What Are the Causes of Cerebral Palsy?

Cerebral palsy is caused by an injury or abnormality in the parts of a baby’s brain that control movement. While some cases of cerebral palsy are congenital (present at birth or are inherited by genetics), many cases are caused by preventable birth injuries. In these cases, the doctor or hospital makes a mistake that causes a baby to not get enough oxygen and develop cerebral palsy.

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Cerebral palsy affects the communication between the brain and the body. When a child has cerebral palsy, the parts of the brain that tell their body how to move are damaged, resulting in motor disability. Depending on the severity and location of a child’s brain injury, they may have motor function issues as well as other disorders, such as cognitive, hearing, vision, or learning disabilities. Cerebral palsy, however, is only used to refer to motor disorders.

Not every child with a brain injury will have cerebral palsy; it depends on the location and extent of their injury. Some children with a brain injury may not have disordered movement, but can have other issues like hearing or vision problems, behavior problems, or cognitive and learning disabilities.

Causes of cerebral palsy: Birth Injury

There are many preventable causes of cerebral palsy associated with birth injuries. “Birth injury” is used to describe an injury to the baby that happens before, during, or after childbirth. Birth injuries occur when a baby:

doesn’t get enough oxygen (known medically as hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy, or simply “HIE”)
is injured from excessive mechanical force/pressure
contract infections in the womb, or as newborns
is injured from multiple other associated conditions

What these complications all share is that they can injure the baby’s brain. When the injury affects the parts of the baby’s brain that control movement, it causes cerebral palsy.

Medical staff can prevent brain injury that causes cerebral palsy with proper medical care and intervention. Medical staff must recognize and treat any complications that occur during pregnancy, labor, and/or delivery and deliver the baby in time.

How do I know if my child’s cerebral palsy was caused by medical malpractice?

When medical staff suspect that a baby has a brain injury, they typically perform brain imaging within 12-24 hours of the baby’s birth, and after this period, too. The imaging needs to be repeated because the appearance of the baby’s brain injury can change over days, weeks, and even months. The timing and progression of a child’s brain injury is important, especially when diagnosing and determining the causes of cerebral palsy.

Doctors and medical staff must recognize the signs of a brain injury early on and treat it immediately, usually with hypothermia (cooling) therapy. The worse a brain injury becomes, the more serious the outcomes for the child will be. Not treating a brain injury or delivering a baby in time are causes of cerebral palsy.

How can a cerebral palsy lawyer help my child?

It can be intimidating and even confusing to think about speaking to a lawyer about your child’s cerebral palsy diagnosis and potentially traumatic birth. At our firm, we know that children with cerebral palsy face unique challenges due to their disability, and they require special care needs. The cost of special medical treatments, assistive or adaptive equipment, and other items needed for your child’s care can feel insurmountably high. Without the right support, we’ve witnessed how extremely difficult it can be to meet these needs as their parents or caretaker.

Your child deserves the same childhood as all other children and a bright future. Speaking to a cerebral palsy lawyer can help you find out whether your child’s cerebral palsy was a result of medical malpractice. If you have a case, you’re entitled to make a legal claim against the hospital or doctor that handled your child’s birth irresponsibly. A lawyer can help you file a lawsuit to obtain justice on behalf of your child, and secure financial compensation to make sure they’re taken care of for the rest of their life.

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Causes of cerebral palsy: Before Birth

Some causes of cerebral palsy can arise from problems that develop during the prenatal period – the stage of pregnancy before labor and birth. Both the mother and the baby must be closely monitored to determine if the baby is getting enough oxygen.

Our blood carries oxygen to different organs and tissue in our bodies that allow us to function normally. When a baby is deprived of oxygen, it suffers a brain injury called HIE, and can result in cerebral palsy. The following are prenatal complications and conditions that can increase this risk:

Oligohydramnios occurs when there is not enough amniotic fluid (fluid in the womb). This can lead to umbilical cord compression, which can slow or stop the flow of oxygen and nutrients to the baby. This increases the risk of the baby getting HIE and leads to cerebral palsy.
Maternal infections during the prenatal period can be extremely dangerous for a developing baby and lead to a brain injury that causes cerebral palsy. Infections can get passed down to the baby or cause premature birth. Some examples of maternal infections include: chorioamnionitis, Group B Strep (GBS), urinary tract infection (UTI), bacterial vaginosis (BV), and herpes simplex virus (HSV).
Preeclampsia happens when a patient develops high blood pressure during pregnancy. It can constrict or damage the vessels in the placenta that supply blood to the baby. If the baby does not get enough oxygen-rich blood, it can suffer a brain injury.
Premature rupture of the membranes (PROM) occurs when a mother’s water breaks before labor starts. PROM can cause many serious issues, including infection, premature birth, and oxygen deprivation. All of these complications increase the risk of brain injury.
Post-term pregnancy deteriorates a mother’s placenta, which can threaten the supply of oxygen-rich blood to the baby. Towards the end of the pregnancy (around the time the baby is typically born), the placenta starts to deteriorate. Medical professionals often recommend inducing labor between 40 and 41 weeks if a baby has not been born yet.

