Philadelphia Cerebral Palsy Lawsuit

Cerebral palsy attorneys in Philadelphia can help if your child suffered cerebral palsy due to medical negligence.

If your child was diagnosed with cerebral palsy after something went wrong in the labor and delivery process, you may have grounds to bring a lawsuit for compensation.

The health of your baby depends on receiving the proper amount of oxygen at all times, both before and during delivery. Mothers and their babies should be monitored and supervised carefully throughout the pregnancy and birth process to prevent problems. Doctors should be aware of the baby’s size and the mother’s condition and general birthing complications. During a mother’s labor, fetal heart rate should be carefully monitored by the doctor and hospital staff.

Fetal distress is easily detected with modern medical technology. When your baby shows signs of distress, it is the responsibility of medical personnel to act swiftly and accordingly, applying every medical solution possible to ensure a healthy delivery. A baby who presents problems should be seen by a specialist and transferred to a neonatal intensive care unit if necessary.

Sadly, this does not always happen, and medical negligence can result in serious injuries. If equipment malfunctions or staff is inattentive and misses signs of fetal distress, issues such as hypoxia, which can lead to brain damage, cerebral palsy, and even wrongful death, can result. The life-long consequences and costs of care your child could face due to this type of negligence are overwhelming.

If your child has suffered cerebral palsy or other serious birth injuries due to a medical practitioner’s negligence, you may be entitled to compensation through a birth injury medical malpractice lawsuit. While money can never fully compensate for your child’s suffering, a fair settlement can take the financial burden off you and allow you to provide your child with the best medical treatment, educational opportunities, and special care.

If you believe your child’s birth injury was the result of medical malpractice or medical negligence in Pennsylvania or New Jersey, please contact Wapner Newman today to schedule a free initial consultation with an experienced Philadelphia birth injury lawyer. Our medical malpractice attorneys in Pennsylvania can help you uncover the truth about how and why your child’s injury occurred and fight for justice and the compensation you deserve.

The Philadelphia medical malpractice attorneys at Wapner Newman serve cerebral palsy and birth injury victims throughout Pennsylvania and New Jersey, with offices in Philadelphia, West Conshohocken, Allentown, and Marlton.

CALL FOR A FREE CONSULTATION AT (215) 569-0900 TODAY

Cerebral Palsy Lawyers Proving Medical Negligence

Our birth injury lawyers must prove that your child’s cerebral palsy was caused by a medical practitioner’s negligence or fault.

Cerebral palsy is caused by brain damage before or at birth, typically due to reduction in an infant’s oxygen supply to the brain. While damage is not always caused by medical malpractice, mistakes and negligence by medical personnel during the labor and delivery process may lead to the brain damage that results in cerebral palsy.

Examples of mistakes that may be malpractice include:

Failure to properly interpret fetal heart rate monitor tracings and to notice signs of distress
Improper use of delivery instruments (such as forceps and vacuum)
Failure to perform a C-section in a timely manner
Failure to properly monitor a mother or child
Medication errors
Untreated child injuries.
Negligent treatment or failure to treat maternal infections
Failure to detect or address prolapsed umbilical cord.

These types of situations can lead to hypoxia (insufficient oxygen) or anoxia (lack of oxygen), which damages the brain and may result in cerebral palsy.

In medical malpractice cases, it can be difficult to prove negligence. Doctors and hospital staff may be evasive or flat out deny responsibility. When you come to the Philadelphia birth injury lawyers at Wapner Newman to discuss a cerebral palsy claim, our experienced legal team will get to work immediately to investigate the cause of your child’s birth injury. We can help prove negligence by:

Investigating the causes of your child’s condition – This may involve examining medical and hospital records, videos and photographs; interviewing witnesses present during labor and birth; and hiring expert witnesses to testify as to the connection between the malpractice and the injury.
Calculating what the case should be worth – Cerebral palsy brings life-long consequences and expenses. Our birth injury attorneys want to ensure that the compensation you receive reflects these costs.
Building the case and demanding fair compensation – We will prepare documents and presentations and get testimony from experts in the field to make your case as strong as possible. We will demand and negotiate for fair compensation from the responsible healthcare providers and their insurance companies.
Taking the case to trial – If necessary, we are fully prepared to take your case to trial and handle all aspects of presenting the facts and arguing in front of a judge and jury.

