Cerebral Palsy Attorneys – We Have Won Millions Of Dollars In Compensation For Birth Injury Victims With Cerebral Palsy

Last updated on July 2, 2025

What Is Cerebral Palsy?

Cerebral palsy (CP) is a group of disorders that can involve brain and nervous system impairments that affect movement, posture, and muscle tone. It is caused by damage to the developing brain, most often before or during birth or shortly thereafter. The brain damage can result in a range of physical impairments including difficulty with mobility, balance, coordination and communication.

Cerebral Palsy Is Commonly Classified Into Several Subtypes

Spastic cerebral palsy: The most common form of CP, is characterized by muscular spasms and hypertonia, or severe muscle tension caused by too much muscle tone. Children with spastic CP may experience involuntary contractions and spasms, little to no control over limbs, delayed development and muscle pain.

Athetoid/dyskinetic cerebral palsy: Athetoid cerebral palsy, which is also called dyskinetic cerebral palsy when caused by HIE, involves a combination of hypertonia (too much muscle tone) and hypotonia (too little muscle tone and contraction impairment) and involuntary spasms. It typically results in a lack of muscle control, involuntary contractions, abnormal posture, and difficulties with walking, fine motor functions, sitting upright, swallowing and talking.

Ataxic cerebral palsy: Ataxic cerebral palsy is caused by damage to the cerebellum, the part of the brain that regulates and coordinates muscle activity. Children with ataxic CP often have difficulty controlling movements and fine motor functions and problems with balance and coordination. Lack of muscle tone, visual problems and speech difficulties are also common.

Hypotonic cerebral palsy: Hypotonic cerebral palsy is marked by low muscle tone, which causes muscles to appear floppy.

In some cases, children may display symptoms of multiple types of cerebral palsy. This can happen when a child displays stiffness caused by excessive muscle tone in some muscles and signs of looseness or contraction impairment in others. This is generally referred to as mixed cerebral palsy.

Brain damage causing cerebral palsy can be the result of medical errors or negligence that occur before, during or after the birth process. Examples of medical malpractice that can cause cerebral palsy include:

• Failure to accurately detect and treat maternal infections
• Failure to appropriately monitor fetal heart rate
• Meconium aspiration
• Fetal hypoxia
• Fetal stroke
• Failure to accurately detect and treat problems with the placenta or umbilical cord
• Kernicterus (untreated jaundice)

While cerebral palsy cannot always be prevented, there are many instances when medical negligence may cause or contribute to its development. These are the situations that can give rise to a birth injury lawsuit.

Medical Negligence As A Cause Of Cerebral Palsy

Doctors, nurses, midwives and other health care professionals have medical and legal responsibilities to provide health care that meets reasonable standards of health care. This includes standards for care before, during and after delivery that are meant to avoid preventable brain injury that can cause cerebral palsy. For example:

• Before birth: Doctors should screen for, identify, and treat maternal infections and complications such as measles, CMV, and hypertension and plan accordingly based on preexisting risk factors to avoid oxygen deprivation during delivery.
• During birth: Medical professionals have obligations to avoid preventable injuries during childbirth by properly monitoring a baby’s fetal heart rate for signs of distress and oxygen deprivation, responding in a timely manner to complications (such as performing an emergency C-section), identifying complications such as placental abruption, and properly using appropriate operative delivery methods or standard delivery techniques to achieve a safe delivery of a baby prior to the occurrence of permanent, avoidable brain injury caused by oxygen deprivation or traumatic delivery.
• After birth: Health care providers are also obligated to provide reasonable and acceptable health care to a baby following childbirth and to take reasonable action to address complications and risk factors that can cause brain injury such as appropriately treating severe jaundice and managing infections in newborn infants.

When health care providers fail to comply with reasonable standards of medical care and cause preventable injuries to babies as a result, they can be held accountable for health care negligence and liable for the resulting injuries and damages in lawsuits brought by the victims of such substandard health care.

How Can A Cerebral Palsy Attorney Help You And Your Family?

A cerebral palsy attorney can provide invaluable assistance to you and your family in several ways. He or she can help determine whether the cerebral palsy diagnosis resulted from medical malpractice or negligence before, during or after birth. This involves thoroughly reviewing medical records, consulting with medical experts and identifying deviations from reasonable standards of medical care.

The Cline Law Firm is a trusted legal practice that is known for handling highly complex claims. Led by one of the nation’s most respected plaintiff trial lawyers, attorney Lance D. Cline, we have recovered millions of dollars in compensation in birth injury lawsuits involving infant brain damage, including cerebral palsy. We are ready to discuss how we might be able to help you.

Our Indianapolis cerebral palsy attorneys proudly serve families across Indiana. Call us in Carmel at 317-505-1760 or contact us online for a free consultation to learn more about your legal options.