injuries information center to read more about your case.