Proving negligence in medical malpractice cases is complicated

In order to shield healthcare providers from false claims, Pennsylvania law requires more proof than for a standard personal injury case. To win your case, our cerebral palsy medical malpractice attorneys must show:

The existence of a doctor-patient relationship and the duty of care of the physician not to cause harm and to handle the birth according to the accepted standard of care.
This duty was breached and the doctor was negligent by acting or failing to act in a way a competent doctor would behave according to the standard of care.
Your child was injured and suffered cerebral palsy as a result.
The injury resulted in actual damages such as additional medical expenses or pain and suffering.

Our cerebral palsy lawyers in Philadelphia can help you uncover the truth about your child’s injury and establish a strong case for medical negligence to ensure that your child’s needs are met in the years to come.

Call us now at (215) 569-0900

Damages Our Cerebral Palsy Attorneys May Win for You

In a successful case, our cerebral palsy attorneys may win an award for compensatory damages

Our Wapner Newman lawyers will fight for an award that covers all the damages and costs you and your child are facing. In Pennsylvania, compensatory damages cover both your economic damages for calculable costs and your non-economic damages for costs such as pain and suffering that do not have a specific dollar value.

Economic damages may include:

Medical expenses
Ongoing care
Costs associated with assisted living
Loss of future income or ability to work
Modifications needed to a child’s home
Special adaptive equipment.

Non-economic damages may include:

Disability
Shortened life expectancy and diminished quality of life
Mental and physical pain and suffering.

Punitive damages may be awarded in rare cases

In some rare cases of extremely reckless or willful actions (such as attending childbirth while under the influence of drugs or alcohol), punitive damages may also be awarded. These are intended to punish the defendant and deter further acts of medical negligence in the future. (Consolidated Statutes Title 42 § 8528 limits punitive damages against a medical provider to two hundred percent of compensatory damages. This cap can be waived if it can be proved that the defendant acted intentionally in causing the harm.)

Amounts of damages you may be awarded:

There is a wide range of damage amounts, from the thousands to millions of dollars, that may be awarded in a successful birth injury case. While judges and juries tend to be sympathetic to the plight of injured newborns with cerebral palsy, amounts of settlement may depend on factors such as:

The severity of the damage and whether the child will be able to live a normal life, work, and have normal relationships
Whether the child will require continuing care, special education, or institutional care
The costs of care involved, such as adaptive equipment and home and vehicle modifications
The availability of evidence and witnesses to testify
The availability of insurance and assets
The inclination of the individual judge and jury
The skill of your attorney in building and presenting your case.

Call Our Experienced Cerebral Palsy Attorneys in Philadelphia

The birth injury attorneys in Pennsylvania at Wapner Newman understand how difficult it can be for your family to cope with the financial and emotional burden of cerebral palsy. Because of this, our medical malpractice attorneys in Philadelphia are willing to visit you at home or in the hospital to discuss your claim. We are dedicated to helping malpractice victims obtain the justice they deserve, and will work with you to make the process of filing a claim as easy and convenient as possible.

If your child was born with cerebral palsy in Philadelphia or anywhere in Pennsylvania or New Jersey and you believe medical negligence may have been responsible, our birth injury attorneys in Pennsylvania can help you. Please contact Wapner Newman today to schedule a free initial consultation with a medical malpractice lawyer in Philadelphia.

Our personal injury attorneys in Philadelphia serve cerebral palsy victims throughout Pennsylvania and New Jersey, with offices in Philadelphia, West Conshohocken, Allentown, and Marlton. There are no fees to you unless and until we win your case.

Don’t delay. There are time limits for filing that is generally two years from the time of the injury (Consolidated statute Title 42 § 5524) or the courts may refuse to hear your case.

FREE CONSULTATION CALL (215) 569-0900