Babies can suffer injuries to their brains before, during, and after birth, with many of those injuries causing lifelong problems. The issues may impact how a child moves, speaks, thinks, grows, sees, or eats. These mental and physical injuries can not only change the life of the baby, but also the parents who will need to provide consistent care for their injured child.
Two of the more serious conditions are caused by injuries to the developing brain and are closely related. A brief description of those injuries is listed below, and more information about the condition can be found by clicking on the condition.
Cerebral palsy — Cerebral palsy is something of a blanket term for a variety of injuries that are caused by a wide range of issues. The group of disorders is caused by damage to the developing brain or by abnormal brain development. How the damage impacts the person determines if they are diagnosed with cerebral palsy or another form of brain injury.
Babies born premature or with low birth weight are at risk of developing a condition that can cause cerebral palsy. Other factors in play are genetics, stroke, and infection.
Periventricular Leukomalacia (PVL) — Mostly seen in premature and very low-weight newborns, PVL involves the white matter around blood cells dying. White matter helps the brain communicate, and problems with it can lead to several developmental issues in a newborn.
However, signs of PVL may not appear right away and may not be noticeable for days or weeks after birth. In many cases, the issues may not be seen for months or years.
Along with premature birth, newborns may develop PVL due to low oxygen or blood flow to the white matter at birth, or due to an infection or other stressors during the newborn period.
Both cerebral palsy and PVL carry a significant risk of long-term health problems. Victims may suffer from permanent motor disability, vision and hearing problems, speech and language delays, seizures, cognitive and learning challenges, hip displacement, scoliosis, feeding or swallowing issues, and chronic pain.
PVL and cerebral palsy are not always preventable, but when medical staff miss the warning signs related to the conditions, problems can be made worse very quickly.
Common mistakes made by medical staff that can increase the risk or severity of cerebral palsy and PVL include:
During pregnancy — Failure to diagnose or treat infections in the mother, failing to monitor high-risk pregnancies, and missing signs that the baby is not getting enough oxygen or nutrition in utero.
During labor and delivery — Failure to monitor fetal heart tracing, delaying an emergency C-section, improper use of delivery tools, or excessive traction causing trauma and distress to the baby, failing to manage maternal bleeding or low blood pressure, and mismanagement of complications during labor.
After birth — Poor monitoring or a delayed response to neurological warning signs, failing to diagnose or treat sepsis or infections promptly, and failing to recognize or treat breathing problems, low oxygen, or low blood pressure issues.
Not all medical mistakes lead to serious injuries like cerebral palsy or PVL. However, if your baby was premature, suffered distress, needed resuscitation, had infections, or later developed signs of cerebral palsy or PVL, you’re right to ask questions.
Contacting the team at Weisser Law is the first step to getting the answers to those questions. We will thoroughly review your medical records involved in the birth, consult with our delivery room experts, and get to the bottom of what happened to your baby and how.
With over 50 years of combined experience in Florida courtrooms, Weisser Law is uniquely positioned to put pressure on insurance companies to offer fair, realistic settlements. We have the strength and knowledge necessary to take down the big companies when they’ve wronged you or your family. Contact Weisser Law today, where compassion guides our work, but results define us.