No matter how contentious the disagreement, however, the ethical rules of the legal professional dictate how each side treats the other and rules by which the disagreement is resolved. While popular culture may suggest otherwise, legal suits are not no-holds-barred battles. There are principles of fairness underlying it all. Each side collects evidence, makes their case, and negotiates on a level playing field. It is obviously crucial that each side has proper legal professionals helping them at these times so that neither side is at a disadvantage.

This should be supported by all community—whatever they think about plaintiff’s attorneys or defense lawyers. That is what makes “early offer” legislation being considered in certain states particularly troubling. As we have previously discussed, these legislative proposals seek to enroll patients who have been harmed by medical malpractice into an “early offer” system. While innocuous in name, the details of this system are nothing more than unfair to the patients.

For example, Joanne Doroshow, the Executive Director of the Center for Justice and Democracy, explained in recent testimony to a New Hampshire legislative committee how the measure is incredibly unfair to patients. She noted that once the unsuspecting individual has joined the system—usually without even knowing the full extent of their injury or having legal advice—“the injured patients’ ability to collect economic compensation, like medical costs and lost wages, would be infected by conflicts of interest at every single step, beginning with allowing the medical provider to chose its own doctor to decide a patient’s damages.”

Obviously, it doesn’t take an Illinois birth injury lawyer to understand that allowing one side in a dispute to select the medical professionals to identify the extent of the injury is inherently unfair.

But the unfairness continues. Not only does the medical provider select the doctor to evaluate damages in this early offer system, but all non-economic damages are essentially tossed away. By joining the system the patient is giving up the ability to receive redress for these losses.

Proponents of the bill claim that this doesn’t matter because patient can reject the “early offer” that is made after entering the system. However, what proponents fail to mention is that by rejecting the early offer the only way that those hurt by this negligence can recover anything at all is meeting a burden of proof far higher than required in the regular civil justice system—or that would have been required had they rejected the early offer from the beginning. This burden is almost impossible to meet.

What all of this means is this: Patients may very well be tricked into entering this early offer system. Once in it, the hospital picks a doctor to evaluate the damages to the patients. The hospital then makes an “early offer” based on that assessment. The patient can reject the offer, but if they do, they may recover nothing. Their only recourse is to file a regular civil lawsuit using a far higher burden than usually possible to meet.

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Yet, because of the very nature of our work, we are intimately familiar with the many families who no longer have a mother around. Of course, many mothers pass on after a long, fruitful life. Others, however, are taken much sooner—often during childbirth or later on as a result of various birthing complications. Maternal death rates vary throughout the world, but, as we’ve often discussed, the death rate for mothers in the U.S. is higher than one might expect. It is higher than most other developed countries in the world.

To honor those who we have lost during childbirth and focus attention on the continued problems faced by mothers during birth across the world, the Global Health Initiative’s “Every Mother Counts” conducted a program known as “No Mother’s Day” to highlight the consequences of losing mothers during pregnancy or childbirth from various complications or birth injuries.

MSNBC held a segment on the program this weekend. The full segment can be viewed online here.

The story explains how every year more than 360,000 mothers die across the world as a result of these pregnancy and birthing complications. The suffering and heartache faced by all those loved ones left behind is impossible to quantify. Christy Turlington Burn, former model and activist, explained the project’s goal: “What we are trying to do is get people to stop for a moment and consider how many lives are lost each day, and on Mother’s Day in particular, and to try to generate some of the positive energy and love toward every mother.”

The segment discussed the high rate of birth injuries and maternal mortality rates, including in the United States. For example, in Ireland the mortality rate is 1 in every 47,600 birth. In the United States the rate is 1 in 4800. That is a shocking discrepancy and runs counter to the assumption that the U.S. must have better healthcare systems in place. Out of that total number of deaths, the organization noted that at least half are entirely preventable. In the U.S. there are clear demographic trends. African American women are four times more likely to die in childbirth than Caucasian women. Observers explain that there is a wide range of factors that contribute to the discrepancy. In general the two main causes are a lack of quality in certain neighborhood hospitals and a lack of proper prenatal care for expectant mothers.

Each Chicago birth injury lawyer at our firm at Levin & Perconti salute all mothers and hope that yesterday was filled with much love, family, and great memories. However, we also urge local residents to take a moment to remember those mothers that we’ve lost—that includes those who died during childbirth.

