Legal Considerations for Families

Annually, 8,000 - 10,000 babies and infants are diagnosed with cerebral palsy. Estimates suggest that 20% of children diagnosed with congenital cerebral palsy developed CP due to a brain injury during the birthing process. While the United States does not currently have a system to track the rate of cerebral palsy incidents, studies have shown that there has been an increase in doctor error and birthing mistakes associated with CP.

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Medical negligence occurs through unreasonable negligence or, more commonly, failure to provide the expected standard of care in a given community. When a doctor or health care professional agrees to diagnose or treat a patient, he or she has assumed a duty of care toward that patient. The health care provider may be the doctor, nurse or a member of the staff. It is possible that the individual is a lab or x-ray technician with certain qualifications for operating advanced medical equipment or interpreting results of tests.

Personal Injury Law - or tort law - is a complex umbrella of interrelating laws designed to prevent harm or compensate for harm to a person or property. This harm or injury may be a matter of physical injury, mental injury or financial injury. Medical malpractice or medical negligence and legal malpractice or legal negligence lawsuits are guided by personal injury law.

A civil wrong, or a tort, is recognized by law as grounds for a lawsuit. Sometimes these wrongs are considered crimes and punishable with imprisonment, but the primary aim of tort law is to provide relief through compensation to injured parties for the damages incurred. Among the types of recoverable damages are: loss of earnings capacity, pain and suffering, and reasonable medical expenses. They include both present and future expected losses. See our Representative Cases

While most doctors, nurses, midwives, and hospital technicians provide a high standard of care for their patients, unfortunately, many families are harmed by medical mistakes constituting negligence. A physician may have misread fetal monitoring equipment, failed to diagnose fetal distress during labor, waited too long to perform a Caesarian Section, administered too much Pitocin, or failed to act in a timely manner. Parents of a child suffering with cerebral palsy should contact an experienced cerebral palsy lawyer to research the cause of their child’s condition.

A statute of limitations applies to cerebral palsy medical malpractice claims, placing time limits on the amount of time families have to pursue a CP medical malpractice case. Failure to file within the applicable statute of limitations forever bars your claim. These time limits vary from state to state. To learn what the time requirements may be for your state, contact us.

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