Chicago Cerebral Palsy Lawyer
When your child is diagnosed with cerebral palsy, you deserve to understand why. If there were complications during pregnancy, labor, delivery, or shortly after birth, one of the questions your family may be asking is whether something could have been done differently.
At Ankin Law, our Chicago cerebral palsy lawyers investigate the medical care surrounding your child’s birth. We review what was happening with your baby, how doctors and nurses responded, whether warning signs were recognized, and whether an earlier or different response could have prevented or reduced the injury.
Cerebral palsy can have many causes, and a diagnosis does not mean medical malpractice occurred. But when there are questions about fetal distress, a delayed C-section, oxygen deprivation, infection, or another complication, the medical records may help show whether your child received appropriate care.
Your family deserves to know what those records say about what happened.
“Parents come to us because they have questions about what happened during their child’s birth. We go back to the medical records, build the timeline, and look closely at the decisions that were made when it mattered most.”
— Howard Ankin, Ankin Law
Our Chicago cerebral palsy lawyers are available 24/7 and have more than 100 years of combined experience protecting the rights of Chicagoans. Call Ankin Law at (312) 600-0000 for a free consultation about your child’s birth injury. You pay no upfront attorney fees, and no attorney fee unless we recover compensation for your family.
Table of Contents
Causes of Cerebral Palsy
Cerebral palsy can have many causes, and not every case is connected to medical negligence. For families questioning whether a preventable birth injury played a role, determining when and how the brain injury occurred is an important part of investigating a potential malpractice claim.
Brain Damage Before or During Birth
Brain damage occurring before or during birth is one of the primary causes of cerebral palsy. This damage can result from complications during labor and delivery, such as a lack of oxygen (asphyxia), trauma during delivery, or infections during pregnancy.
Abnormal Brain Development
Cerebral palsy can result from abnormal brain development before birth. Genetic factors, maternal health issues, exposure to toxins, or maternal infections such as rubella (German measles) can contribute to abnormal brain development in the fetus.
Premature Birth and Low Birth Weight
Premature birth, especially when coupled with low birth weight, is a risk factor for cerebral palsy. Babies born prematurely are more vulnerable to brain injury due to their underdeveloped organs and systems.
Maternal Infections During Pregnancy
Infections contracted by the mother during pregnancy, such as cytomegalovirus (CMV), toxoplasmosis, or rubella, can increase the risk of cerebral palsy in the child. These infections can affect fetal brain development and lead to neurological complications.
Determining the cause of your child’s cerebral palsy can help establish whether you have grounds for a medical malpractice claim. If negligent care during pregnancy, labor, delivery, or your child’s immediate medical care contributed to the injury, you may be able to pursue compensation for your losses.
Types of Cerebral Palsy
Cerebral palsy (CP) encompasses a spectrum of neurological disorders that affect movement, posture, and muscle coordination. The types of cerebral palsy are classified based on the nature of impairments and affected body parts. The three primary types of cerebral palsy include:
- Spastic Cerebral Palsy: Spastic CP is the most common type, accounting for approximately 70-80% of all cases. It is characterized by muscle stiffness and exaggerated reflexes, making movement difficult. Affected muscles may feel tight and resistant to stretching, leading to abnormal posture and difficulty with fine motor skills. There are subtypes of spastic cerebral palsy based on the distribution of muscle stiffness. These include spastic diplegia, spastic hemiplegia, and spastic quadriplegia.
- Dyskinetic (Athetoid) Cerebral Palsy: Dyskinetic CP is characterized by involuntary and uncontrolled movements, often accompanied by fluctuations in muscle tone. These movements can be slow and writhing or rapid and jerky, making it challenging to maintain posture and control limbs. Speech and swallowing difficulties may also be present.
- Ataxic Cerebral Palsy: Ataxic CP is the least common type, affecting around 5-10% of people with cerebral palsy. It primarily impairs coordination and balance, leading to shaky movements and difficulty with precise voluntary movements. Your child may have trouble with tasks that require controlled movements, such as writing or buttoning clothing. Tremors and shaky hand movements may also occur.
The type and severity of your child’s cerebral palsy can affect the treatment, therapy, assistive equipment, and long-term care your child may need. If medical negligence caused your child’s condition, these needs and the ways cerebral palsy affects your child’s daily life can help establish the damages associated with your claim.
What Are the Symptoms of Cerebral Palsy?
Cerebral palsy (CP) manifests a variety of symptoms that typically become evident during infancy or early childhood. The symptoms of cerebral palsy vary depending on the type and severity of the condition.
Your child may exhibit delays in reaching developmental milestones such as rolling over, sitting up, crawling, or walking. Your child may also experience muscle stiffness (spasticity) or looseness (hypotonia). This can result in difficulty with movement, coordination, and posture.
