Cerebral palsy claims

Cerebral palsy is a non-progressive, neurological condition which is caused by damage to the brain before, during or soon after birth. A diagnosis of cerebral palsy may not be made until signs of the condition become apparent as the child develops. An early diagnosis of HIE (hypoxic ischaemic encephalopathy), birth asphyxia, kernicterus or other type of brain injury often indicates that the child may go on to have disability as a result of cerebral palsy.

Physical effects of cerebral palsy can include impaired muscle control, coordination, posture, balance, tone, and reflexes. People with cerebral palsy may have difficulties with mobility, dexterity, feeding, communication, and independent living. With support, many children with physical disability from cerebral palsy can still study at school, college, or university and go on to paid employment. Those with more severe brain injury may have severe learning disability, epilepsy, cortical blindness, or be totally unable to communicate.

Cerebral palsy affects each person differently. The full extent of the disability may only become clear as the child grows and develops. Therapeutic cooling (which is now given routinely to babies with HIE) may reduce the more obvious physical disability, sometimes leaving hidden or more subtle cognitive disability to appear over time.

Cerebral palsy is complex, and advancements in medical understanding of the condition are being made all the time. In our experience, certain types of mistakes by doctors or midwives are more likely to result in a successful claim, but no two clients’ cases are ever exactly the same.

The quickest way to find out whether you can claim cerebral palsy compensation for your child or teenager, is to contact our cerebral palsy lawyers. We strongly recommend that you contact us immediately if you are contacted by NHS Resolution or MNSI after the birth of your child.

Cerebral palsy can be caused by brain injury from lack of oxygen during late pregnancy, labour, delivery and immediately after birth. Other names for this cause of brain injury include hypoxia, asphyxia or anoxia. Babies who have suffered this type of brain injury may be diagnosed with hypoxic ischaemic encephalopathy or HIE after birth. Midwife negligence leading to brain injury to the baby from oxygen deprivation during labour is a common cause of cerebral palsy claims.

Mistakes by midwives and doctors in maternity and neonatal care which can cause cerebral palsy from HIE brain injury include:

• delayed delivery of a baby with signs of ‘fetal distress’;
• negligent monitoring, interpreting or recording of the fetal heart rate;
• Syntocinon errors, such as hyperstimulation of the mother’s uterus from negligent use of oxytocin;
• negligent care during VBAC (vaginal birth after caesarean) and uterine rupture;
• failing to act on signs of placental abruption.
• errors or delays helping the baby to breathe by intubation, resuscitation, or ventilation;
• failing to clear the baby’s airway of meconium, leading to meconium aspiration;
• poor supervision of neonatal skin-to-skin contact.

Babies who are diagnosed with significant HIE are treated with therapeutic cooling shortly after birth. Their injury may be reported by the hospital for further investigation to the Maternity and Newborn Safety Investigations Special Health Authority (MNSI) or the NHS’s defence organisation, NHS Resolution, under the Early Notification Scheme.

We strongly advise parents who are contacted by NHS Resolution or MNSI after the birth of their child to contact us immediately for independent, specialist advice on how to protect their child’s right to compensation.

Traumatic injury to a baby during or after their birth can cause brain injury, leading to disability from cerebral palsy. These types of birth injuries are often caused by negligent management of an obstructed labour, incorrect technique or excessive force during the delivery.

Cerebral palsy claims arising from traumatic brain injury caused by obstetrician and midwife negligence, often involve excessively forceful or incorrect use of forceps or Ventouse suction, or negligent management of obstetric complications or emergencies, such as shoulder dystocia, impacted fetal head or vaginal breech delivery.

Twin or multiple pregnancies should be treated as high risk and need careful monitoring and management. Twin pregnancies are more likely to be complicated by diabetes, pre-eclampsia, and other risk factors in pregnancy, and also have specific risks of their own.

Examples of complications in twin pregnancy which, if poorly managed, can lead to brain injury and cerebral palsy include:

• twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS);
• delayed delivery of the second twin;
• negligent handling of a vaginal breech delivery.

Cerebral palsy can also be caused by injury to a newborn baby’s brain from negligent neonatal care. Mistakes by midwives, paediatricians, and other neonatal staff in the minutes, hours, and days after the baby’s birth may cause further damage to a baby who was already injured or severely harm a healthy baby.

Cerebral palsy claims arising from negligent neonatal care of a newborn baby often involve:

• errors or delays in helping the baby to breathe by intubation, resuscitation, or ventilation;
• failing to clear the baby’s airway of meconium, leading to meconium aspiration;
• poor supervision of neonatal skin-to-skin contact, leading to neonatal collapse;
• cooling errors after HIE;
• kernicterus brain injury from failure to diagnose, monitor and treat jaundice;
• hypoglycaemia – failing to monitor and treat low blood sugar;
• hyponatraemia – fluid monitoring errors leading to injury from low blood sodium;
• VKDB – vitamin K deficiency bleeding or haemorrhagic disease of the newborn, from failure to give vitamin K;
• delayed diagnosis and treatment of infection, such as group B streptococcal infection (GBS), meningitis, HSV (herpes simplex virus) or sepsis.

We advise parents who think their child may have been injured by negligent care around the time of birth to contact our cerebral palsy solicitors as soon as possible for free, confidential advice. The sooner you contact us, the sooner we can begin to help.

Initial help may take the form of general advice about making a claim, responding to NHS Resolution or MNSI, or pursuing a claim and seeking an admission of liability or interim payment.

Parents who are considering making a claim for their child often find it helpful to contact us for advice:

• after their child’s traumatic birth, HIE brain injury diagnosis, cooling and neonatal treatment;
• as soon as they are contacted by NHS Resolution or MNSI;
• if concerned about the child missing developmental milestones or special educational needs (SEN);
• before transition to secondary school, further education or independent living;
• when NHS or social care does not provide enough support and the family needs extra help to cope financially or physically with the needs of the growing child.

