The family of 7-year-old Roberto Morales, Jr. reached a cerebral palsy settlement for $6.5 million this week. Diagnosed with cerebral palsy after his birth in 2001, Morales now suffers from limited mobility and requires continued health care. The settlement will help with his ongoing health care costs.

Inadequate Oxygen to the Brain
Roberto was delivered at Provena Mercy Medical Center. Attorneys working on his behalf argued that the obstetrician and delivery nurse failed to respond to fetal distress and Roberto suffered a lack of oxygen as a result.

He was born with hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy, a type of brain damage that is caused by inadequate oxygen and may cause death, developmental delays, mental retardation and cerebral palsy.

A Vulnerable Time
Labor and delivery is an especially vulnerable time for infants, and the slightest mistake can have devastating consequences. When a child is diagnosed with a brain injury such as cerebral palsy after a traumatic delivery, it may be a good idea for the parents to do some further investigation.

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.

You are not alone. Many parents want to know if stem cell therapy will help their child with cerebral palsy, and this is understandable given the stories we sometimes hear in the media about a child who was “cured” after receiving a stem cell transplant.

While such anecdotal evidence is promising, it’s important for parents to remain realistic when it comes to stem cell research and possible therapies. Clinical trials are ongoing, and medical science has yet to reach definitive conclusions about the possible uses of stem cells. Consequently, parents should always be wary of clinics that offer unproven - and potentially unsafe - therapies.

There are various resources on the Internet where parents and consumers can turn to learn more about stem cell research, including:

The National Institutes of Health
The Cerebral Palsy International Research Foundation
The International Society on Stem Cell Research

If you have found a great Internet resource on stem cell therapy, please feel free to share it in the comments section below.

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.

According to recent reports, the Labor Department is racing to complete and implement a new rule that was opposed by President-elect Barack Obama regarding benzene emissions. The new rule would supposedly make it harder for the government to regulate toxic substances to which employees are exposed to while on the job.

The rule is reportedly being strongly supported by business groups and states that in assessing how risky certain substances are to the workplace, federal agencies should gather and analyze evidence of the employees’ exposure during their working lives. In many cases, the proposal would add a step to the process of developing higher standards in regards to protecting the health of workers.

Benzene Rule Details

Public health officials worry that the rule will only delay much needed protections for workers across the country, which could ultimately result in more deaths and illnesses.  The Labor Department proposal is reportedly one of 20 highly debatable rules that the Bush Administration is trying to pass during his last weeks in office. The other rules cover a wide array of topics from abortion, to auto safety and the environment.
The one regarding benzene emissions at workplaces across the country is of importance due to the harm that benzene can cause to anyone exposed over an extended duration of time. Benzene is a toxic chemical that has been linked to leukemia and other cancers. It is typically used in gasoline, dyes, synthetic rubbers, and cigarettes. If this rule is passed and workers across the country aren’t protected from benzene and other toxic chemicals, more and more people could die and become ill from diseases linked to these substances.

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.

Very preterm birth - prior to 32 weeks gestation - is one of the greatest risk factors for cerebral palsy, and a new study suggests that the area where a pregnant woman lives may influence her risk of delivering preterm.

Black Women Face Greater Risk

Researchers looked at preterm birth rates among black, white and Hispanic women in 168 metropolitan areas in the U.S. with the goal of determining whether factors like city size and region have an effect on these rates.

The findings, published in the current issue of Public Health Reports, suggest that where a woman lives does influence her risk of very preterm delivery. Furthermore, the research showed that in each city, the risk for black women was two to three times what it was for white women.

A Clue for Reducing the Risk

Researchers have been aware of racial disparities in very preterm birth rates for decades but have not been able to fully explain the increased risk for black women. Now, researchers have a new possibility to consider in their attempts to understand and reduce women’s risk for very preterm birth: residential area.

I was over reading Glenda Watson Hyatt over at her Doitmyselfblog and found a couple of interesting posts.  I had blogged about her last year when she was competing for the blogger of the year competition.

• Sometimes Cerebral Palsy Means Spilled Cereal - (Photo credit: Peter Galbraith). Having cerebral palsy means never being quite sure what my body will do next. I can do something a thousand times without too much of a hassle, and then completely mess it up the next time. …
• Author with Cerebral Palsy Uses PowerPoint to Give Radio Interview - One advantage of being a solopreneur is having flexible “business” hours and days. I have put many late nights with my virtual book tour; this virtually touring requires much more work than I imagined. Yesterday, after recording the …