Category Archives: Cerebral Palsy
Low Apgar Score linked to Cerebral Palsy
A recent study indicates that a low Apgar score at birth could indicate that a baby may have a cerebral palsy birth injury that may not be diagnosed until later in childhood. Researchers from the Norwegian Institute of Public Health found that there is a strong link between a low score on the Apgar test and a later diagnosis of cerebral palsy for the child. The Apgar test is a simple scoring of a baby’s vitality taken minutes after birth. Cerebral palsy is caused by some sort of injury to an infant’s brain that occurs before, during or shortly after birth. If an infant’s brain is deprived of oxygen it can cause irreversible damage including loss of motor function, developmental problems and other lifelong disabilities associated with Cerebral Palsy. There are different types and conditions associated with cerebral palsy, low Apgar scores have been associated with all types of spastic…
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Babies Born Late May Face Increased Cerebral Palsy Risk
According to a new study, late-term and preterm babies face a slightly greater risk of developing cerebral palsy than those born at term. That preterm babies face greater risks is well known but this is the first study to link cerebral palsy to infants born after 40 weeks of gestation. Researchers caution that the risks are very small and the data are not sufficient to recommend intervention. According to the study, published Sept. 1 in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the risk for infants born at 37 weeks developing cerebral palsy was 90 percent. At 38 weeks, the risk dropped to 30 percent. But at 42 weeks and later, the risk for cerebral palsy increased to 40 percent. The study looked at a group of infants who had no other birth defects. The report concluded that the causes for this are unclear and more research into late-term risks…
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Family awarded $9.5M medical malpractice settlement for boy with cerebral palsy
An Illinois family has agreed to a $9.5M medical malpractice settlement after mediation with an Illinois hospital, nurse midwife and the nurse’s employer after she claimed that her son’s birth injury, resulting in cerebral palsy, was caused by negligence. The woman filed a cerebral palsy lawsuit claiming her son was deprived of oxygen during the birth process which caused a brain injury. According to her lawsuit, the nurse midwife was required to have a sponsoring physician on call but her sponsoring physician was away and she did not call another physician in to the case. The child, who is now 14, has a permanent disability which requires lifetime care. In the settlement, the hospital has greed to pay $7.5 million. The doctor and midwife will each pay $1 million as part of the settlement. Cerebral palsy can be caused by the lack of oxygen at birth which can cause permanent…
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Posted in Birth Defects, Cerebral Palsy Tagged cerebral palsy, cerebral palsy lawsuit, medical malpractice Comments Off on Family awarded $9.5M medical malpractice settlement for boy with cerebral palsy