Adequate prenatal care is crucial to address and treat any risks or complications that the mother or baby may develop. Timely treatment can prevent these complications from becoming causes of a child’s cerebral palsy.

If you suspect that your pregnancy was mishandled by your care team, our dedicated team is here to patiently listen to your story and let you know what your legal options are. If it’s difficult to recall all the actions of your medical care team during your pregnancy, that’s okay – a cerebral palsy lawyer will carefully review your medical records to find out where the negligence occurred.

Causes of Cerebral Palsy: During Birth

The time during and around the time of birth is called the perinatal period. Unfortunately, there are many complications that can occur during birth which can injure a baby. These perinatal conditions can increase the risk of injury to a newborn baby and cause cerebral palsy to develop:

Perinatal strokes happen when the blood supply to part of the baby’s brain is cut off. The risk of the baby having a stroke is highest during the perinatal period. A perinatal stroke can injure a baby’s brain and become a cause of cerebral palsy.
Infant brain hemorrhage, or brain bleed, can happen as a result of oxygen deprivation or traumatic or excessive force. Depending on the severity and location of the bleeding, a serious brain injury can occur. The brain injury can cause cerebral palsy to develop.
Hydrocephalus happens when there is excess fluid in a baby’s brain. This condition can cause head swelling and resulting damage and injury to the brain.
Jaundice and kernicterus occur when there is a build-up of bilirubin in the brain. Jaundice is often an easily treatable condition. However, bilirubin is a neurotoxin, and when it’s not properly treated, it can move into the brain tissue and cause kernicterus, which damages the brain and can lead to cerebral palsy.
Neonatal seizures are caused by abnormal electrical activity in the brain due to brain damage or problems with the brain’s chemistry. Severe brain damage can happen the longer a seizure lasts or the more frequently that seizures occur. Seizures and resultant severe brain damage can be causes of cerebral palsy.
Premature birth often results in underdeveloped lungs, periods of oxygen deprivation, and other complications that may increase the risk for cerebral palsy and other forms of permanent brain injury.
Umbilical cord problems: The umbilical cord is the baby’s lifeline; it carries oxygen-rich blood from the placenta to the baby. If the baby doesn’t receive enough of this blood or the blood flow is cut off, they are at high risk of brain injury from not getting enough oxygen. Examples of umbilical cord problems include a prolapsed umbilical cord (where the cord exits the birth canal in front of the baby) or a nuchal cord (where the cord gets wrapped around the baby’s neck).

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Causes of Cerebral Palsy: Birth Trauma

Babies are incredibly fragile. If they endure excessive physical or mechanical force during birth, that can put them at risk for injury, or worsen any existing injury. In these situations, the injury the baby suffers is called birth trauma.

A traumatic birth injury during labor and delivery can deprive the baby of oxygen and cause brain damage. Oxygen deprivation, brain injury, and birth trauma put the baby at high risk for cerebral palsy. We have worked with families that unfortunately experienced the following complications which led to their child developing cerebral palsy:

Macrosomia (when a baby is much larger than normal) and cephalopelvic disproportion (CPD) (when the baby’s head cannot safely fit through the mother’s pelvis) can both lead to a traumatic delivery. Birth trauma puts the baby at risk of HIE and resultant cerebral palsy.
Birth trauma from Pitocin or Cytotec, drugs given to mothers to start or speed up their labor. Sometimes, these drugs can cause excessively strong or frequent contractions (uterine hyperstimulation), which can deprive the baby of oxygen. These strong, frequent contractions can also put excessive pressure on the baby’s head, which can cause trauma to the brain. Both oxygen deprivation and birth trauma can be causes of cerebral palsy.

Do you have questions about what caused your child’s cerebral palsy?

We’ve been answering important questions from parents like you for over 25 years. Our firm has only handled birth injuries since the start of our practice. We have the skills and experience to help you with your potential case, and we feel honored to be able to bring peace of mind to parents like you.

Discovering that your child’s cerebral palsy was caused by medical malpractice can be extremely upsetting. We sympathize with parents who deal with the pain from this injustice and are overwhelmed with making sure their child’s special needs are met. That is why our firm has worked for over 25 years to make sure that the families we work with feel reassured, informed, and supported.

Give our award-winning cerebral palsy lawyers a call today. There are absolutely no fees charged to you unless we win your case. You are under no obligation to pursue a case with us, but we are here to answer any questions you may have, regardless.

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Dealing with a birth injury diagnosis can be difficult, but our attorneys can help. The ABC Law Centers: Birth Injury Lawyers team focuses exclusively on birth injury and are dedicated to earning justice for families like yours.

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FAQ: What Causes Cerebral Palsy?