Skilled Cerebral Palsy Lawyer in Kansas City, Missouri
A cerebral palsy diagnosis can be terrifying and baffling. This is not the future you had envisioned, but it is the one that has been delivered to you. If your child’s condition was caused by any form of medical professional’s negligence, they are responsible for making amends. You can seek financial compensation for your child’s medical treatment, anguish, suffering, continued medical demands, and even lifelong care through a civil case.
The Ricket Law Firm is here to assist during this challenging time. Our skilled cerebral palsy lawyer in Kansas City, Missouri, will utilize our legal, academic, and practical knowledge to provide the finest representation in cerebral palsy matters. These tasks are typically tricky and intricate, but we are up to the challenge. We are committed to enhancing the quality of life for your child.
Why Do You Need a Cerebral Palsy Lawyer in Missouri?
When you engage with our cerebral palsy lawyer in Kansas City, Missouri, we become your defender, your confidant, and, to a large part, the person from whom you take considerable guidance. If we tell you not to speak with a particular person, heed our advice. We must have access to all case-related communications. This gives you the peace of mind of knowing that someone is always looking out for your best interests and those of your child.
The expenses of raising a child with cerebral palsy can be extremely high. The purpose of a lawsuit is to provide justice, a means for a victim of another’s negligence to recover compensation. Parents typically sue on behalf of their child, with additional compensation occasionally sought for the parents.
Some families may discover, for instance, that the state authorities responsible for giving financial assistance to disabled individuals are pretty reluctant to provide the kid with some benefits to which they are entitled. Our competent birth injury attorney can frequently facilitate the appeals process for rejected benefits.
How Can Our Dedicated Kansas City Cerebral Palsy Lawyer Help?
At the Ricket Law Firm, we will examine your case aggressively to uncover what went wrong and find any health care professional who may be accountable for your child’s cerebral palsy. In the course of our investigation and preparation of the case, our dedicated Kansas City cerebral palsy lawyer will:
Examine your medical files.
Our dedicated cerebral palsy lawyer in Kansas City will collect all medical evidence, including your medical records, your child’s medical records at birth, and records about the cerebral palsy diagnosis of your child. We employ nurses with extensive legal consulting knowledge. They can evaluate these data and provide crucial insight into what may have gone wrong during the delivery of your child and its early aftermath.
Consult professionals.
We collaborate with specialists who understand the causes of cerebral palsy. They can help us determine if a physician or another medical professional deviated from the accepted standard of care, resulting in your child’s damage.
Determine whether you wish to continue.
If we believe that we can prove that medical malpractice caused your child’s birth injury, we will explain in full the case we intend to present. We will discuss all of your legal choices and the upcoming procedure, including an estimate of how long it may take to conclude your case.Â
Pursue your claim.
We will handle the necessary documentation if you decide to pursue a cerebral palsy medical malpractice claim. If our experts believe that preventable medical mistakes caused your child’s condition, we will seek compensation for your family’s suffering.Â
Our trusted birth injury attorney will be prepared to pursue your claim at trial, if necessary. We will discuss any settlement offers you receive and let you know that the option to accept or reject the offer is solely yours. Our ultimate objective will be for you to receive the answers you deserve and to seek full and reasonable compensation for the physical, emotional, and financial harm caused by your child’s birth disability.
What is Cerebral Palsy?
Cerebral palsy is a neurological condition resulting from brain damage or abnormality during pregnancy. Cerebral pertains to the brain, whereas Palsy is associated with muscle issues or weakness. It impairs an infant’s mobility and coordination and may alter reflexes, muscle tone, balance, and posture.
A child with cerebral palsy may have difficulty reaching fine and gross motor milestones. An inadequate oral motor function may result in problems with speech, chewing, and swallowing. Cerebral palsy does not worsen over time. However, symptoms can fluctuate over a person’s lifetime. The severity of symptoms can range from minor to severe, leaving individuals with various management strategies.
What Are the Possible Causes of Cerebral Palsy?
