Legal Aspects of Cerebral Palsy
As mentioned in the introduction, many children develop Cerebral Palsy due to negligent pre-natal care or errors made by medical staff during the birthing process. Such errors may be due to a variety of different factors including the failure to provide a timely Cesarean section, properly watch and act upon fetal monitoring equipment, provide the right amount of labor inducing medication, or to diagnose and treat fetal distress when it occurs. To protect against the devastating consequences of such errors, the law gives the injured person the right to seek compensation from the party who caused the error.
The law governing medical errors is a special branch of personal injury law which consists of a series of interrelated laws that allow people to sue for compensation for any action of another that leads to damage to their life, health or property.
The case is based on negligence which in simple terms means that someone who had a duty to a person violated that duty causing harm. In the case of medical negligence, often referred to as medical malpractice, the duty comes from the legally required standard of care that is owed to each and every patient treated or diagnosed by a medical professional.
What constitutes the standard of care is not defined in the law. Generally, the standard of care expected by a health care professional depends on a variety of factors including the health of the patient, whether the procedure or surgery is standard or experimental, whether the procedure or surgery was elective or necessary to save the patients life, and a variety of others. For mothers in labor, the expected standard of care will be quite high. For that reason, any errors or mistakes made by health care professionals in the birthing process present a strong legal case for compensation.
Individuals who develop Cerebral Palsy will need intensive mental and physical therapy to ensure they have the best quality of life possible. While a person’s health insurance may cover some of the expenses, it is unlikely to cover all of it throughout a Cerebral Palsy sufferers lifetime. For this reason, it is important that Cerebral Palsy sufferers and their families seek funds from every source possible.
If it can be proven that an error by a healthcare professional or professionals caused the onset of Cerebral Palsy, a lawsuit should be seriously considered. A successful lawsuit may not only provide the funds necessary for the Cerebral Palsy patient’s care throughout his or her lifetime but may also compensate for loss of earnings (earnings that the child may have earned throughout a lifetime if not for the Cerebral Palsy) and pain and suffering.
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