Cerebral palsy often affects motor skills, making it challenging to control movements. Because of this, your child may experience involuntary movements, tremors, or jerky motions. Difficulties with balance are common symptoms of cerebral palsy, leading to unsteady gait, frequent falls, and challenges with activities requiring precise movements.
Early detection and intervention are important for managing symptoms and supporting your child’s health and development. A multidisciplinary approach involving physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, and assistive devices can help your child improve mobility, communication, and independence. If medical negligence caused your child’s cerebral palsy, the costs of necessary treatment, therapy, assistive equipment, and future care may be included in your claim.
If your child developed cerebral palsy after a preventable birth injury, call Ankin Law at (312) 600-0000 for a free consultation about your family’s legal options.
Who Can Be Held Liable for Cerebral Palsy?
The party responsible for your child’s cerebral palsy will depend on what caused the injury and the medical care provided before, during, and after birth. More than one healthcare provider or medical facility may share responsibility.
Obstetricians, midwives, nurses, and other healthcare professionals involved in prenatal care, labor, and delivery may be held liable if negligence or medical malpractice contributed to your child’s brain injury. This could include failure to monitor your baby’s oxygen levels, delayed delivery in distress situations, delayed c-section, or improper use of medical instruments during birth.
Hospitals and medical facilities may bear liability for cerebral palsy if their policies, procedures, or staffing issues contributed to substandard care during pregnancy, labor, or delivery. Depending on the circumstances, a hospital may also face liability for negligent care provided by certain healthcare professionals involved in your child’s birth.
Determining who may be responsible requires reviewing your medical records, your child’s records, and the care provided during pregnancy, labor, delivery, and after birth. Ankin Law can investigate what happened, identify whose actions may have contributed to your child’s injury, and pursue compensation from the responsible parties.
How Do You Prove Medical Negligence Caused Cerebral Palsy?
A cerebral palsy diagnosis alone does not establish medical malpractice. To pursue a claim, you generally need evidence showing that a healthcare provider failed to meet the applicable standard of care and that the failure contributed to your child’s brain injury.
The medical records can help establish what happened and when. Your attorney may review prenatal records, fetal heart monitoring strips, labor and delivery records, medication records, imaging, and records from your child’s care immediately after birth. These records may reveal when complications developed, how healthcare providers responded, and whether earlier intervention could have prevented or reduced the injury.
For example, fetal heart monitoring may provide information about your baby’s condition during labor. If the records show signs of fetal distress, the investigation may focus on how quickly doctors and nurses recognized those signs and what steps they took in response. Other cases may involve questions about a delayed C-section, medication errors, delivery techniques, maternal infections, or care provided to your child after birth.
Medical professionals may also review the records to determine whether the care provided met accepted medical standards and whether a departure from those standards contributed to your child’s cerebral palsy. Establishing this connection is important because cerebral palsy can have causes unrelated to medical negligence.
The evidence needed will depend on the circumstances surrounding your child’s birth and diagnosis. A Chicago cerebral palsy lawyer can investigate the timeline of your child’s injury and determine whether the medical evidence supports a malpractice claim.
Keep copies of records related to your pregnancy, delivery, and your child’s medical care, along with bills, therapy records, and information about assistive equipment your child needs. You may also want to document your child’s appointments, treatments, developmental progress, and changing care needs. Do not assume the records you already have tell the full story. Additional hospital records, fetal monitoring strips, imaging, and other medical documentation may contain information relevant to your claim. A cerebral palsy lawyer can obtain additional records, review the medical timeline, and determine what evidence may help establish how your child’s injury occurred.
Recovering Damages for Cerebral Palsy in Illinois
Various types of damages may be available to compensate your child and family for the harm suffered. These damages may address the financial, physical, and emotional costs associated with cerebral palsy.
Medical Expenses
Your claim may include compensation for past, current, and future medical expenses related to the treatment and management of your child’s cerebral palsy. This may include costs for doctor’s visits, hospitalizations, surgeries, medications, therapy sessions, assistive devices, and other necessary medical interventions.
Rehabilitation and Therapy Costs
Cerebral palsy often requires ongoing therapy and rehabilitation services to help your child improve motor function, communication skills, and overall quality of life. Damages may cover expenses for physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, and other forms of rehabilitation.
Assistive Devices and Home Modifications
Your child may require specialized equipment and assistive devices to enhance mobility, communication, and independence. Damages may include the cost of wheelchairs, braces, communication aids, adaptive technology, and home modifications.
Lost Earnings and Future Income Loss
If cerebral palsy impacts your child’s future ability to work and earn a living, damages may include compensation for diminished earning capacity and future income loss. These damages may apply when your child’s condition limits future employment opportunities.
