Philadelphia Birth Injury Lawyer Blog

A young girl with cerebral palsy from Omaha, Nebraska, is able to enjoy Thanksgiving this year because of the transplant she received a year ago at the Nebraska Medical Center.

The child was also born with gastroschisis, a condition where the intestines are outside of the body. The combination of her gastroschisis and a cerebral palsy diagnosis caused a stressful and traumatic life for the girl's family. Since her umbilical cord was wrapped around her small intestine, doctors suggested a small bowel transplant.

A year ago, the child received her transplant. Since then, the girl has been able to eat normal food and is no longer attached to a feeding tube 24 hours a day. Also, her cerebral palsy symptoms are hardly noticeable. The form of treatment was successful, and the girl now lives a fairly normal life.

Due to mistakes during childbirth, a child who had developed cerebral palsy was recently awarded $20.5 million from a Pennsylvania jury.

The boy born during June 2001 had received a cerebral palsy diagnosis shortly after birth. The family claimed that cerebral palsy was caused by a four hour delay in delivery that the mother experienced.

The mother, who had claimed medical malpractice in the lawsuit, arrived at the Community Medical Center in Scranton, Pennsylvania and was immediately told that the baby was in distress after being connected to the fetal monitoring machine. Allegedly, the doctor did not arrive for two hours and, when he did arrive, tried to induce labor instead of performing an emergency caesarean section.

The boy began experiencing cerebral palsy symptoms shortly after birth. He now is 7 years old with permanent brain damage. A jury in Lackawanna, Pennsylvania, awarded $2 million to the family for past cerebral palsy treatment and $18.5 million for future medical expenses and suffering. No medical malpractice lawsuit in Northeast Pennsylvania has exceeded $10 million since 2000.

A recent stem-cell procedure performed in Denver, CO has helped to curb the cerebral palsy symptoms in a young girl.

Chloe Levigne is a two-year-old girl who had received a cerebral palsy diagnosis shortly after birth. After noticing that their daughter would clench her fist and drag herself instead of crawl, Chloe's parents consulted with a doctor. Chloe was then diagnosed with cerebral palsy.

After learning of the cerebral palsy diagnosis, doctors suggested performing a procedure with umbilical blood stem-cells that the Levignes had paid to save at the birth. The cerebral palsy treatment was then performed at Duke University with successful results. Only two days later, Chloe began speaking words that her mother had taught her in previous weeks. Chloe now is able to walk, talk and play. Her mother claims that she is about as normal as possible for a two-year-old girl.

Stem cell research is still a highly experimental procedure, but this particular case shows that experimental cerebral palsy treatments may help. If you are a parent with a cerebral palsy child, consult with an experienced cerebral palsy doctor to discuss your options.