Cerebral Palsy

Cerebral palsy is caused by oxygen deprivation or brain damage during the birth of a newborn. Oftentimes, the cause is negligence from an obstetrician and his or her delivery team. Newborns face a lifetime of physical, emotional, and developmental challenges. Their parents are left betrayed by their trusted doctor and devastated by the injuries their child suffered. Talk to a cerebral palsy lawyer today.

Understanding Cerebral Palsy and Its Causes

Cerebral palsy is a group of permanent disorders affecting the development of movement and posture, caused by damage to the developing brain. This damage most commonly occurs before, during, or shortly after birth, though the effects may not become fully apparent until months or years later as the child fails to meet developmental milestones.

The term “cerebral” refers to the brain, while “palsy” describes weakness or problems with body movement. The condition is not progressive, meaning the brain damage does not worsen over time, but the symptoms and challenges may become more apparent as a child grows and is expected to achieve new developmental milestones.

Types of Cerebral Palsy

Cerebral palsy manifests in several distinct forms, each affecting the body differently:

Spastic Cerebral Palsy is the most common type, affecting approximately 80% of people with the condition. This form causes increased muscle tone, making muscles stiff and movements awkward. Spastic cerebral palsy can affect different parts of the body: diplegia (primarily affecting the legs), hemiplegia (affecting one side of the body), or quadriplegia (affecting all four limbs and the trunk).

Athetoid or Dyskinetic Cerebral Palsy involves fluctuating muscle tone, causing involuntary, slow, writhing movements of the hands, feet, arms, or legs. These uncontrolled movements make it difficult to maintain posture, sit, walk, and speak clearly. This type results from damage to the basal ganglia, the part of the brain that controls voluntary motor functions.

Ataxic Cerebral Palsy affects balance and coordination, causing shaky movements and difficulty with precise actions like writing or buttoning clothes. People with this type may have a wide-based gait and experience tremors. This form results from damage to the cerebellum, which coordinates voluntary movement.

Mixed Cerebral Palsy occurs when a child has symptoms of more than one type, most commonly a combination of spastic and athetoid features. This indicates damage to multiple areas of the brain.

How Birth Injuries Cause Cerebral Palsy

The primary cause of birth-related cerebral palsy is oxygen deprivation to the baby’s brain during labor and delivery, a condition known as birth asphyxia or hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE). When the brain does not receive adequate oxygen for even a brief period, brain cells begin to die, causing permanent damage.

Several preventable complications during delivery can lead to oxygen deprivation:

Umbilical Cord Complications occur when the cord becomes compressed, wrapped around the baby’s neck (nuchal cord), or prolapses ahead of the baby during delivery. These situations cut off the baby’s oxygen supply and require immediate intervention.

Placental Problems such as placental abruption, where the placenta separates from the uterine wall before delivery, or placental insufficiency, where the placenta does not provide adequate oxygen and nutrients to the baby, can cause prolonged oxygen deprivation.

Prolonged or Arrested Labor occurs when the baby remains in the birth canal for an extended period without progress. This can compress the baby’s head, reduce oxygen flow, and cause brain damage if healthcare providers fail to intervene with cesarean delivery.

Uterine Rupture is a rare but catastrophic event where the uterine wall tears during labor, causing severe maternal bleeding and immediate oxygen deprivation for the baby. This emergency requires immediate cesarean section.

Maternal Infections during pregnancy, such as chorioamnionitis (infection of the amniotic sac), can trigger an inflammatory response that damages the developing fetal brain. Cytokines released during infection can directly harm brain tissue and increase the risk of cerebral palsy.

Untreated Maternal Conditions including severe preeclampsia (high blood pressure), uncontrolled gestational diabetes, and blood clotting disorders can restrict blood flow to the baby, causing chronic oxygen deprivation that damages the developing brain.

Medical Negligence Leading to Cerebral Palsy

The Mayo Clinic provides some great resources on the causes of cerebral palsy. While not all cases of cerebral palsy result from medical malpractice, many are preventable with proper monitoring and timely intervention. Medical negligence that can lead to cerebral palsy includes:

Failure to Monitor Fetal Heart Rate

Electronic fetal monitoring tracks the baby’s heart rate throughout labor, providing critical information about the baby’s oxygen levels and overall well-being. Abnormal heart rate patterns—such as late decelerations, absent variability, or prolonged bradycardia—indicate fetal distress and oxygen deprivation.

Healthcare providers have a duty to continuously monitor fetal heart rate during labor, recognize concerning patterns, and respond immediately. Failure to properly interpret monitoring strips, ignoring warning signs, or inadequate monitoring can allow oxygen deprivation to continue undetected, causing irreversible brain damage.

Delayed Cesarean Section

When fetal monitoring reveals distress, or when labor fails to progress safely, an emergency cesarean section may be necessary to protect the baby from brain damage. The standard of care requires healthcare providers to perform a cesarean delivery within 30 minutes of making the decision when the baby is in immediate danger.

Delays in performing necessary cesarean sections often result from poor communication between staff, unavailable operating rooms, insufficient staffing, or failure to recognize the urgency of the situation. Every minute of delay increases the risk of permanent brain damage and cerebral palsy.

Improper Use of Delivery Instruments

Forceps and vacuum extractors are tools designed to assist with difficult deliveries, but when misused, they can cause severe head trauma and brain injury. Excessive force, improper positioning, repeated failed attempts, or use of these instruments when contraindicated can cause skull fractures, intracranial bleeding, and brain damage leading to cerebral palsy.

Failure to Diagnose and Treat Maternal Conditions

Healthcare providers must identify and manage high-risk maternal conditions during pregnancy. Undiagnosed or poorly managed preeclampsia restricts blood flow to the baby, causing chronic oxygen deprivation. Untreated infections can cross the placenta and directly damage fetal brain tissue. Failure to control gestational diabetes increases the risk of birth complications that lead to oxygen deprivation.

Prenatal care should include regular screening for these conditions, appropriate testing when symptoms arise, and timely referral to maternal-fetal medicine specialists when high-risk complications develop.

Inadequate Resuscitation After Birth

Newborns who experience oxygen deprivation during delivery may require immediate resuscitation, including clearing the airway, providing oxygen, and assisting with breathing. Delayed or inadequate resuscitation allows brain damage to continue after birth.

Additionally, babies at risk for hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy should be evaluated for therapeutic hypothermia (brain cooling), which must be initiated within six hours of birth to prevent or minimize permanent brain damage. Failure to recognize HIE and initiate this life-saving treatment constitutes medical negligence.

The Compensation Options Available For Your Injured Newborn

The Neurologically Impaired Infant’s Fund (NIIF) is a significant part of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Medicaid Redesign Team. The NIIF is a fund designed to pay medical expenses for infants suffering neurological damage during birth.

Parents of children suffering from a neurological injury, such as cerebral palsy, have the funds necessary for speech, physical and occupational therapy.

A claim still involves filing a lawsuit and going through the legal process. When a case reaches the settlement table, all compensation is paid through the NIIF.

Contacting a Cerebral Palsy Lawyer

If you need more information about the birth injury your child suffered, schedule a free initial consultation with an experienced cerebral palsy attorney in Syracuse. Fill out our intake form to schedule an appointment with Gillette & Izzo Law Office. You can also call 315-421-1000.

We handle cerebral palsy claims on a contingent fee basis. You do not pay legal fees unless we recover compensation.