A record award by a New York jury was sent down last week in the case of a 25 year old woman who was left permanently disabled after a birth injury caused her cerebral palsy.

The mother of Tiffany Busone filed the medical malpractice lawsuit more than two decades ago against Bellevue Women’s Hospital.  Her lawsuit claimed that when doctors at the hospital resuscitated and intubated her infant daughter, they did so incorrectly causing her to go without oxygen.  She subsequently developed cerebral palsy and brain damage as a result of the oxygen deprivation.

Busone, now 25 years old, is confined to a wheelchair and has only limited communication.  She will require home health care for the rest of her life and will never be able to work.

Cerebral palsy is a brain injury that often occurs before or during birth that can leave the child with developmental problems, brain damage, decrease or complete loss of motor functions and other permanent injuries.  Often times the cause of a child’s cerebral palsy is a doctor’s negligence, as in this case.

The jury that heard the case found in favor of the plaintiffs, awarding them $20 million for Busone’s home health care needs, $21 million for past and future pain and suffering and additional amounts for medical expenses and loss of future earnings, totaling $43 million altogether.

The verdict was a long time coming for the Busone family, who has been fighting for justice on behalf of Tiffany since 1991.

The parents of a disabled boy living in Nova Scotia recently settled an ongoing lawsuit with the hospital in which their son was born. The plaintiffs received $4.5 million in the settlement over a medical malpractice lawsuit.

Lawsuit Details

The parents of Jacob Sauliner, now 12, claimed in the cerebral palsy malpractice lawsuit that the Valley Regional Hospital is to blame for the current disability that will now affect him the rest of his life.

The battle began nearly nine years ago when the Sauliners filed the suit against their former doctor at the hospital. At the time, the doctor also reportedly served on the Western Regional Health Board. According to reports, in the end both sides chose to avoid an expensive trial and opted for a mediator to be used in the case instead. The settlement was finalized and approved by a justice of the Nova Scotia Supreme Court and is the largest settlement of its kind for a cerebral palsy case in the area.
Reports claim that both legal sides of the case were extremely dedicated to doing what was right for Jacob, as he was clearly the victim in the case. More than half of the $4.5 million will go to medical care for Jacob. There will also be periodic payments made to Jacob throughout his life. Each of Jacob’s parents will also receive $125,000 in the cerebral palsy settlement as well as a special van that will cater to Jacob’s needs.

What is Cerebral Palsy?

Cerebral palsy is a disability that most often affect children from complications during childbirth and during fetal development. Cerebral palsy affects the how the brain functions and develops. The disability also impacts muscle coordination and the overall movement of the body.

There are several therapies that have developed to help those living with cerebral palsy live more comfortably and help further their developmental abilities. However, a cure has yet to be found and hundreds of thousands of children are born with cerebral palsy in the U.S. each year.

Jaundice is a common condition in infants, affecting about 60 percent of all newborns. Though a usually benign condition, severe cases of jaundice can lead to kernicterus which, in turn, can cause brain damage and cerebral palsy.

Doctors and nurses have long relied on visual exams to determine the extent of an infant’s jaundice. This has been the case because babies with jaundice tend to have a yellowish appearance, which stems from heightened levels of a blood byproduct known as bilirubin.

However, a new study published online in the Archives of Disease in Childhood: Fetal and Neonatal Edition showed that visual exams are not adequate predictors of an infant’s risk of developing hyperbilirubinemia.

“Our study tells clinicians that our ability to estimate a baby’s bilirubin level or predict the baby’s risk of developing clinically significant hyperbilirubinemia by visually observing the extent of visual jaundice is inadequate and not very helpful,” said Dr. Ron Keren, leader of the study.

The alternative to visual assessment of jaundice is universal bilirubin screening, which can determine the risk to an infant regardless of yellow appearance.

If your child suffered from severe jaundice after birth and now has cerebral palsy symptoms, you may wish to have your circumstances evaluated by a medical/legal expert. Jaundice is a treatable condition and should never be allowed to progress to the point where it causes brain damage.

At the Boston Marathon in April, father and son team Dick and Rick Hoyt will complete their 1,000th race - a considerable feat given the challenges Rick faces. He was diagnosed with spastic quadriplegia, a severe form of cerebral palsy that has left him confined to a wheelchair and unable to speak.

A Significant Decision
During birth, Rick suffered oxygen deprivation due to a prolapsed umbilical cord (when the cord is wrapped around the neck). Specialists told Rick’s parents that his situation was hopeless and that “he should be institutionalized.”

Dick and Jane Hoyt chose instead to raise their son at home with their other two children, a choice that had significant results. Rick graduated from high school and went on to earn a degree in special education from Boston University.

Wanting to Make a Difference
In 1977, Rick heard about a 5-mile race to raise funds for a local athlete who became paraplegic after a car accident. He wanted to prove to the athlete that life goes on after disability, so his father pushed him the five miles in a standard wheel chair and that was the beginning of Team Hoyt.

The father and son team have competed continuously since, though they now use a more streamlined wheelchair. In triathlons, Rick sits in a seat above the front wheel of the bike and in a dingy behind his father, who pulls him while swimming.

To learn more about the duo, visit their website at TeamHoyt.com

Assistive technology (AT) is essentially anything that helps to support people with cerebral palsy and other disabilities in their daily living. Wheelchairs, speech devices, specialized keyboards - all of these are considered assistive technologies. However, the cost of AT devices such as these tends to put them out of many families’ financial reach.

This is why AT reuse is particularly important: It makes AT more accessible to those in need. People who no longer their AT need can donate it to an AT reuse program. The donated item can then be repaired, modified, sanitized and passed on to someone else who can use it - either at a more reasonable cost or free.