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As soon as these suits are filed, our Chicago birth injury lawyers are in talks with the insurance company and their representatives to get an understanding of each side’s position on the process. That is why it is important for all those interested in these issues to be familiar with the basics of insurance. For one thing, it is helpful to understand how the purpose and drive of these companies has changed considerably from their origins.

A helpful article on this topic was recently published in The Atlantic. The story argues that current goals and motivations of insurance companies are incredibly skewed from what they used to be—and should be. Of course, the underlying idea of all insurance, truly fleshed out in the early 1700s, was to allow the coming together of various different people in order to protect each of them in case of some sort of accident or other danger struck. It was very much a community, mutual effort.

It would be incredibly hard to argue that is the case today.

That is because in the past there were regular dividends to those who were actually insured and focus was not centered on a small group of executives who made decisions that maximized their own benefit. Obviously the insurance organizations will always have incentives to avoid payouts. However, there is a difference when the fewer payouts mean distributions among all members versus payout to a certain few.

Our Illinois birth injury lawyers were interested to read how in the past, when profits for the company were distributed to members in the form of regular dividends, there was a community benefit to making overall safety improvements—like keeping mortality rates low. In other words, when good health community-wide was prioritized, everyone benefitted financially (as well as medically).

In this way, it was often insurance companies who pioneered all major safety initiatives, such as improving the workplace and enacting basic medical standards to ensure its own community well-being. The industry governed itself, with its own directors being elected from those actually insured. The story nicely summarized the overall purpose of the industry: “Insurance aimed to mitigate risk, both by providing incentives to reduce it and by taking relatively small sums from each participant and aggregating them into large payouts for the unfortunate victims.”

However, over the years these companies have shifted from those clear goals, to mega corporate powerbrokers. This has resulted in the small group of executives in charge of these entities wielding massive power. Sadly, that power has been used to steer rewards to those very same executives. For example, the CEO of Liberty Mutual made over $400 million in personal compensation over the last four years alone.

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For example, ABC News published another story this week on the growing popularity of “hypnobirthing.” This is a new process by which expectant mother try to control the pain of childbirth without the need for medication intervention. The growth in the use of this option mirrors a trend that our Chicago birth injury attorneys have previously discussed—changes in epidural use.

The article explains that hypnosis itself is a much different concept than most immediately understand. Hypnotists are usually connected to comedy events, with audience members forced to act silly for the pleasure of everyone else. But beyond the humorous uses, hypnosis is a very real mental state connected to intense focus on concentration. As such, when done properly, it may be used to help people deal with difficult, chaotic, or painful situations. Those adjectives often apply to childbirth, and so some mothers are trying to use the mental state to their advantage when giving birth to their children.

One woman who used hypnobirthing explained how she used the techniques to help during the birth of her daughter a year and a half ago. She noted that many women are understandably afraid of pain, and so the technique can be a very helpful way to help handle those fears. She summarized the process thusly: “Hypnobirthing is letting your own mind surrender to your own body and letting your body take control and birth your baby.”

Of course, an industry has grown to help mothers learn the techniques and used them appropriately when the time comes. One hypnobirthing instructor explained that mothers usually take several classes while pregnant to help learn proper breathing and concentration techniques. The ultimate goal is to allow mothers to self-hypnotize during labor.

That hypnotic state is not sleep, but it is somewhat similar in that the one hypnotized is not fully aware of their surroundings. It is an intermediary, relaxed state which allows the body to work without the mind interfering and acting on or thinking about the pain. Mothers admit that the process doesn’t eliminate all pain during labor. However, it allows the pain to be controlled and the mother to work through the process.

Each Illinois birth injury attorney at our firms appreciates that there is no single right ways for any family to go through the pregnancy and labor process. Each community member has their own preferences about where to give birth and what interventions to accept. At the end of the day all that matters is that those charged without helping out through this process—like doctors, nurses, and midwives—act according to reasonable standards. Mothers are not guaranteed a perfect outcome but they are protected against other hurting them with negligent aid.

