Cerebral palsy

What is cerebral palsy?

Cerebral palsy describes a group of permanent disorders affecting movement, posture and muscle tone. It results from damage to the developing brain rather than to the muscles themselves.

The condition does not progress, though its effects change as a child grows. Severity ranges enormously, from mild coordination difficulty to profound impairment requiring lifelong care.

It is important to be direct about this. Most cases of cerebral palsy are not caused by anything that happened during delivery, and many have no identifiable cause at all.

What causes it?

Causes divide into those arising before, during and after birth.

• Prenatal factors including infection, stroke and genetic conditions
• Complications of significant prematurity
• Oxygen deprivation around the time of birth
• Untreated severe jaundice affecting the brain
• Infection or head trauma in early infancy
• In many cases, no cause that can be identified

When does it support a claim?

When the medical record shows the delivery team had information indicating distress and did not act on it appropriately.

The fetal monitoring strip is the central document. It records the baby's heart rate throughout labor and shows what the team could see and when.

The claim is rarely that a bad outcome occurred. It is that a specific pattern appeared, that the standard of care required a response such as expedited delivery, and that the response did not come in time.

Prematurity complicates the analysis considerably, since very early birth carries its own risks independent of anything the delivery team did.

What deadline applies in New Jersey?

New Jersey applies a distinct rule to birth related injury claims rather than the ordinary tolling that applies to other injuries to minors.

The effect is that families cannot assume they have until the child reaches adulthood. The deadline for birth related claims arrives considerably earlier.

Because the specific rule is technical and the consequence of missing it is total, any suspected birth injury should be reviewed by an attorney promptly rather than deferred.

Common questions

Does cerebral palsy mean someone made a mistake?

No. Most cases are not caused by delivery negligence. Determining whether this one was requires review of the monitoring record and the complete labor and delivery file.

How is a birth injury claim evaluated?

Through review of the prenatal records, the fetal monitoring strip, the delivery record and the newborn's early course, typically by an obstetric expert and a neonatologist.

How much do these cases involve?

Values depend on the level of impairment and lifetime care needs, which are established through a life care plan rather than estimated.

What records should I request?

The complete prenatal file, the labor and delivery record including the full continuous monitoring strip, and the newborn's hospital course including cord blood gas values and any imaging. Requesting them does not commit you to anything, and having a specialist review them is how families find out whether there is anything to pursue at all.