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) funds a national AT reuse coordination center called the Pass It On Center.  Individuals can visit the site to find reuse programs in their area, and there are reuse programs across the country.

With the help of a medical attorney, the parents of a young girl who suffered brain injury during her birth were recently awarded $4.4 million in damages. The young girl, Sierra Wilson, died last year at only 4 years of age due to complications of cerebral palsy.

“I’ve never been in this for the money. I’ve always wanted justice and vindication for my daughter. What she went through, she didn’t deserve,” said Brice Wilson, Sierra’s father.

Sierra was born on November 18, 2003 at Piedmont Medical Center in Rock Hill, South Carolina. During her delivery, she suffered oxygen deprivation which caused severe brain injury and cerebral palsy. While she was alive, she battled seizures and relied on a feeding tube for nourishment.

The lawsuit filed by Sierra’s parents argued that the nurse trainee assigned to monitor the mother, Robin Wilson, failed to recognize that the baby was in dire distress and required emergency intervention. The hospital was found liable for the Wilsons’ damages.

A child with cerebral palsy often spends more time in doctors’ offices and medical settings than most other children.  Doctor’s visits, dental appointments, emergency care - all of these can cause a special needs child to experience anxiety, and anxiety can impair a child’s ability to cope.

For this reason, it’s important that parents understand the ways in which they can help to minimize their child’s anxiety prior to a visit to the doctor or a medical procedure. Below are some basic tips for helping prepare your child for any kind of medical encounter:

• Make sure you understand what the appointment is going to entail as this will help you to explain to your child what to expect.
• Be sensitive to your child’s fears and anxieties, but also be honest about whether a procedure is going to hurt or not. Try to provide your child with examples of what something might feel like-for instance, if they’re getting a shot, you might want to explain that it feels like a pinch; that it will hurt for only a few seconds.
• Explain to your child that medical care is good for them and helps them to get better, even if it hurts sometimes.
• Introduce your child to some of the equipment they may encounter during their doctor’s visit. Show them the purpose of different medical instruments such as a stethoscope, thermometer, needle, or x-ray machine. There are many ways you can do this, including by way of books at your local library or by taking your child to a local hospital or medical facility.
• Encourage questions and discussion. Allow your child to talk about his/her feelings, and try to provide some comfort.
• Bring books or games to the appointment. This will help ease anxiety while you’re waiting for the doctor and may also help distract your child during a painful procedure.
• Be sure to keep your anxiety to a minimum. Of course it’s natural to worry about your child, but children are extremely adept at sensing their parents’ stress. If you feel stress, your child will be more likely to feel stress too.

Thousands of babies are diagnosed with cerebral palsy each year in the United States, and the majority of those are due to unknown causes. However, some may be due to an obstetrical error. So the question arises for parents, how do I know if my child’s condition was preventable? How do I know when or if I should contact a cerebral palsy lawyer?

The truth is that it takes experienced medical and legal knowledge to evaluate the circumstances of a child’s birth and determine if negligence was a factor. And until the case is evaluated, the best any parent can do is ask him/herself if there were any red flags present during the child’s birth.

Questions To Consider:

• Was the pregnancy considered high-risk? For instance, did the mother have hypertension, severe preeclampsia, diabetes, infection or other health problem? Was it a multiple birth pregnancy?
• If so, was there regular screening for complications? Were maternal problems recognized/diagnosed in a timely manner
• Did doctors and nurses respond in a timely manner to any pregnancy problems you reported?
• Were there changes in fetal progress prior to or during delivery?
• Was a caesarean section necessary and, if so, was it performed in a timely manner?
• Did the child suffer lack of oxygen during birth?
• Did the child suffer severe jaundice after birth that was not treated promptly?
• Was excessive force used during the delivery? For example, were forceps or vacuum extraction used?
• Was there physician supervision of nurses, midwives and other hospital staff attending to the mother and child?

Depending on your answers to these questions (any red flags you noticed during delivery), you may want to consider further investigation into your child’s cerebral palsy.

The Hope Center for Neurological Disorders has received a $10 million gift from the Danforth Foundation for research into the diagnosis and treatment of cerebral palsy and other conditions caused by injury to the brain and/or central nervous system.

About Cerebral Palsy
Cerebral palsy is a group of neurological disorders that impairs movement and is caused by damage to the brain, usually before birth. However, what causes damage to the brain during this time is largely unknown. In some cases, damage can occur as a result of trauma during or shortly after delivery.

The condition is often diagnosed in early childhood, when symptoms begin to become more obvious. There is no cure for cerebral palsy, but various treatments can help improve an individual’s quality of life.

Another $10M for Research
Other conditions the research funding will support include:

• Parkinson’s disease
• Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)
• Multiple sclerosis
• Stroke

The Hope Center was created in 2004 and represents a partnership between Washington University’s School of Medicine in St. Louis and the public charity, Hope Happens. Over the next five years, the two organizations will raise another $10 million for the same research.

The 9th Annual Chronic Illness and Disability conference will explore issues involving the transition from pediatric to adult-based care. The two day conference, which will be held at Baylor College of Medicine in November, is open to families dealing with cerebral palsy and other disabilities.

Parents, teens and young adults can attend the conference to hear leading experts speak about legal, educational and medical issues faced by transitioning disability patients. Topics to be covered include:

• Mental health and family support
• Considerations for young people with developmental disabilities
• Vocational transition services (during and after high school)
• Funding for transition services
• Insurance options and Medicaid appeals
• Political issues and advocacy

To find out more about the conference or to register, visit the Baylor College of Medicine website.