Ronemus & Vilensky are top New York City medical malpractice, erb’s and cerebral palsy attorneys, and we work on behalf of families of children with cerebral palsy which were the result of the negligence of doctors or other healthcare professionals during pregnancy, delivery, or early childhood.
Negligence is defined as the failure to take proper care when doing something, and malpractice means improper, illegal, or negligent professional activity or treatment. We trust our doctors and nurses to do their absolute best when they are treating and caring for pregnant women and newborn babies. When that trust is broken or when someone is negligent, people can get hurt. This is especially sad when it is a defenseless infant who is injured. Birth injuries can mean many things, from brain damage, broken bones that could have been prevented, nerve damage, and erb’s and cerebral palsy.
Cerebral palsy can develop if your infant suffers a brain injury during gestation, delivery or even within the first year of their life. Things like lack of oxygen from a collapsed umbilical cord or other issues should have been found, addressed, and/or prevented by your doctors.
Types of Cerebral Palsy
There are three different main type of cerebral palsy, which are:
Spastic cerebral palsy: This causes difficulty with movement and stiffness.
Athetoid cerebral palsy: The symptoms of this condition include uncontrolled movements.
Ataxic cerebral palsy: The sufferer has an alteration of his or her depth perception and balance.
A combination of any two or more types.
Early detection of cerebral palsy can greatly impact the child’s chances of achieving a better recovery. Cerebral palsy treatments can include: physical therapy, speech and occupational therapy, working with psychologists or psychiatrists, surgical options, medications, and even in-home care or institutionalization.
How can cerebral palsy happen? Avoidable brain injuries can happen because:
Improper use of tools, such as forceps, during delivery
Failing to perform a Caesarian section immediately or properly
Failing to order a Caesarian section when medically necessary
Failing to detect or treat an infection in the mother or baby during gestation, labor, or delivery
Failing to properly monitor the baby’s vital signs or incorrect use of monitoring technology
Failure to respond to fetal distress or to abnormalities on fetal heart monitor strips in a timely manner
Failure respond to signs of a lack of oxygen to a baby properly or quickly, or to signs of jaundice
Improper use of vacuum extraction
Toxicity from inappropriate medications during pregnancy
When you file a claim against a medical professional or healthcare provider who has caused harm due to negligence or malpractice, you are doing the right thing. Medical professionals are held to very high standards, because their job is literally involve life and death situations, and they must be prepared for anything. If you believe that your child’s diagnosis of cerebral palsy was the result of improper care or medical wrongdoing, you and your child deserve compensation to help you pay for the child’s lifelong medical treatment and therapies, lost wages, pain and suffering, and more. You are also holding these doctors, nurses, and hospitals accountable for their actions, and may prevent similar negligence from happening in the future.
Cases We’ve Recently Won:
Our client, a newborn, was born neurologically damaged. The child’s mother came to the hospital bleeding and saying she did not feel the baby moving. Doctors at the hospital placed her on a monitor but failed to detect any abnormalities with the infant. The child was born 12 days later and could not breathe. Tests were performed which revealed that the child had suffered a brain bleed while in utero. The child was transferred to New York Hospital for further treatment. Our client, now 7 years old, cannot walk or talk and has to be fed through a tube. The child will receive $29 million from the settlement over the course of her life.
Our client, a 6-year-old girl, sustained brain damage at birth due to medical malpractice. The child’s mother had gone to the hospital and was admitted and placed on a fetal monitor. Over the course of three days, the monitor showed signs of fetal distress and abrupted placenta. Doctors initially scheduled the patient for a Cesarean section, but for reasons no one could explain, the procedure was canceled. On the third day in the hospital, a Cesarean section was finally performed, and the infant was born with poor response and breathing and spent three weeks in the ICU. The child was eventually diagnosed with neurological damage. The child now walks with braces, cannot hear without using a hearing aid, and has a very limited vocabulary. The settlement will pay $37 million over the course of the child’s life.
What should you look for in a cerebral palsy birth injury attorney?
You want to find an experienced attorney with a strong medical background, one who is well versed in medical procedures, the risks, and the precautions and possible complications involved.
Your attorney needs to be able to obtain and review medical records and notations in order to determine who knew what and when, and in what order everything took place.
Your attorney needs to have years of experience dealing with insurance companies Your attorney should have extensive experience with accredited, highly respected medical authorities in this specialty to retain as medical experts in your case.
You must find an attorney who has settled or tried many cerebral palsy injury cases due to the highly technical and complicated nature of these cases.
You want a compassionate attorney who listens to you and understands that this is a difficult struggle for you and your family.
If your child has cerebral palsy and you suspect that it may have been as a result of medical negligence or malpractice, contact Ronemus & Vilensky today to speak with a qualified and caring cerebral palsy lawyer who can competently evaluate your case and determine the best course of action to help you and your family get the help and compensation you deserve.
