Cerebral Palsy

When expecting parents think of birth injuries, they frequently fear cerebral palsy more than other potential birth injuries. Cerebral palsy is an umbrella term that encompasses a wide range of non-progressive, non-contagious conditions that result in physical disability in development.

The part of the disorder “cerebral” refers to the cerebrum. In individuals with cerebral palsy, the cerebrum is the affected area of the brain. “Palsy” refers to the disorder’s affect on movement. Cerebral palsy is, most frequently, caused by damage to the motor control centers of a developing brain during pregnancy. 75% of the cases of cerebral palsy are developed during pregnancy. 5% of all cases occur during childbirth and 15% or so occur after childbirth up to around age three.

Not much is known about cerebral palsy in adults. The majority of literature on the topic is devoted to pediatric cerebral palsy. The disorder is non-progressive which means that the damage to the brain does not get worse with time. While brain damage does not progress, a variety of secondary orthopedic difficulties are common.

Arthritis and osteoporosis are both capable of affecting a person with cerebral palsy much earlier than in adults without cerebral palsy. There is also the chance that motor disorders will be accompanied by “disturbances of sensation, cognition, communication, perception, and/or behavior, and/or by a seizure disorder.”

Currently, there is not a known cure for cerebral palsy. The medical processes that exist are limited to the treatment and prevention of complications arising from the effects of Cerebral Palsy.

Contact a Philadelphia Birth Injury Attorney

If your baby has developed cerebral palsy as a result of a doctor’s error or failure to treat a condition, contact the Philadelphia birth injury lawyer of Lowenthal & Abrams at 215-238-1130.