How Can a CP Lawyer Help Me?

If you take care of a child with cerebral palsy, or CP, then you understand how emotionally, physically and mentally challenging this lifetime commitment can be for you and your child. CP, which affects about 17 million people worldwide, is a physical disability that impacts your child’s posture and how he moves, but it’s more than that. People with this condition may experience a host of associated problems that make life even more challenging, including:

  • Pain
  • Intellectual disability
  • Hip displacement
  • Inability to walk and/or talk
  • Epilepsy
  • Behavior disorders
  • Bladder incontinence
  • Sleep disorders
  • Blindness and/or deafness
  • Trouble with eating and swallowing

The most important thing is making sure that your child receives adequate care, both to treat existing medical problems and to prevent associated conditions from getting worse. But taking care of children with CP is expensive, time-consuming and often frustrating. Worst of all, in some cases CP might have been prevented. If you suspect that medical negligence resulted in your child developing CP, then you need a CP lawyer who can fight on your behalf.

The First Consultation

To determine if you have a case, you’ll need to contact an attorney who specializes in medical negligence, specifically cerebral palsy. Malpractice lawyers typically don’t charge a fee for this initial consultation, nor should they charge a fee unless you’re successful in your case. The first consultation may cover:

  • The condition of your child and what type of CP you’re dealing with
  • A history of your family dynamics, how the diagnosis of CP has affected your life and routine, and what problems existed or didn’t exist before the diagnosis
  • Your recollections of the pregnancy, labor and delivery process and how these feelings and experiences may have impacted the final outcome

The amount of time you have to hold the responsible party accountable, called a “statute of limitations,” is limited and varies from state to state. Most children with CP get diagnosed before age two.  It’s important to contact CP lawyers right away if you suspect that medical negligence played a role in your child’s condition, so you do not lose your ability to file a case.

Reviewing Medical Records

Good CP lawyers take the time to review medical records thoroughly, looking for signs of negligence or malpractice that may have impacted your child’s medical condition. CP isn’t always caused by medical negligence. In some cases, doctors and other healthcare providers may deliver exceptional care at every turn, but you can still end up with unfortunate results. In other cases, CP is a result of something that could have been prevented with the proper care and treatment.  This is partly why proving medical negligence is so complicated and why you need an attorney who deals directly with these types of cases. Lawyers will look for causes that might have led to CP, which might include:

  • Failure to identify or properly treat infections of the mother during pregnancy, such as meningitis
  • Failure to plan or perform a C-section, including when preparing to deliver a baby who will not be able to safely travel through the birth canal or when otherwise medically necessary, or a delay in performing a necessary C-section
  • Failure to detect a prolapsed umbilical cord
  • Medical negligence or mistakes regarding the use of delivery aid instruments, like forceps or vacuums, during labor and delivery
  • Failure to monitor fetal heart rate throughout the labor and delivery process

These and other errors, intentional or not, could have resulted in a lack of oxygen to the brain or body, a common cause of CP. Other birth trauma may also impact your child’s medical condition. Reviewing medical records is the first step in determining how your case will proceed.

Presenting Your Case in Court

If a doctor, hospital, nurse or other medical professional was directly or indirectly responsible for your child’s medical condition, there may be legal recourses for holding that entity responsible. The Orlando attorneys at Diez-Arguelles & Tejedor will work diligently to present your case in court, representing you and your family every step of the way. By pursuing legal action you may:

  • Achieve justice on behalf of your child
  • Ensure that no other acts of medical negligence occur with this provider
  • Help cover the cost of caring for someone with CP
  • Give hope to other families struggling with CP that was caused by negligence

Attorneys can’t promise to win every case they handle. In fact, proving medical negligence to a judge or jury can be difficult, costly and exhausting, often with limited or disappointing results. However, parents of children with disabilities should not lose hope when it comes to fighting on behalf of their loved ones. At Diez-Arguelles & Tejedor we want to hold people accountable for their actions – or inaction – and we’ll work hard to do just that.

A Lifetime of Care

Parents of children with disabilities face significant struggles and daily challenges, and the financial and emotional impact can be great. If your child’s cerebral palsy was caused by medical negligence, then you deserve to hold the responsible parties accountable. You deserve justice on behalf of your little one. At Diez-Arguelles & Tejedor, we work with families who have experienced medical negligence firsthand, and we want to help you attain justice and peace of mind as you care for your child. When you need an experienced CP lawyer in the Orlando area, contact Diez-Arguelles & Tejedor for a free confidential case evaluation.

Sources:

httpss://www.cerebralpalsy.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/WCPD_2016_CP_Diagnosis_Treatment_Infographic_WORLD.pdf
httpss://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/birth-injuries-cerebral-palsy-34181.html
httpss://www.cerebralpalsyguide.com/legal-resources/lawyers/