East Lansing Cerebral Palsy Lawyers

Cerebral Palsy Attorneys in East Lansing, Michigan

Though cerebral palsy (CP) is non-progressive, it is a chronic condition that requires significant time and resources to manage. While ongoing medical care, assistive technologies, rehabilitation measures, and other adaptive requirements are necessary for maximum rehabilitation and well-being, they are costly and time-consuming. At Michigan Cerebral Palsy Attorneys, our East Lansing cerebral palsy lawyers are devoted to assisting clients through medical malpractice settlements and helping them obtain the compensation they deserve. Throughout this website you’ll find the information you’ll need to understand cerebral palsy and move forward with your medical malpractice settlement. If, when perusing our site, you have any questions or concerns or you would like to begin your free legal consultation, don’t hesitate to contact our East Lansing cerebral palsy lawyers—you may reach Michigan Cerebral Palsy Attorneys by email or by phone at (888) 592-1857.

Before discussing cerebral palsy and medical malpractice litigation in too much detail, let’s first quickly define cerebral palsy. “Cerebral” refers to the cerebrum, which is the region of the brain affected by an injury, insult, or malformation during its development. “Palsy” refers to the group of movement and motor control impairments caused by damage to the cerebrum. People with cerebral palsy may experience imbalance, lack of coordination, weak muscle tone, poor posture, reflex and control impairments, issues with the senses, seizures and epilepsy, cognitive deficiencies and learning disabilities, feeding issues, and other side effects.

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Cerebral Palsy and Medical Malpractice

Birth Injury in East Lansing, Michigan

All too often, cases of cerebral palsy result from medical errors. In this section, we’ll quickly discuss a few of the most common pregnancy and delivery complications that, when mismanaged by a medical professional, can lead to infant brain damage, cerebral palsy, and lifelong disabilities. To learn more about the subject, visit our cerebral palsy Causes & Risk Factors pages here.

Preterm birth: Roughly 50% of individuals diagnosed with cerebral palsy were born prematurely. Premature delivery increases a baby’s chances of enduring a range of other complications, injuries, and insults—in fact, a premature baby is thirty times likelier to develop cerebral palsy than a baby born after 37 weeks of gestation. Some injuries and complications associated with preterm birth include HIE, respiratory issues, jaundice and kernicterus, blood circulation problems, intracranial hemorrhages, premature rupture of membranes (PROM), infections, and more.
Intracranial hemorrhages, or brain bleeds, are dangerous neonatal head injuries characterized by bleeding within the brain or skull. Brain bleeds occur when a baby suffers insults to the cranium during labor and delivery—they are most commonly the result of macrosomia, cephalopelvic disproportion (CPD), the misuse of labor assistance tools like forceps and vacuum extractors, hyperstimulation of the uterus from the overuse of Pitocin or Cytotec, or from the failure to order and perform necessary C-sections. This birth trauma injury may cause brain damage, cerebral palsy, and related lifelong disabilities.
Hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy (HIE; birth asphyxia) is a complication associated with labor and delivery that, when mismanaged, can cause cerebral palsy, death, brain injury, and other lifelong developmental disabilities. HIE is a form of brain damage that occurs when a baby suffers oxygen deprivation around the time of birth. While neonates can withstand shorter periods of oxygen deprivation, prolonged periods of oxygen limitation cause serious and dangerous brain injuries, disabilities, and even death. Some of the many known causes of hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy include cord complications (nuchal cords, prolapsed cords, and compressed umbilical cords), extreme bleeding in the mother, deliveries that fail to progress, and many others.
Multiple gestations (multifetal births) are pregnancies that produce more than one baby per delivery (for instance twins, triplets, etc.). Babies from multifetal births face higher chances of developing cerebral palsy or other birth injuries because their chances of encountering other complications are higher—for instance, multiple births are more prone to umbilical cord complications (nuchal cords, prolapsed cords, or compressed cords), premature birth and premature rupture of membranes (PROM), size incompatibilities and malpresentation (cephalopelvic disproportion, face presentation, and breech presentation), twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome, low birth weight, and more. Medical professionals are required, as mandated by the standards of care, to carefully monitor multiple birth pregnancies for these complications and treat any present or foreseeable complications.
Maternal infections and health problems directly affect neonatal health and safety. Some maternal health complications that, when mismanaged, misdiagnosed, or left untreated, can cause cerebral palsy, brain damage, and lifelong disability include gestational diabetes, preeclampsia (pregnancy-induce high blood pressure), chorioamnionitis, villitis, Group B Strep (GBS), urinary tract infections (UTIs), bacterial vaginosis (BV), oligohydramnios, and vaginal birth after Cesarean deliveries (VBAC).
Untreated infant infections and illnesses also place infants at a higher risk for developing cerebral palsy, brain damage, and disabilities. Medical professionals must closely monitor, diagnose and treat conditions including neonatal sepsis and meningitis, jaundice and kernicterus, and fetal stroke.
The failure to order and perform emergency C-sections is a common form of medical malpractice that may cause cerebral palsy, hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy, brain damage, fetal death, maternal injury, and lifelong disabilities.
The failure to monitor for fetal distress creates situations in which medical professionals overlook signals that indicate a baby is in distress. When medical professionals fail to identify that a baby is in distress, the result is often brain damage, fetal distress, cerebral palsy, oxygen deficiency, and other resulting disabilities.

