Missouri, Kansas, and Arizona Birth Injury Attorneys
Our firm represents children who have cerebral palsy or brachial plexus injuries resulting from medical malpractice before birth or at the time of delivery. With advanced medical training and extensive experience, Dr. Sam Cullan and Dr. Gene Cullan are uniquely qualified to build a strong, thorough case. Serving Arizona, Missouri, and Kansas, our birth injury attorneys can help families understand their legal rights and obtain the compensation they need to restore their child’s quality of life.
- Cerebral Palsy
- Brachial Plexus Injury
- Contact Our Birth Injury Attorneys
- Birth Injury FAQs and Consumer Information
Cerebral Palsy
Cerebral palsy is often caused by a lack of oxygen or blood flow to the baby or by physical trauma as a result of excessive force to the baby during delivery. In individuals with cerebral palsy, the extent of brain injury or spinal cord injury varies. Some patients sustain spinal cord injuries and no brain injury. Other patients may have profound brain injury. Patients with cerebral palsy have difficulty controlling their movements and may have blindness or other visual, auditory, and speech impairments, as well as learning disabilities. Motor skills can be limited and seizures can occur in some cases. Patients who have sustained profound brain injury will need extensive and lifelong medical and attendant care. With difficulties such as these, financial compensation from those responsible can be essential in paying for medical expenses and safeguarding your child's quality of life. Our Arizona, Missouri, and Kansas birth injury attorneys can help you get the compensation your child deserves.
Too often, families who have a child with cerebral palsy are not told by the doctors and nurses that their baby's injuries could have been prevented. Sadly, families are left wondering whether they themselves did something to cause their baby's injury. We frequently take cases where the doctors and hospitals have tried to cover up medical negligence by destroying or altering records. If you suspect that your baby has cerebral palsy caused by medical negligence, our Kansas, Missouri, and Arizona birth injury attorneys can help you gather evidence and protect your legal rights.
Medical Conditions that Can Cause Cerebral Palsy
Cerebral palsy may be caused by a number of medical conditions during pregnancy or delivery, or shortly after birth. However, with proper medical care, it is often possible to avoid these conditions. For residents in Kansas, Missouri, and Arizona, our birth injury attorneys can help you determine if a medical mistake is to blame for your child’s injury. Common factors associated with cerebral palsy include:
- Delay in ordering a c-section
- Failure to notify obstetrician of an existing medical condition in mother or child
- Breech delivery
- Improper use of forceps and vacuum extractors
- Improper use of Pitocin
- Failure to act when Fetal Heart Monitors warn danger
- Post dates delivery (mother beyond 40 wks)
- Meconium
- Large babies
- Twins
- High risk mother (diabetic, older, pre-ecamplic, toxemic)
- Excessive weight gains during pregnancy
- Placenta previa
- Placenta abruptio
- Bleeding during pregnancy
- Vaginal Birth After Caesarian (VBAC) deliveries
- Prolonged or arrested labor
- Baby stuck in birth canal
- Small or disproportionate size pelvis
- Umbilical cord wrapped around baby's neck
- Prolapsed umbilical cord
A child injured by a lack of oxygen or by excessive force at birth may show immediate signs of injury. Sometimes, however, the injury to a baby is not immediately apparent. Parents are told their baby is fine. Over time the parents begin to question their baby's health when the baby is unable to meet normal growth markers and to hold its head up, sit up, crawl, walk, and talk. If you suspect that your baby has cerebral palsy or spinal cord injury due to medical negligence, our Arizona, Missouri, and Kansas birth injury attorneys can help.
Brachial Plexus Injury
Brachial plexus injury (also known as Erb’s Palsy, or Klumpke's Palsy) is an injury to the network of nerves called the Brachial Plexus that run from the spine to the arm and hand. These nerves control the muscles of the shoulder, arm, elbow, wrist, hand and fingers. The injuries vary in degree of severity but can leave the patient with no muscle control and no feeling in the arm or hand.
Brachial plexus injuries commonly occur during birth and are almost always the result of medical malpractice or negligence. These injuries can occur when the doctor or nurse on the hospital staff fail to recognize many warning signs that indicate that it may be too difficult to deliver the baby vaginally. They can also occur when the doctor and nursing staff fail to perform the delivery properly. In these cases, the baby’s shoulder becomes caught or pinned under the mother’s pelvic bone and the baby is unable to move out of the birth canal. Steps should be taken early to watch for this condition and perform a timely C-Section. In situations where a timely C-section is not performed, the doctors and nurses should then perform standard maneuvers to turn the baby, thereby freeing the arm so they can deliver the baby without pulling, stretching, and tearing the nerves. Often forceps or vacuum extractors are misused resulting in the birth injury. These and other medical mistakes can lead to a lifetime of difficulty for victims of brachial plexus injuries and their families.
Contact Our Arizona, Missouri, and Kansas Birth Injury Attorneys
Brachial plexus injuries and cerebral palsy can have a devastating effect on a child’s entire life. If you suspect that your baby was injured as a result of medical malpractice at the time of birth, contact our personal injury firm serving Kansas, Missouri, and Arizona immediately. Our birth injury attorneys would be honored to discuss your case and help you understand your rights.