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That is why we applaud a recent article published in the State-Journal Register by the President of the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association Jerry Latherow. The story is a helpful reminder about the underlying purpose of the civil justice system, ensuring that everyone is treated fairly, from the most vulnerable citizen—like newborn babies—to the most powerful businesses and corporations. This power differential is perhaps at their height in Illinois birth injury cases, when our youngest children seek recovery for their losses against large healthcare industry companies. The fact that these children can recover for their losses and receive redress for the care they will need throughout their lives is a testament to the merits of the civil justice system.

Of course, this basic idea—holding everyone accountable for the harm that they unnecessarily cause of others—applies in many different situations. From big oil companies and the insurance industry to the financial titans and prescription drug companies, private industries often make decisions based entirely on profit-maximization, even when innocent consumers are hurt in the process.

When trying to take away the rights of individual victims hurt by their conduct, our Illinois birth injury lawyers knows that these industries often claim that there are enough safeguards in place because of state and federal regulations. However, this argument fails in two ways. First, it is clear that regulators woefully lack the resources to ensure proper standards and actual laws are upheld all the time. Second, even in the few instances where there is proper public oversight, that oversight does nothing to help the individual citizens often severely hurt as a result of the misconduct.

The civil justice system fills in those gaps. By allowing regular consumers to hold even the biggest companies accountable for their misconduct, our entire community is made safer. That is exactly why our founding fathers enshrined the system into our governing documents. As Latherow writes, “Without it [the civil justice system], these powerful corporations would have free reign to make and break the rules.”

All those who care about this basic system of fairness and accountability need to stand strong against those working to undermine the system. Regardless of what claims are made by those seeking tort reform, the civil justice system is filled with very few claims without merit. The truth is that most lawsuits are actually businesses suing other businesses. There is absolutely no epidemic of private citizens suing corporations. Those suits are relatively few, but they are crucial checks on the power of those who sometimes assume that they cannot be held accountable for the harm they unreasonable cause others.

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In this latest case, a $78.5 million verdict was handed down by a jury after finding that a child’s brain injury was caused by medical negligence. The child is now three years old. His family claimed that he has severe spastic quadriplegia as a result of errors made during his birth.

The case centers on the 2008 birth of the boy. The child’s mother was 36 weeks pregnant went she went to the hospital with signs of placental abruption. This is the separation of the placenta from the uterus wall—it occurs before a baby is delivered. The placenta is the organ that provides necessary nourishment to the fetus. In response to the issue the doctor performed an ultrasound when fetal monitoring was not conclusive in explaining the situation.

However, according to the lawsuit, the ultrasound was performed using outdated equipment that was not properly maintained. According to information presented during the trial, the ultrasound equipment was not sensitive enough to detect what was necessary. Amazingly, information indicated that the equipment had not even been serviced in ten years. The manual for the equipment indicated that annual maintenance was necessary to ensure the piece of equipment performed as necessary. Each Illinois birth injury lawyer at our firm understands that medical care providers are only as good as their equipment sometimes, and so proper maintenance of that equipment must be paramount.

As a result of using the faulty equipment the involved doctor did not detect a fetal heartbeat. That led him to tell the mother that the child had died. However, the child was not dead. It wasn’t until an hour and twenty minutes later that it was discovered that the child was actually alive. An emergency C-section was performed. However, the extreme delay in delivering the child had severe consequences—the baby was born with a brain injury.

Unfortunately, the doctor in this case maintained an obstinate attitude throughout the proceeding. The doctor maintained that the child was actually dead when the ultrasound was performed but that the boy “came back to life” 81 minutes later.

In reality, the plaintiff argued that the baby was not dead, but the poor ultrasound equipment reading led to the confusion. An actual ultrasound technician had to be called in from home to check the results. It was only then that the results were discovered to be incorrect, leading to the discovery that the child was still alive and the emergency delivery.

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However, the consequences of a cerebral palsy diagnosis do not mean that a child will never be able to thrive. On the contrary, stories abound of children who were diagnosed with cerebral palsy who went on to impact the lives of all those around them for the better in countless ways. The Advertiser recently profiled one little girl, for example, who has continued to beat the odds and develop in ways that her medical providers at first thought impossible. The story is a reminder both of the way that children with cerebral palsy can thrive as well as the importance of proper therapy and access to resources for those with these special needs.

The family of the girl in this story had no idea anything was wrong until their daughter was about four months old. The girl had been born prematurely, but there was not any immediate impairment. However, a few months after her birth, the girl’s mother noticed something odd. The child would only look to her left side, always stepped with her left foot and had a right hand that was sometimes clinched. At a neurological follow up, she was labeled “left-side dominant.”

