Category Archives: Newsletters

ScienceDaily reported in April 2012 that researchers at the Perinatology Research Branch of the National Institutes of Health, housed at the Wayne State University School of Medicine and the Detroit Medical Center, had successfully used a “nanotechnology-based drug treatment” to dramatically improve cerebral palsy symptoms in newborn rabbits. According to ScienceDaily, “the study is the first to show that an anti-inflammatory drug delivered with a nanodevice can dramatically improve CP symptoms in an animal model.” Researchers now believe there may be a window of opportunity immediately after birth during which drug treatment can minimize the effects of cerebral palsy. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that each year, 100,000 babies born in the United States develop cerebral palsy, a group of neurological disorders marked by intellectual limitations, hearing problems, impaired vision, behavioral problems, seizures, difficulty speaking, learning disabilities, poor balance and coordination, and muscular deformities. According to…
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The state of Iowa recently settled a birth injury lawsuit for $3.75 million, $2 million of which will be paid up front. According to the lawsuit, employees at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics acted negligently in 2007 when administering Pitocin to then 20-year-old Martha Fountain, which caused her son to suffer brain injuries during birth. As a result, he now suffers from cerebral palsy and other serious medical conditions. Martha reportedly went to UIHC to give birth at the end of a routine, full-term pregnancy. When her baby experienced difficulty descending into the birth canal, hospital staff administered Pitocin, a synthetic version of the hormone oxytocin that is used to induce or speed up labor. According to the lawsuit, UIHC staff failed to determine the frequency and strength of Martha’s contractions before administering the drug, and they continued administering Pitocin even as excessive contractions were causing “significant trauma”…
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The New York Post reported in August that a jury awarded $100 million to a Staten Island family for a birth injury that caused their daughter to develop cerebral palsy. Stephanie Debes and her twin sister Amanda, now 17, were born three months early at St. Vincent’s Medical Center on Staten Island. According to the lawsuit, the girls’ premature birth resulted from lack of proper care. The jury determined that hospital staff acted negligently by failing to recognize Catherine Debes’ contractions before she went into labor and failing to prevent the pre-term delivery of her daughters. As a result of her premature birth, Stephanie suffered a brain injury that resulted in cerebral palsy. According to the family’s attorney, Stephanie is “imprisoned in her own body” and “can’t even roll over in bed.” Her father describes her life as “a pretty lonely one” with few friends. He says the hospital failed…
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