Cerebral palsy is a condition that involves permanent brain injury, which can impact muscle control, coordination, and body movement. This condition can result from mistakes or accidents that occur during the birthing process. A pregnant woman puts both her and her baby’s lives in her physician’s hands. A failure to act quickly or to diagnose a problem can lead to the woman’s child being born with cerebral palsy.

Cerebral palsy lawsuits involving brain injury at birth make up around 10 or 15% of all cerebral palsy cases. There have been occasions when mistakes made by doctors and other health care practitioners have led to brain damage in an otherwise healthy baby. When labor stalls or an infection runs through the mother’s body, a mistake made by the physician can result in a child having cerebral palsy from the birthing process.

Some health care professionals do not respond in a timely manner to signs that the baby is not handling labor well and is in distress while still in the womb. Doctors need to be diligent in recognizing signs that the fetus may be entangled in the umbilical cord. More and more, doctors are becoming reluctant to perform emergency cesareans, preferring to let the mother birth the child naturally. Fetuses with the umbilical cord wrapped around their neck may not tolerate the labor as well as they should, and in their twisting, the cord may become so tight that it cuts off the oxygen supply to the brain, possibly causing cerebral palsy or, in some cases, fetal demise.

Sometimes an infant will get stuck in the birth canal during labor. When this happens, the doctors main concern should be getting the baby out quickly and safely, causing as little damage as possible in the process. Specific tools, such as forceps or a vacuum system, may be used to help pull the baby out of the womb.

With a vacuum-assisted extraction, a cup attached to a vacuum is placed on the head of the baby. The vacuum pump creates suction against the baby’s head which will enable the physician to pull the infant out. A vacuum extraction may, however, cause a condition known as caput succedaneum, which means that the tissue on the baby’s scalp bruises and swells. Generally, this condition will go away on its own, but it can cause a problem if it breaks down and causes an excess of bilirubin. Bilirubin is filtered by the liver, and if it is unable to handle the excess bilirubin it will cause jaundice in the baby. Jaundice that is left untreated can lead to brain damage, possibly leading to one of the forms of cerebral palsy.

Proper dating of the pregnancy is also very important to prevent cerebral palsy due to the birthing process. If the pregnancy is not dated properly, the baby may be born too early. Babies that are under 37 weeks old have a much higher change of brain damage. They may be born with an underdeveloped brain, or their lungs may not have had a chance to fully develop, leading to a lack of oxygen in the body and brain. A shortage of oxygen during or directly after the delivery can cause the baby to get cerebral palsy.

There are a number of malpractice claims that involve cerebral palsy caused by a mistake made during the mother’s prenatal care or in the delivery room. Some of these cases are the result of improper use of CPR following a difficult birth or vacuum extraction injuries.

While hospitals are making every effort to assure that all the babies born in their delivery rooms come out safely, there are still mistakes that are made during the delivery process that cause cerebral palsy. Any parent who believes that his or her infant’s cerebral palsy was caused by a birth error or injury should contact an experienced birth injury lawyer to discuss the possibility of receiving compensation for the injury inflicted.