By the time she was nine months old, something was clearly wrong. A medical check- up revealed that there was a big problem. The doctor explained that the girl essentially had a large hole in her brain. The left side of her brain had a one-third chunk missing. Doctors suspected that the girl had suffered a stroke and that the portion of her brain simply “melted away.” This was essentially a form of cerebral palsy.

After the diagnosis doctors explained that the consequences for the child were likely to be severe. She would have expressive and receptive language comprehension issues. Experts thought that she might be able to understand only her mother’s tone and body language. Her peripheral vision was also likely to be affected.

The girl’s family did not take the prognosis lying down, however. They committed to do everything they could to help their daughter develop to her full potential. They took advantage of a publically funded intervention program called “Early Stages” that seeks to help developmentally disabled children grow in their earliest, formative years. In addition, the family had the girl in private therapy sessions.

Today the girl is thriving. She knows 54 words, walks, talks, and has not had any vision issues. The only major issue is that she still has little fine motor skills in her right hand. However, with more therapy, the prognosis is good that she will be able to regain some of the lost movements.

The Chicago cerebral palsy lawyers at our firm applaud the efforts of this family to provide the best for their daughter. We know that there are many similar families in our area who are doing everything they can to help their children with disabilities. It is a sad reality, thought, that a lot of families are never able to do everything because of financial concerns. That is why in situations where the impairments were caused by negligence, it is important for redress to be provided to the child.

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The new research effort unfortunately shows that the total number of children born addicted to prescription pain medicine has tripled in the past ten years. The lead author of the study, a research at the University of Michigan Health Center Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, explained that the data comes out to roughly a baby born every hour in the United States addicted to these drugs.

Expectedly, the increase in drug-addicted newborns was caused by a five-fold increase in the total number of mothers who use prescription painkillers while pregnant. There are a range of reasons for the problem. However, some doctors argue that a renewed focus on patient pain is having the adverse effect of breeding more addiction and ultimately causing problems like this one with newborns being affected.

Many of the children affected suffer from a range of birth injuries, often born at low birth weights, with respiratory issues, and problems with seizures. Children born addicted also often face irritability, feeding problem, tremors and muscle cramping. They have vomiting issues and often watery stool.

Each Chicago birth injury lawyer at our firm appreciates that beyond the medical concerns, there are financial consequences of this problem. According to the story, the average cost to treat children suffering from withdrawal—known as Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS)—increased significantly in the last ten years. In 2000, each case cost a little more than $39,000. Now, each case costs $53,400 to treat.

In total, babies facing NAS needed to stay in the hospital an average of 16 days. Of those patients, the vast majority—nearly 80%—were covered by Medicaid. That means that it was ultimately the taxpayers that were footing the bill.

Taken together, the needless suffering and high costs will hopefully act as an incentive for changes to be made that lower the prevalence of the problem. This particular study did not delve into the overall causes of the problem. The purpose was to gather information on NAS generally, not to identify why mothers were taking the drugs. However, it has long been known that the most common drugs linked to NAS are opiates.

The lead author of this particular study said that in her opinion one problem is doctors that too easily prescribe painkillers. There needs to be more accountability to ensure patients receive them when necessary but not at times or in ways that are a danger to them or their unborn children. Addiction with these drugs—like Vicodin and OxyContin—can take hold as quickly as two week, say experts. The detoxifying process is no cake walk. It involves a rapid pulse, blood pressure issues, cramped, muscle plain, tremors, queasiness, sleeplessness, and depression.

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For example, our Chicago birth injury attorneys were interested to read about a new study linking pesticide exposure to brain injuries in utero discussed last week in Business Week. In general, the report which was just published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that there were brain abnormalities in children who were expose to a commonly used insecticide in the womb.

The study involved use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in elementary school children who were found to have the highest exposure levels to chlorpyrifos. Chlorpyrifos was used in insecticides previously but it popularity has changed in recent years as the federal government has limited its use. Now the product is used in only some agricultural settings. The chemical was used previously in Dow Chemical Company’s pesticide known as Dursban.