Cerebral palsy can be caused by medical negligence and errors. Oxygen deprivation or physical trauma can induce brain damage resulting in cerebral palsy. A thorough inquiry into your child’s birth circumstances can disclose whether medical negligence may have contributed to their illness.
Potential causes of cerebral palsy resulting from medical negligence include:
- Untimely C-section
- Lengthy labor
- Misapplication of forceps or vacuum
- Mismanagement of complications of delivery
- Failure to notice fetal distress
- Reaction delay to fetal distress
Our aggressive cerebral palsy lawyer in Kansas City at Ricket Law Firm has the legal knowledge to explore these instances. We can accurately establish whether medical negligence caused the birth injury and know how to prove it in or out of civil court. Call us today for legal advice on your birth injury claim.
What are the Types of Cerebral Palsy?
There are four major types of cerebral palsy. Each variety is distinguished by the specific limitations of the affected child, which are tied directly to the injured brain region. While there is no cure for cerebral palsy, the illness is typically not fatal, and a child with cerebral palsy can benefit enormously from immediate medical treatment and rehabilitation.
The four most common kinds of cerebral palsy are as follows:
Spastic Cerebral Palsy
This is the most prevalent type of cerebral palsy, usually caused by brain damage that interferes with a child’s ability to process nerve signals to muscles in the child’s body.Â
The child, in particular, can no longer prevent its muscles from tightening, resulting in chronically tight and rigid muscles. The infant’s motions may also be jerky and exaggerated, and the child may exhibit tremors and, in extreme cases, uncontrollable movements. Spastic cerebral palsy can manifest itself in numerous ways:
- Spastic hemiplegia (one side of the body is affected, but not the other)
- Spastic monoplegia (one limb is affected)
- Spastic diplegia (lower limbs of the body are affected)
- Spastic triplegia (three limbs are affected)
- Spastic quadriplegia (all four limbs are affected)
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Ataxic Cerebral Palsy
This is a relatively uncommon type of cerebral palsy caused by faulty cerebellar development or injury in a child. The cerebellum, located behind and beneath the rest of the brain, aids in controlling fine motor abilities, muscular tone, and coordination.Â
As a result, a kid with ataxic cerebral palsy will most likely exhibit the following symptoms:
- Poor coordination
- Poor overall balance
- Muscles that are too loose
- Body tremors when making voluntary movements
- Difficulty with precise or delicate movement (such as using a pen to write)
- An unsteady gait, with feet, placed far apart
- Problems with depth perception
Dyskinetic Cerebral Palsy
Athetoid or dyskinetic cerebral palsy, which is also uncommon, happens when a child suffers damage to the brain regions that control coordination, body posture, and involuntary movements such as reflexes. Children with this type of cerebral palsy have muscles that vary between being too tight and too lax, causing significant difficulty in managing physical motions. Athetoid cerebral palsy symptoms can include:
- Problems with sitting up properly
- Problems with walking
- Difficulty holding and manipulating objects
- Difficulty controlling the position of arms and hands
- Thrusting out of the tongue, grimacing, and drooling
- Writing, flailing and squirming body movements
Mixed Cerebral Palsy
A child with mixed cerebral palsy will exhibit signs of multiple types of cerebral palsy. In such circumstances, the child has most certainly experienced abnormal growth or damage to more than one section of the brain, resulting in some degree of cerebral palsy in its various manifestations.
When Does Cerebral Palsy Indicate Medical Malpractice?
Your child’s cerebral palsy may provide the basis for a medical malpractice claim. However, not every instance of cerebral palsy indicates wrongdoing. You will require proof that a doctor’s negligence or malpractice contributed to cerebral palsy.Â
Duty of care, breach, causation and damages are the four elements of proof that our knowledgeable cerebral palsy lawyer in Missouri must demonstrate for a medical malpractice lawsuit.Â
First, the defendant must have had a duty of care toward the plaintiff at the time of the claimed malpractice.
Second, as your doctor, the defendant must have breached a duty of care. In other words, they did not act in a way that another competent professional of the same specialization would. This can occur if they acted carelessly, lacked the necessary knowledge or training, or made harmful mistakes while caring for you.
