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Few diagnoses are as overwhelming to parents as cerebral palsy (CP). As the most common motor disability in childhood, cerebral palsy impacts muscle control, coordination, reflexes, balance, and overall mobility. It can affect a child’s ability to speak, eat, learn, and live independently.
While very few cases are caused by unpreventable factors, far too many stem from medical negligence during pregnancy, labor, delivery, or postnatal care. When a doctor, nurse, or hospital fails to meet the accepted standard of care, the outcome can change the course of a child’s entire life.
At Snyder & Wenner, P.C., we represent families across Arizona—from Phoenix and Tucson to Flagstaff, Scottsdale, Mesa, Chandler, and Glendale—whose children developed cerebral palsy due to preventable birth injuries. For more than 40 years, our attorneys have been fighting for justice in complex medical malpractice cases, securing the compensation families need for long-term care.
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Cerebral palsy is not a single condition but rather a group of disorders caused by damage to the developing brain. The injury affects how the brain communicates with the body, impairing movement, coordination, posture, and in some cases, cognitive function.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 2-3 out of every 1,000 children are diagnosed with cerebral palsy. While some cases are unavoidable, others occur because healthcare providers fail to prevent or treat conditions such as oxygen deprivation or brain bleeding during delivery.
CP can result from several different types of brain injury or abnormal development. The four most common causes include:
A lack of oxygen before or during birth is one of the leading causes of CP. This can happen if labor is prolonged, the umbilical cord is compressed, or the placenta fails to deliver oxygen properly. Untreated hypoxia can permanently damage brain tissue within minutes.
The brain’s white matter helps transmit signals between different parts of the brain and spinal cord. Injury to this tissue, known as periventricular leukomalacia (PVL), can disrupt motor control and coordination. PVL is often linked to infection, premature birth, or lack of blood flow.
Bleeding in the brain, often from trauma during delivery or fragile blood vessels in premature babies, can destroy vital brain tissue. Conditions such as intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) increase the risk of CP.
Sometimes the brain does not develop properly during pregnancy, often due to genetic factors, maternal infection, or exposure to harmful substances. While not always preventable, failure to diagnose and manage risk factors may constitute negligence.
In many CP cases, these causes are linked to lapses in medical care—delays in performing a C-section, ignoring signs of fetal distress, improper use of forceps or vacuum extractors, or failing to treat maternal infections.
Cerebral palsy is categorized into four main types, depending on the area of the brain affected:
The severity of cerebral palsy varies widely. Some children may only have mild motor difficulties, while others may require lifelong assistance with mobility, communication, and daily activities.
Cerebral palsy is not always diagnosed immediately after birth. In many cases, symptoms become more noticeable as the child grows and misses developmental milestones. Common signs include:
Because cerebral palsy can present differently in every child, early diagnosis is critical. Pediatricians and specialists may use MRIs, CT scans, and developmental assessments to confirm brain injury and rule out other conditions.
The impact of CP extends far beyond physical disability. It is a lifelong condition with profound medical, emotional, and financial consequences for families.
Children with CP often require:
While many children with CP have normal intelligence, others may face learning disabilities, attention deficits, or behavioral challenges. The emotional toll of living with a disability can affect both the child and family.
The CDC estimates that lifetime care for a child with CP can cost $10-15 million, and that does not include lost wages for parents who must provide full-time care.
Parents and siblings must adjust to new routines, medical appointments, and long-term caregiving responsibilities. The stress can be overwhelming, which is why legal compensation is critical to ensuring access to resources and support.
Not every case of CP is preventable. However, many are linked to medical errors that could have been avoided with proper care. Prevention includes:
When hospitals fail to follow these basic standards of care, children may suffer brain injuries that lead to CP. In such cases, families may be entitled to pursue a malpractice claim.
At Snyder & Wenner, P.C., we take a methodical approach to every cerebral palsy case.
Our review process also includes input from an in-house medical provider with OB nursing experience. This helps our attorneys analyze pregnancy records, labor and delivery documentation, fetal monitoring strips, neonatal records, diagnostic imaging, and the timeline of care from a clinical perspective.