The MRIs of the children exposed to the chemical when younger revealed that they had structural changes in the brain when compared to those who had not been exposed to the chemicals. Those affected had underdeveloped regions of the brain as was as certain parts that were essentially overgrown. Various parts of the brain were affected by those exposed to the chemical. Those parts of the brain include areas connected to language, attention, emotions, and control. In addition, hormones may be affected later on in certain children.

This represents the first research effort which used actual brain scans to show the difference in children exposed to Dursban. The effort shows that structural changes in the brain are found five to ten years after the actual exposure to the substance. The substance was banned in residential areas a decade ago. However, that does not mean that it doesn’t pose problems. Many women in certain agricultural settings are still exposed to the chemicals while they are pregnant.

As the lead researcher explained, “Prenatal exposure to chlorpyrifos is risky for pregnant women and should be avoided. [A] [m]other breathes or ingest the chlorpyrifos when then enters her bloodstream. The chemical crosses the placenta and enters the infant’s blood stream.”

Each Illinois birth injury lawyer at our firm appreciates that this is a reminder to all families about the importance of being aware of exposure during pregnancy. In addition, this effort should also remind those companies and business making and marketing these products of the continued need to be very vigilant about the effects of these products on people and the environment.

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That is why awards in Chicago birth injury cases are sometimes higher than in other medical malpractice suits. In the most basic sense, damage awards are calculated by considering what the plaintiff’s situation would be like without the unreasonable conduct and comparing that to the situation he is actually in. The cost-difference is part of the overall award if liability is found. A child that has suffered a serious birth injury result in something like cerebral palsy, for example, often will have therapy, caregiving, and medical needs throughout his or her life. Each of those has a tremendous cost.

Those costs do not disappear simply because a law is passed which caps the total amount of money that a medical institution or an insurer has to provide to those who suffer as a result of unreasonable care. Instead, the costs are shifted around. This point was made earlier this week in a story at NM Politics on the damaging effect of civil suit damage caps in New Mexico.

When a birth injury occurs there are essentially four options. First, the medical institution that made the mistake can be required to account for its mistake and provide redress. Helping families receive this redress is what our Illinois birth injury lawyers do in our area. Second, the family can be forced to pay for the consequences of the error. However, in the vast majority of cases, families do not have anywhere near the personal resources to pay for the special care needed over a lifetime—often in the millions of dollars. Third, the public as a whole can pay for the care. This is usually done in the form of Medicaid services. The final option would be not to provide any care at all. Fortunately, our society has collectively agreed that it is unacceptable for those in need of special care actually receive at least life-sustaining care

Of those options, the one that best comports with our general sense of fairness and accountability is to have the ones whose unreasonable conduct led to the costs actually pay them. That is what a regular civil justice system does. However, those principles are altered when damage caps are enacted. That is because those caps are essentially laws that shift accountability—they don’t actually limit costs.

In places where caps are in place the common outcome is to thrust the burden onto both the individual family affected and taxpayers at large. In most case the family first has to spend almost all of their assets in order to help the child. Then, when their personal funds are depleted, they can apply for Medicaid help. Medicaid then begins providing aid—though the aid itself has limits, as certain support services are not necessarily provided.

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The boy was born earlier this month with the mother wanting to have an entirely natural birth. The mother was so committed to a natural birth that she even refused an ibuprofen after being in labor for nine hours.

According to the story the family and medical team were at odds throughout the birth. On one hand the medical team apparently criticized the woman’s decision to have a vaginal birth after previously having a C-section. On top of that, there were misunderstandings about when to wash the child, whether or not blood should be drawn, and how vitamin K should be administered.

Apparently the dispute escalated when the family left the hospital with the child only 12 hours after he was born. Other doctors had advised the family to keep the child in the hospital longer, but the family apparently ignored that medical advice and left the hospital anyway. This move alarmed some hospital staff members. As a result they claimed to Child Protective Services that the child may be in danger. Of course, this move angered the family. It prompted them to file a complaint against the facility with the Joint Commission—an organization that certifies and accredits hospitals and medical centers.

The main issue was whether the hospital acted appropriately in contacting child health authorities because the family left the hospital with the child against doctor recommendations. The hospital officials in this case explained that the family had the right to leave but that the hospital also had the right to contact authorities to let them know that the new addition’s health might have been compromised by the action.

