Cerebral Palsy Lawyers
- Over 40 Years of Experience
- More Than $3 Billion Won for Our Clients
- You Pay Nothing Unless Your Case is Won
Cerebral palsy is caused by damage to the developing brain that occurs before, during, or immediately after birth. There are multiple potential causes of a brain injury that leads to cerebral palsy. One of the known causes of cerebral palsy is a medical professional’s negligence during the birthing process. For parents, finding out that their child has been diagnosed with cerebral palsy can be devastating news. Children with cerebral palsy generally have physical and cognitive difficulties for the rest of their lives, and most will never be fully independent.
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If you think malpractice may have led to your child’s CP, we can help.
If a medical professional’s actions or inaction led to your child’s injury, you may have legal options. The cerebral palsy lawyers at Janet, Janet & Suggs have decades of experience helping families obtain the compensation they need for a secure future.
Frequently Asked Questions about Cerebral Palsy
Q: What is cerebral palsy, and what causes it?
A: Cerebral palsy—or CP for short—is the name of a group of permanent, non-progressive disorders, caused by either abnormal development of the brain or damage to the developing brain. CP is a motor disability, which means the neurological interference from abnormal development or damage impacts a child’s ability to control his or her muscles. Cerebral palsy can result from either abnormal brain development or injury to the brain during pregnancy or at birth. Generally, a diagnosis follows the observation that your child has not met their developmental milestones at the appropriate times.
Q: How can medical negligence or malpractice cause cerebral palsy?
A: There are many ways that a doctor or medical professional’s malpractice can result in cerebral palsy. Some examples include failing to diagnose or treat an infection or complication; failing to exercise due care when using medical equipment; ignoring warning signs; delaying or failing to perform a C-section; and failing to effectively resuscitate a newborn who needs help breathing.
Q: What is a cerebral palsy lawsuit?
A: A cerebral palsy lawsuit is filed against the doctor, medical professional, or hospital that caused the negligence which led to a child’s cerebral palsy, allowing the family to recover compensation. To prevail in a cerebral palsy lawsuit, you will need to prove that the medical professional breached their professional standard of care. You will also need to prove that their actions directly caused your child’s injuries, which resulted in damages.
Q: What can families recover in a cerebral palsy lawsuit?
A: A cerebral palsy lawsuit allows the family to recover compensation for the damages they incurred as a result of the negligent actions of a medical professional or hospital. These can include medical expenses, special education expenses, therapy and treatment costs, lost income, pain and suffering, and compensation for the generally diminished quality of life. Compensation helps families to manage a child with cerebral palsy and the inherent costs.
Q: What is a cerebral palsy lawyer?
A: A cerebral palsy lawyer works with the family to file a claim against the medical professionals responsible for causing the child’s cerebral palsy. They negotiate with the insurance company to recover a fair and reasonable settlement on the family’s behalf. Should a settlement not result, they represent the family in court, presenting a strong case on their behalf to the jury.
Q: What should you look for in a cerebral palsy lawyer?
A: Look for a law firm that specializes in birth injury and cerebral palsy cases, and one that has medical professionals on staff to help build your case against the doctor or hospital. Also look for evidence that the firm has the resources necessary to fight your claim against the other parties and their insurance companies. Size of staff, years in business, and evidence of steady wins, including recently, are indications of the financial depth of a law firm.
Did Medical Malpractice Cause Your Child’s Cerebral Palsy?
Many things can go wrong during the labor and delivery process. YYour baby could have sustained a birth injury if they:
- Needed to be resuscitated
- Had an abnormal head ultrasound, CT-scan, or MRI after birth
- Underwent head or body cooling
- Was diagnosed with hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy (HIE)
- Developed seizures during the first few days of life
- Required an extended hospital stay after birth
Call 1-877-692-3862 or complete a Free Case Evaluation form.
Meet Our Dedicated Cerebral Palsy Medical Division
The Cerebral Palsy Legal/Medical Division at Janet, Janet & Suggs has decades of experience helping families obtain the compensation they need to take care of their children for life. We have both legal and medical experts on our team—including a board-certified OBGYN and nurses—so that we can navigate medical records, recognize errors, and help you seek the compensation you deserve. Our dedicated team has helped over 30,000 families nationwide.
Howard Janet has won multiple record-breaking jury verdicts in birth injury and other CP cases. Mr. Janet has the courage to take the fight to the courtroom if a settlement offer is inadequate. He puts great pressure on medical malpractice insurance companies to pay what cases are really worth. That has translated into record-setting settlements to go along with his unprecedented verdicts.