We carefully analyze pregnancy, labor, delivery, and neonatal care records, including fetal monitoring strips when available. Our in-house nurse, who has significant labor and delivery experience, helps our attorneys review these materials from a clinical perspective.
We review MRIs, CT scans, ultrasound results, and related records to better understand when the brain injury may have occurred and how it may relate to the care provided.
We work with top specialists in neonatology, neurology, and obstetrics to identify breaches in care.
We collaborate with life-care planners to calculate the lifetime costs of medical care, therapies, and adaptive needs.
Whether through settlement or trial, we fight to secure maximum compensation for families.
When needed, we work with qualified medical professionals in neonatology, neurology, obstetrics, and life-care planning to help evaluate the cause of the injury and the child’s long-term needs.
Contact us to review your cerebral palsy case, understand your options, and learn the next steps.
Compensation is intended to provide families with the resources to ensure their child has the best quality of life possible. This may include:
Because CP is a lifelong condition, ensuring adequate compensation is essential. Our attorneys work with economic experts to calculate the full scope of damages, not just immediate medical expenses.
For more than three decades, Snyder & Wenner has been a leader in birth injury litigation in Arizona. Families choose us because:
We work on a contingency fee basis. You pay nothing unless we win.
If your child has been diagnosed with cerebral palsy and you believe medical negligence may be the cause, you do not have to face this alone. At Snyder & Wenner, P.C., we are dedicated to protecting your child’s future and holding negligent providers accountable.
Call us today at (602) 224-0005 to schedule a free, confidential consultation with an experienced Arizona birth injury lawyer.
Cerebral palsy is typically diagnosed by an imaging study. The most common imaging study is a CT scan or an MRI. An EEG (electroencephalogram) can also be used, along with genetic testing and metabolic testing. Cerebral palsy typically causes decreased movement that is associated with exaggerated reflexes, limp arms/legs, an unusual posture, movements of the body that the child cannot control, uneven or unsteady walking, or a combination of these issues. When these common signs and symptoms are observed, the physician will typically order an imaging study to further diagnose the condition.
Generally speaking, cerebral palsy occurs when the baby’s brain is damaged. This leads to abnormal brain development. If the brain damage is caused by lack of oxygen in utero, and the baby is not delivered quickly enough, the OBGYN, perinatologist, and/or nurses may be responsible. It takes an experienced and knowledgeable birth injury lawyer to investigate the facts, to contact the right experts, and to determine if a lawsuit is appropriate.
After a diagnosis of cerebral palsy has been made, the first step in determining whether a lawsuit is appropriate is to collect all of the medical records from the birth. The mom and the baby each have his/her own medical chart, so requests for both need to be sent to the hospital. Also, unless the hospital is specifically asked to produce the fetal monitor strips, they will not do so. The fetal monitor strips have critical information regarding the health and well-being of the fetus during labor. If the strips show the baby is in distress and the providers did not react appropriately, that is good evidence that a lawsuit may be necessary. After the records are collected, you must have an experienced birth injury lawyer review them. The lawyers at Snyder & Wenner have over 90 years of combined experience litigating birth injury cases, so we know where to look in the chart to prove the case. If the lawyer’s review of the records concludes there was negligence, experts must be retained to review the records. Experts are needed to say that a provider (or multiple providers) were negligent and that their misconduct was a cause of the baby’s birth injury. Other experts will be needed to determine what medical needs the baby will have for the rest of his/her life due to the birth injury. Once all the experts have reached their conclusions, the lawsuit may be filed.
In every case, a birth injury lawyer must show that a provider (or multiple providers) was/were negligent. This means that the provider did something wrong. We must also prove that the negligence was a cause of the baby’s birth injury. If the injuries would have occurred anyway, even without the negligence, then there may be no case. Finally, we need to prove what the baby’s injuries are. To determine if you have a cerebral palsy lawsuit, each of these three elements must be met. We first start the review to determine if there was negligence. Then we move on to whether the negligence caused the birth injury. Finally, we assess the baby’s damages to the birth injury. When we can prove all three elements, the CP lawsuit will then get filed.