We also help families of teenagers and young adults with cerebral palsy who decide at a later date to find out more about their entitlement to claim compensation.

Many of our client families come to us after being referred by other families, support groups and other solicitors.

It costs nothing to find out from our friendly, cerebral palsy specialist solicitors whether your child is entitled to compensation. If your child’s disability was caused by negligent care before, during or after birth, taking that first step could open the way for them to receive a lifetime of essential care and provision, and the security of guaranteed financial support.

Compensation can’t undo the injury, but it can make a huge difference to the injured child’s life in a way that parents may not be able to imagine during the child’s infancy and early years. Cerebral palsy isn’t progressive, but its effects become more apparent as the child develops, creating physical and financial challenges which parents increasingly find hard to meet.

Our client families often find that our specialist cerebral palsy solicitors can help them access:

• clear, straightforward information about their child’s condition;
• an admission of liability and apology from the hospital;
• money from interim payments to pay for help with care, equipment, private therapies and other urgent needs long before the claim is concluded;
• specialist support from a professional case manager with renting, buying or adapting a family home which is suitable for the child’s disability, and setting up and managing help with care;
• support with school placements and educational support from our SEN team;
• deputyship support with managing, protecting and accessing funds;
• expert support for the child during life-stage transitions, such as from school to college, or from home to supported independent living;
• compensation settlements which combine the flexibility of a lump sum with the security of lifelong annual payments for care.

Cerebral palsy compensation settlements for children with severe disability from negligent birth injury are among the highest amounts that can be claimed for medical negligence. Whilst no amount of compensation can ever undo the harm that a child has suffered, the compensation aims to provide the child and their family with access to the help that they need to meet the extensive needs that arise from their cerebral palsy. The amount of compensation depends on the severity and impact of the child’s disability, the cost of meeting their needs for the rest of their life, and other factors, such as their life expectancy.

Our clients benefit from early interim payments and outstanding compensation settlements which pay for care, therapies, equipment and adapted accommodation. As soon as we can secure an admission of liability and interim payment from NHS Resolution we start making a difference where it is most needed, whether that’s providing access to SEN educational support and assistive technology, professional help with personal care, specialist therapies and medical treatment, buying an adapted vehicle or moving the child and their family to a more suitable, fully adapted home.

Cerebral palsy compensation claims are complex and must be handled by claimant specialist solicitors to ensure that the child receives the financial provision that they will need throughout their life to manage their disability.

You can find out more about the compensation we secure for our clients with cerebral palsy in our guide to cerebral palsy compensation, and by reading about our previous cases on our specialist cerebral palsy claims website.

We understand that parents of children who receive cerebral palsy compensation may be concerned about their child’s vulnerability to unwanted interest in their compensation from friends, neighbours and local press or media.

We use a variety of ways to protect our clients and their compensation from unwanted attention, including asking the court for an anonymity order which prohibits any publication of the child and family’s name or address, and protecting their compensation via Court of Protection deputyship or personal injury trusts.

You can find out more on our specialist cerebral palsy website about how we protect our clients’ anonymity and their compensation.

We strongly advise parents who are contacted by MNSI (Maternity and Newborn Safety Investigations Special Health Authority) about the events which took place during pregnancy, labour, delivery and after the birth of a baby, to contact our cerebral palsy solicitors immediately for free, confidential, specialist advice.

All NHS trusts in England which provide maternity care are required to report maternity safety incidents which have resulted in severe HIE brain injury to full term babies to MNSI for investigation, as part of the government’s national strategy to improve maternity safety. After MNSI complete their investigation, MNSI shares their report with the injured child’s family but also reports the findings of its investigations to the NHS’s defence team at NHS Resolution.

If you are contacted by MNSI or NHS Resolution, it is important that you obtain your own independent advice from solicitors with specialist experience in representing patients in cerebral palsy claims. Your child may be entitled to substantial compensation.

If NHS Resolution contacts you after the birth of your baby, we strongly advise you to contact our claimant (acting for the patient) cerebral palsy solicitors for free, confidential legal advice, straight away. Your child may be entitled to claim substantial compensation.

It is important that parents understand that NHS Resolution is the organisation which defends the NHS against medical negligence claims made by patients. NHS Resolution’s purpose is to reduce the number of medical negligence claims and the amount of compensation that the NHS pays to injured patients. If you make a cerebral palsy claim for your child, now or at any time in the future, NHS Resolution’s defence team will be acting for the hospital to defend or reduce the value of your claim. They act for the NHS and can only assess claims from the defendant’s point of view. You may be entitled to claim compensation, even in circumstances where NHS Resolution denies liability. In our experience, the majority of our successfully settled high value claims begin with NHS Resolution denying responsibility for the child’s cerebral palsy.

If you are contacted, asked for information or offered compensation by NHS Resolution under the NHS Early Notification Scheme, it is essential to contact independent solicitors to protect your child's interests and ensure that your child receives their full entitlement to compensation.

The NHS defence organisation, NHS Resolution, claims that its Early Notification Scheme offers support for families of babies who were born at full term but suffered hypoxic (lack of oxygen) brain injury from mistakes in maternity care. However, our cerebral palsy solicitors and other organisations representing injured patients, such as the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers, are concerned that ENS is being used to provide an early means for the NHS to prepare to defend potential claims, whilst in many cases parents of injured babies are not getting the level of advice or financial support for their child’s claim that they deserve.

You can find out more about our experience with NHS Resolution’s Early Notification Scheme on our specialist cerebral palsy claims website, or contact us to speak to one of our solicitors for further information and advice about responding to NHS Resolution.