Kenneth Suggs is one of the country’s most experienced and talented CP lawyers, and a relentless advocate for his clients. Over his 40+year career, Mr. Suggs has taken on tough CP cases and has broken records in the process. He has also served as President of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America (now known as American Association for Justice), the leading national plaintiff’s bar association.
Gerald Jowers represents patients harmed by medical malpractice, pharmaceuticals, and medical devices. He has produced extraordinary results for clients and their families, both at the settlement table and in the courtroom.
Giles Manley is a preeminent medical malpractice lawyer who is also a board-certified OBGYN. Dr. Manley has delivered over 2,000 babies and uses his wealth of medical knowledge to uncover medical errors that were missed by others.
Featured Verdicts and Settlements
- $33.5 Million for Delayed C-section: A jury awarded this record-breaking verdict after finding that delays in performing an urgently needed cesarean section resulted in a baby developing severe brain damage and cerebral palsy.
- $24.25 Million for Failure to Diagnose: A record-breaking medical malpractice jury verdict, obtained for a child who suffered brain damage and cerebral palsy because her doctors failed to properly diagnose and respond to an airway obstruction.
- $18.1 Million for Mismanaged Labor and Delivery: Verdict obtained on behalf of a child who developed spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy after the mother was taken off of continuous electronic fetal monitoring and placed on intermittent monitoring despite known risk factors.
- $18 Million for Medication Error: A settlement obtained in a case against a pharmacy that negligently dispensed incorrect medication to a pregnant mother, resulting in her child developing a neural tube defect, resulting in paraplegia and other significant injuries.
- $15.1 Million for Mismanaged Delivery: A trial award by a Federal Judge in a Tennessee case against an Army community hospital whose improper fetal monitoring during delivery and failure to properly inform the mother of specific risks led to her child suffering a hypoxic-ischemic brain injury, resulting in cerebral palsy and lifelong neurological deficits.
What to Know About Cerebral Palsy Cases
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, cerebral palsy is caused by damage to the brain or other abnormal brain development that affects a child’s intellectual functioning and/or ability to control body movement. Some of the most common causes of cerebral palsy include:
- Premature birth
- Infections during pregnancy
- Untreated jaundice and kernicterus
- Birth complications
- Lack of oxygen to the brain
- Lack of blood flow to the brain
- Trauma during delivery
- Infections after birth
By filing a cerebral palsy lawsuit, the child’s family can work to hold the responsible party liable for their negligence and seek damages to help pay for their child’s care. Some of the most common acts of medical negligence in CP cases include:
- Delaying or failing to perform a C-section
- Missing, ignoring, or misinterpreting warning signs from fetal heart monitors
- Failing to effectively resuscitate a newborn who needs help breathing
- Failing to exercise proper care when using forceps or vacuum extractor equipment
- Failing to diagnose or treat an infection
- Misdiagnosing fetal position in the uterus
The compensation you may be able to recover in a cerebral case will depend on the type of cerebral palsy your child has and the level of your child’s disability and impairment in relation to their condition as well as the impact of any commonly related symptoms and conditions:
- Difficulty swallowing, sucking, or eating
- Delays in speech development or difficulty speaking
- Difficulty picking up items and holding them
- Limited range of motion
- Neuromuscular issues
Read on for additional information about cerebral palsy cases, and know that you can always contact us at JJS if you have further questions.
How a Cerebral Palsy Lawyer Can Help with Your Case
Helping your child manage all of these medical issues could cost you up to tens of millions of dollars over the course of their life. Having a reputable cerebral palsy lawyer on your side can help you recover the compensation you need for your child’s future.
At JJS, our cerebral palsy attorneys have experience handling a variety of cases involving all types of cerebral palsy. Significant settlements and verdicts from our cases, sometimes record-breaking, have provided compensation that will take care of our clients and their children for the rest of their lives.
What Constitutes a Cerebral Palsy Case?
In order to prove that your child’s cerebral palsy was caused by medical malpractice, our attorneys must be able to establish four things:
- The standard of care. Medical professionals have a legal duty to provide care that is equal to what other medical professionals with similar training would provide in a similar situation. Often, healthcare providers will make arguments about the applicable standard of care, but experts will say otherwise.