The doctor highlighted an important issue that our Illinois birth injury lawyers know is a factor in all disputes with hospitals. He noted that “If this could happen to me, a doctor with privileges at the hospital, how is an 18-year old who may not know her rights treated?”

Unique issues related to the rights of parents like this are quite rare. However, the basic issues of medical providers taking actions that patients might not understand is a common occurrence that plays a role in many Chicago medical malpractice cases. At the end of the day, many patients may never find out that they have been hurt by unreasonable care, because they are never made fully aware of their rights. That is why all those who even suspect mistreatment should visit with a legal professional or in other ways learn more about their exact situation to determine if medical malpractice was actually involved in their situation.

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According to the story, a twenty-six year old woman was pregnant with twins when she suffered a medical emergency in early March. The woman was walking out of a building when for unknown reasons she began suffering severe pain in her head. The woman already had two children and was with her three-year old son and boyfriend when the severe pain unexpectedly struck. The woman fell to the ground and was apparently unconscious.

She was rushed to the hospital where it was soon discovered that she had suffered severe brain damage as the result of two aneurysms. As explained by Pub Med Health, an aneurysm is a widening of a portion of an artery due to blood vessel wall weakness. When it exists in the brain it is referred to as a cerebral aneurysm. When the aneurysm ruptures the risk of death is high.

Doctors eventually had to tell her heart-broken family that she was brain dead and would likely not survive the ordeal. Initial observations suggested that the woman was likely born with the aneurysms. However, the medical professionals explained that the stress of her pregnancy may have been a factor that affected the aneurysms and made them more likely to rupture.

Obviously the news of the young woman’s dire medical condition was incredibly traumatic for her family. However, there was the added concern about the state of the children in her womb. The family knew early on that the young woman would never recover from her brain death, but they remained hopeful that the twins would survive.

The mother ultimately stayed on life support for several weeks. However, eventually her condition reached a critical juncture, where her blood pressure rose to dangerous levels. The family decided to try to save the twins. The only way to save the children was to have an emergency C-section birth. The twins were only 25 weeks old at the time, each weighing only slightly more than one and a half pounds. However, they are currently still hanging on. They remain in the neonatal intensive care unit. The mother passed away shortly after the birth.

Our Chicago birth injury lawyers send thoughts to those grieving after this tragedy. Working with families who have suffered unimaginable loss during the birthing process, we understand the mix of emotions that are present when a mother is hurt or killed while children are born. At the end of the day there is sometimes nothing that can be done to avoid these tragedies. However, in situations where you are unsure if medical errors might have contributed to a birth injury, you owe it to all those involved to at least visit with a legal professional to look into your options.

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Of the three options mentioned above—forceps, vacuum extraction, C-section—the vacuum extraction is likely the method that is least familiar to most community members. Like regular household vacuums, the idea behind vacuum extraction devices used in childbirth is to provide suction in order to pull a child out of the birth canal. It is used in the later stages of a delivery. The process usually works by placing a plastic cup on the newborn’s head. The cup is then attached to separate vacuum extraction equipment. Expectedly, the device provides suction force which, when working properly, helps guide the child out of the mother’s body.

Unfortunately, our Illinois birth injury attorneys know that when used in incorrect ways or at certain times, a mother or child might be hurt by used of these devices. The suction occurs on the child’s head, with added pressure that can harm the baby in the process. Of course, infant bodies are incredibly vulnerable to harm from excess force. This susceptibility to head injury is made more potent during birth because it is the first time that the baby’s head does not have the protection of amniotic fluid. Brain injuries, eye injuries, skill fractures, and other harms occur far more than they should when one of these devices is used.

After a child is born via vacuum extraction, parents are well-served by keeping a close eye on their child’s development. Deficient motor skills or seizures are a sign the baby might have suffered a birth injury related to use of the special equipment. Unfortunately, cognitive injuries can occur which mean that a child may have trouble ever living on their own. It is not uncommon for children with more severe brain injuries to need close around the clock care for the rest of their lives. It goes without saying that the extreme risks from improper use of these devices makes it critical that doctors exercise reasonable skill at all times during these deliveries. The law protects families from receiving care below this standard.

The presence of these injury risks via use of vacuum extraction devices does not necessarily mean that they should never be used. As always, medical decisions should be made in conjunction with your medical experts after learning fully about the potential benefits and harms from those professionals. However, that does not mean that all harm resulting from the process is acceptable. Doctors are still charged with using the device properly and in a timely fashion. Any deviation from basic standards of care with use of these devices may very well be medical malpractice for which a patient can receive redress.