Pain and Suffering
Your child’s claim may include compensation for the physical pain, discomfort, and emotional distress experienced as a result of cerebral palsy and its associated complications. This may include compensation for your child’s past and future pain and suffering.
The value of your child’s cerebral palsy claim depends on the severity of the condition, the extent of the damages incurred, and the laws governing medical malpractice claims. Ankin Law can evaluate your child’s medical needs, anticipated future care, and other losses to determine the damages supported by your claim.
How Ankin Law Investigates Your Child’s Cerebral Palsy Claim
Determining whether medical negligence contributed to your child’s cerebral palsy requires more than reviewing the diagnosis. At Ankin Law, we investigate the medical care surrounding your pregnancy, labor, delivery, and your child’s treatment after birth to determine what happened and whether preventable errors contributed to the injury.
Our investigation may include obtaining and reviewing prenatal records, fetal heart monitoring strips, labor and delivery records, medication records, imaging, and neonatal records. We can examine the timeline of your labor and delivery to determine when complications developed, how healthcare providers responded, and whether intervention was delayed.
We can also work with qualified medical professionals to evaluate whether the care you and your child received met the applicable standard of care. Their review may help determine whether an obstetrician, nurse, hospital, or another healthcare provider failed to respond appropriately to fetal distress or other complications.
Proving liability is only part of your claim. We can also document how cerebral palsy affects your child’s life and evaluate anticipated medical treatment, therapy, assistive equipment, home modifications, and other future needs. This evidence can help establish the compensation your family may pursue through a cerebral palsy claim.
Frequently Asked Questions About Cerebral Palsy Lawsuits
If you suspect medical negligence contributed to your child’s cerebral palsy, you may have questions about the evidence needed to investigate what happened and the steps involved in pursuing a claim. The answers below address several issues that may affect your child’s case.
What Medical Records Can Help Determine What Caused My Child’s Cerebral Palsy?
Medical records from your pregnancy, labor, delivery, and your child’s care after birth may provide important evidence about what happened. Depending on the circumstances, these may include prenatal records, fetal monitoring strips, labor and delivery records, medication records, imaging, neonatal records, and other documentation. Reviewing these records can help identify complications and how healthcare providers responded to them.
What if My Child Was Not Diagnosed With Cerebral Palsy Until Later?
A cerebral palsy diagnosis may not occur immediately after birth. Signs can become more noticeable as your child grows and misses developmental milestones involving movement, balance, posture, or coordination. A later diagnosis does not necessarily prevent you from investigating whether an injury occurred during pregnancy, labor, delivery, or your child’s care after birth.
Do You Need a Medical Professional to Support a Cerebral Palsy Malpractice Claim?
Medical review can play an important role in determining whether your child’s cerebral palsy may be linked to negligent care. Illinois medical malpractice lawsuits generally require an attorney to file an affidavit addressing consultation with a qualified health professional and a written report supporting the basis for the claim. Your lawyer can obtain and review the relevant records and work with qualified medical professionals when evaluating your case.
How Long Do You Have to File a Cerebral Palsy Lawsuit in Illinois?
Illinois provides a different filing period for medical malpractice claims involving minors. Generally, an action must be filed within eight years of the medical act or omission that allegedly caused the injury, and it cannot be filed after the child’s 22nd birthday. Exceptions may affect the deadline, so you should have your child’s case reviewed promptly rather than assuming how much time remains.
Can You File a Cerebral Palsy Lawsuit if You Did Not Know Something Went Wrong During Birth?
Yes, depending on the circumstances. You may not know during labor or delivery that your child suffered an injury or that medical negligence may have contributed to it. Concerns may arise later after developmental delays, a cerebral palsy diagnosis, or a review of your child’s medical history. An attorney can investigate the medical records to determine whether the care provided may support a malpractice claim.
I highly recommend! The whole process with Ankin Law was professional and required patience. The wait was well worth it and had a great outcome! I was not stressed with their help, they took care of everything and ensured I didn’t have to pay anything out of pocket. Thank you to everyone who helped me with my case and settled out my case, i Truly appreciate you all! If you was looking into trying them out, DO IT!
Find Out What Caused Your Child’s Cerebral Palsy
You may have questions about what happened during your pregnancy, labor, delivery, or your child’s care after birth. If medical negligence contributed to your child’s cerebral palsy, Ankin Law can investigate the medical evidence, determine who may be responsible, and pursue compensation for your child’s injury and future needs.
Call Ankin Law at (312) 600-0000 for a free consultation with a Chicago cerebral palsy lawyer. Our attorneys are available 24/7, and you pay no upfront attorney fees or attorney fees unless we recover compensation for your family.