- A medical professional breached the standard of care. If a medical professional fails to act as others would in the same situation, they have breached their duty of care. In a cerebral palsy case, failing to meet the standard of care could include things like ignoring warning signs on a fetal heart monitor indicating that the baby is not tolerating labor well, or failing to perform necessary blood tests.
- The breach of duty of care caused your child’s injury. Your attorney must be able to show that the action or inaction of medical professionals during the birth of your child caused brain damage that led to your child being diagnosed with cerebral palsy.
- Your child’s cerebral palsy diagnosis resulted in damages. Claimants must show that their child’s diagnosis resulted in medical expenses, pain and suffering, a loss of earning capacity, or other damages.
How Long Do I Have to File a Case?
If you suspect that your child’s cerebral palsy was caused by a medical professional’s negligence, it is vital that you contact an experienced cerebral palsy lawyer as soon as possible. There are strict deadlines, known as statute of limitations, on how long you have to file a cerebral palsy lawsuit.
Each state has a different statute of limitations. In addition to the deadline for filing a case, many states require claimants to complete initial steps within even shorter deadlines, especially if the treatment occurred at a public hospital. If you miss the deadlines in your state, you will lose your opportunity to file a case and recover compensation. If contacted quickly, a cerebral palsy attorney can help determine the deadlines and regulations of your state and ensure your case is filed in time.
How Much Compensation Am I Entitled To?
Our cerebral palsy lawyers will work with you and your child’s healthcare specialists to create a life care plan that will estimate the costs of your child’s care throughout their life. We will then work to obtain the maximum compensation we can to help ensure all of those costs are covered.
Depending on your unique circumstances, it may be possible to recover a variety of types of compensation, such as:
Medical expenses. The medical expenses associated with caring for a child with cerebral palsy can be overwhelming. For this reason, the law allows victims of negligence to recover compensation to help cover the costs associated with an injury. This can include:
- Doctors’ visits
- Medications
- Medical tests and procedures
- Physical therapy
- Speech therapy
- Occupational therapy
- Physiotherapy
- Counseling or psychological therapy
- Assistive equipment, such as wheelchairs
- Home modifications
- Long-term care
- Special education costs
It is vital that you keep track of all of your child’s medical expenses. You should also maintain copies of all of your child’s medical records. If you do not have your child’s medical records, JJS can assist you in requesting and reviewing these.
Lost earnings. If your child will not be able to work (as is the case with most severely injured children), it may be possible to obtain compensation for their lost earning capacity—in other words, the money they would have made over their lifetime if not for the injury. In addition, if you or a loved one has lost wages from having to reduce your hours at work or having to quit working altogether to take care of a child with cerebral palsy, it may be possible to obtain compensation for the wages and income you have lost.
Pain and suffering. Depending on the circumstances of your child’s injury, it may be possible to recover compensation for the physical pain or suffering the child experienced. This can also include the mental anguish and suffering they experienced.
Diminished quality of life. Due to the debilitating qualities of this type of birth injury, it is likely that your child will experience a reduced quality of life. Our cerebral palsy lawyers will fight tirelessly to help you obtain compensation that will attempt to make up for this great loss.
Call 1-877-692-3862 or complete a Free Case Evaluation form.
Locations We Serve
Because our cerebral palsy attorneys have court approval to practice in various states throughout the country, we are familiar with the many laws and regulations that vary between states. Our cerebral palsy lawyers have handled cases throughout the country.
We are licensed to practice in more than 10 states. We are proud to serve Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. We have also been granted permission to practice in many more states with court approval.
Why Choose Janet, Janet & Suggs to Help with Your Cerebral Palsy Case?
At JJS, we are committed to helping parents get the compensation they need to take care of their children.
Together, our medical malpractice, birth injury, and cerebral palsy lawyers have a proven record of identifying cerebral palsy lawsuits caused by negligence and fighting to get maximum compensation for our clients.
In addition to being a fighting force in the courtroom and at the settlement table, our cerebral palsy attorneys are committed to defending the rights of cerebral palsy patients in all aspects of their lives. Our victories in court have effectively lengthened the time limits for filing claims for victims of fraudulent physicians and expanded the right for children to be compensated for their injuries.
We also helped create the Cerebral Palsy Family Network to help all children with cerebral palsy by helping like-minded families connect and get all the information they need.
Janet, Janet & Suggs is committed to helping you seek the compensation you need to take care of your child. We do not charge any upfront costs, and you pay us nothing unless your case is won. Contact us today for a free, no-obligation consultation to learn more about your rights and steps for filing a lawsuit.
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