If you or a loved one has suffered a birth injury that may have been connected to use of a vacuum extraction device, please visit with an experienced legal professional to share your story and learn your rights.

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In this case, the article suggests potential prevention of cerebral palsy using this tools that were uncovered by researchers with the National Institute of Health and at the Wayne State University School of Medicine. The researchers believe that using new nanodevices to deliver medication to brain injured children might prevent spreading brain damage that often results in cerebral palsy. We touched on the ideas discovered in a previous post.

Essentially, the treatment involves using very small devices to cross the blood-brain barrier and deliver medication to injured parts of an infant’s brain. The pinpointing of the drugs can prevent brain inflammation that lead to CP. Early research using this approach on animals has indicated good results.

The treatment method uses tiny devices called dendrimers with a special drug (D-NAC). The small nanodevices are inserted into the child’s brain and guided so that they cross the blood-brain barrier. Once across the barrier and guided to the injured area, the devices release the drug.

What was the effect?

When used on newborn rabbits whose brains exhibited damage consisted with that seen in newborn infants who develop cerebral palsy, the drugs were very successful at preventing long-term harm. Those rabbits who received D-NAC showed mobility improvement the very same day that they received the drug treatment. They appeared nearly back to normal five days after the initial treatment. Compared to the placebo groups, these results were remarkable. Rabbits that did not receive the drug were essentially left with severe cerebral palsy-like symptoms.

Researchers explain that perhaps the most important finding here is that some postnatal treatment might work. In the past all of the work to prevent CP dealt with avoiding developmental problems or birth injuries which would lead to the brain damage. However, this research suggests that even if the damage develops, there may be some options for medical professionals to intervene even after the birth to prevent the long-term harm.

Each Chicago cerebral palsy lawyers at our firm is very familiar with all of the issues affecting children with cerebral palsy. We understand that an early reaction is always concern about the overall effect that the condition will have on the youngster’s overall health. Families then try to learn as much as they can about what physical and developmental challenges will be faced and what can be done to ensure the child reaches their full potential. Unfortunately, financial concerns often enter the mix, because it is not easy to obtain the resources necessary to ensure a child with one of these conditions will receive all of the care they need to maximize their potential. Illinois cerebral palsy lawsuits often help families receive support for those that caused the injury.

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Family of Injured Boy Seeks Approval of $30M Award in Birth Injury Lawsuit

Doctor’s Failure to Treat Jaundice Causes Baby to Suffer Cerebral Palsy Birth Injury

That is what happened in a case that was recently profiled involving a birth injury where a doctor failed to deliver a child in a timely way which ultimately had serious repercussions. According to the court documents, the child was born in late January over six years ago. Complications developed during the birth. Specifically, the delivery involved an umbilical cord prolapsed and a nuchal cord. Our Chicago birth injury lawyers are very familiar with these delivery complications. Umbilical cord prolapse occurs when the umbilical cord exits the uterus before the child. It is an emergency and requires quick action to keep the child safe. A nuchal cord refers to the situation where the umbilical cord wraps around the fetus’s neck.

In this case the doctors should have been aware of the problem early on. The mother and child’s vital signs indicated problems, and the mother complained of a headache so severe that her vision became blurred. Unfortunately, many of these warning signs were not identified in a timely manner. As a result the child was born with severe injuries. He has mild cerebral palsy, is blind, and is unable to speak. His severe developmental delays will require significant treatment.

A lawsuit was filed by the family alleging negligence. Recently the suit was settled before the need to go to trial with the defendant agreeing to pay more than $4 million to the family. The funds will be used to provide the close care that the child will need throughout his life.

Our attorneys are very families with the exact issues in these cases. Issues like umbilical cord prolapsed are not common, but they occur enough that medical professionals should be aware of the appropriate responses to them. Sometimes that does not happen. Often it is appropriate for the practitioner to try to reduce the pressure on the cord and spur vaginal delivery as soon as possible. When this fails it is often necessary for an emergency C-section to be performed. In any event, time is critical in these situations. Failure to act quickly leads to oxygen deprivation which can cause brain damage and even death.

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