Every year, 1,800 new cases of cerebral palsy are detected. Sadly, many of these are due to medical malpractice and negligence. A case where an infant is diagnosed with cerebral palsy and the parents feel that it was due to malpractice and any form of negligence on the part of the medical practitioner or medical staff present at birth, can be opened until the child turns 21. After the age of 21, there is no longer a chance to file a claim, unless in more severe cases where the child is unable to make decisions for themselves.
What Exactly Is Cerebral Palsy and How Will an Affected Child Act?
The scope of cerebral palsy symptoms varies greatly and some children can and do live completely independent lives with minor symptoms that do not affect their way of life at all. There are other children who are dependent on their parents or caregivers for the rest of their lives and are usually placed in a state home due to the enormity of the responsibility on the parents. There are specific symptoms that affect children who are or will be diagnosed with cerebral palsy and these symptoms are listed below:
- Sleeping problems, including but not limited to refusal to sleep, inability to fall asleep, uncontrollable behaviour when being put down to sleep, etc
- Swallowing, speech, and feeding is extremely difficult for your child
- There is an impairment in hearing or seeing or even both
- Epilepsy
- Your child has problems with motor control and/or coordination
- There is an inability to process and understand spatial relationships and shapes
- Inability or difficulty in controlling their bladder and/or going to the toilet
- Cognitive impairment
The symptoms are extremely varied, and the list above simply proves to be a general outline in non-extreme cases. However, if you have a feeling that your child is suffering from cerebral palsy, make sure that you have them seen by a competent medical practitioner at once. If they are diagnosed with cerebral palsy and you believe that at the time of birth your child was a victim of medical malpractice, then it is imperative that you see solicitors such as The Medical Negligence Experts immediately, as they will provide you with guidance and a free consultation into your claim.
I Believe My Child Has Cerebral Palsy Due to Medical Negligence, What Now?
After you have had your child diagnosed with cerebral palsy and you have sought out the medical negligence claim solicitor, it is important to listen to the sound advice given. In many cases, your case will not even see the inside of a courtroom and will be settled as quietly as possible, to not cause any harm to the medical institution in question.
Your claim, if and when successfully settled by your medical negligence lawyers, will be providing adequate compensation to cover an entire array of costs that will be incurred by you in light of looking after your child. Compensation claims can take the following costs into consideration:
- All legal and otherwise costs of filing the claim and/or seeking medical negligence UK advice
- Transport costs
- Any and all assistive equipment if necessary
- Special needs tuition
- All forms of therapy such as occupational, speech, and physical
- Any loss of salary or other earnings due to having to look after your child
- Accommodation up to certain standards for both the parent/s and the child
- Any medical care outside of therapy, if required
Cerebral palsy claims are extensive and taken extremely seriously by all the best medical negligence solicitors. There are also various support groups in and around the UK that can educate and ease the process of living with and caring for a child with cerebral palsy. Your claims may take years and they may also take only a couple of months; it all depends on the severity of the situation and how much proof you, yourself have on hand. A claim for medical malpractice for a child diagnosed with cerebral palsy, regardless of the severity of the diagnosis, can amount from anything between £1 million to £7 million.
The Cost of Cerebral Palsy
The physical, emotional and extreme financial costs affecting a parent of a child with cerebral palsy are sometimes so overwhelming and they more often than not lose almost everything that they owned to care for this child.
However, medical negligence claims UK are taken very seriously, and your medical negligence solicitors are there to take extremely good care of your specific case, as well as see that you and your child are more than adequately taken care of. There are certain standards that the UK medical world must adhere to. If those standards are not met and UK citizens are suffering, then monetary compensation is the very least that must be supplied to the victims. Thankfully, the UK is one of the least medically negligent countries in the world.