Third, we must prove that the defendant’s negligence caused your child’s cerebral palsy. This can be the most challenging element to establish. We will require evidence to demonstrate that your child’s cerebral palsy would not have occurred if they had received sufficient medical treatment during pregnancy or delivery.
Last but not least, we must demonstrate the presence of damages resulting from medical negligence, such as medical bills and diminished quality of life. In Kansas City, the skilled birth injury attorney at Ricket Law Firm can help you file and prove a cerebral palsy claim.
Why Should You Pursue a Cerebral Palsy Case?
Some cases of cerebral palsy are preventable, mainly caused by medical negligence. A cerebral palsy medical malpractice case may result in life-altering financial compensation for families. This compensation can be used to pay for your child’s cerebral palsy treatment, as depending on the severity of their condition, your child may require lifetime care.
Financial compensation from a lawsuit for cerebral palsy can help pay for:
- Assistive technology
- Educational requirements
- Medicines
- Mobility devices
- Health care
- Surgery
- Therapy
- Transportation upgrades
Your child will be able to get high-quality care to help them live a long, happy life due to the compensation obtained in a cerebral palsy injury lawsuit.
What Are the Other Benefits of Cerebral Palsy Lawsuit?
Medical personnel who did not adhere to a high level of care during childbirth should be held accountable for their actions. Knowing justice has been served might give parents peace of mind when filing a cerebral palsy case. In addition, some families choose to file cerebral palsy lawsuits to educate other families.
A lawsuit might bring attention to cases of medical negligence. Other families who have suffered the same type of injury may be encouraged to file suit.
Who May be Responsible for Your Child’s Cerebral Palsy?
Cerebral palsy can necessitate using adaptive medical devices, rehabilitation, and other forms of care for a lifetime. This can be distressing for your child and entire family, especially when the cause of cerebral palsy was due to a preventable medical error. These errors can be caused by:
- Gynecologists and obstetricians
- Nurses
- Midwives
- Hospitals
- Anesthesiologists
- Other attending medical personnelÂ
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If a medical practitioner’s failure to give reasonable care directly causes brain damage and cerebral palsy to your child, the medical professional may be held legally liable. In some instances, care providers are accountable not just for their errors, but also for those of their staff. It is highly recommended to seek legal advice from a Kansas City cerebral palsy attorney as soon as possible to help you identify and establish liability for your claim.
What are the Compensation Claims in a Cerebral Palsy Lawsuit?
Cerebral palsy compensation claims vary based on the individual’s lifetime demands. These are settled frequently to reflect the child’s need for equipment, care, and support throughout their lives resulting from their impairment.
Our cerebral palsy lawyer has extensive experience appraising newborn brain injury cases and will provide you with full explanations of the processes and damages estimates throughout the claim. If successful, you may be able to receive compensation for the following damages:Â
- Past and future medical expenses
- Rehabilitation and therapyÂ
- Assistive medical equipment & devicesÂ
- Lost wagesÂ
- Future wagesÂ
- Pain and sufferingÂ
- Mental anguishÂ
- Diminished quality of life
- Wrongful deathÂ
How Long Do I Have to File a Cerebral Palsy Claim?
The statute of limitations determines how long you need to file for a cerebral palsy claim. Medical malpractice claims in Missouri have a two-year statute of limitations beginning on the date of injury. Cerebral palsy might take some time to show symptoms in some people. The statute of limitations begins on the “date of discovery” in these circumstances.
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Two years may seem too long, but we recommend you act promptly. The sooner a cerebral palsy attorney in Kansas City can evaluate your medical records and begin constructing a case, the higher your prospects of receiving the money your child requires. Contact us immediately!
Consult Our Dedicated Cerebral Palsy Lawyer in Kansas City, Missouri
We handle difficult and complex issues for the most deserving clients at Ricket Law Firm. If you and your family are confronted with the painful truth that your beloved child has suffered a birth injury or an avoidable complication due to medical malpractice resulting in cerebral palsy, you should call our dedicated cerebral palsy lawyer in Kansas City, Missouri. Get in touch with us today and see how our skilled birth injury attorney can help you through your difficult time.