Cerebral Palsy: Treatment and Therapy Options

Rehabilitation Opportunities in East Lansing, Michigan

East Lansing is both home to a prestigious university and adjacent to Michigan’s capital, Lansing—needless to say, East Lansing offers excellent medical and lifestyle resources to individuals recovering from cerebral palsy or other disabilities caused by birth injury. In this section, we’ll name of the few treatment and therapy techniques and options available to patients adjusting to life with cerebral palsy or another developmental disability. To learn more about treatment and therapy for cerebral palsy, visit this page.

Adaptive equipment: Wheelchairs, adaptive vehicles, specialized recreational equipment, communication aids, smart phones, eye-tracking devices, electronic Braille systems, therapeutic toys, and many other assistive technologies help individuals with cerebral palsy live equally and independently.
Medications: Various seizure and spasticity medicines are available to individuals with CP to minimize the condition’s painful, disruptive, and limiting side effects.
Surgeries such as tendon release procedures, selective dorsal rhizotomy (SDR) operations, strabismus operations, seizure operations, feeding gastronomy tube (PEG tube) insertion procedures, and baclofen pump insertion procedures minimize many side effects of cerebral palsy.
Medical procedures: Magnesium sulfate treatment and hypothermia treatment (brain cooling) are two medical procedures that help minimize the extent of a baby’s cerebral palsy. Both are performed as preventative measures–the magnesium sulfate treatment is performed on mothers with imminent preterm labor and hypothermia treatment is given to infants after potential hypoxic ischemic events.
Physical therapy
Recreational therapy: Animal therapy, sports therapy (adaptive skiing, cycling, and more), aquatherapy, art therapy, play therapy, and special needs camps are popular forms of recreational therapy.
Occupational therapy
Speech and language therapy
Conductive education (CE)
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy
Complementary and alternative therapy: Yoga, bodywork, nutrition and diet therapy, craniosacral therapy, hippotherapy, acupuncture, electrical stimulation therapy, behavioral therapy, and emotional counseling are often used to supplement more traditional forms of treatment and therapy.
Intensive suit therapy
Stem cell therapy

Legal Help for Victims of Medical Malpractice

East Lansing offers an extensive range of medical, educational, rehabilitative, recreational, and lifestyle resources for individuals with cerebral palsy or other birth injury disabilities. Our birth injury law firm believes that all individuals, regardless of financial standing, should be able to take full advantage of the resources necessary for independence and equal opportunity. At Michigan Cerebral Palsy Attorneys, our East Lansing cerebral palsy lawyers are committed to obtaining the financial compensation that, granted by law, victims of medical malpractice deserve. Our birth injury experts have decades of experience with birth injury and medical malpractice litigation and prioritize creating close, personal relationships with clients in order to strategize the best possible plans of compensation and rehabilitation.

If you suspect your loved one’s birth injury or cerebral palsy resulted from a medical error, we encourage you to reach out to our East Lansing cerebral palsy lawyers today in either of the following ways:

Fill out our online contact form here

Call us toll-free at (888) 592-1857

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