Depending on the severity of their condition, children with Cerebral Palsy may need medical treatment and supportive care throughout their lives. This can be an enormously expensive proposition for parents.  Raising children is expensive enough; raising a child with cerebral palsy can be financially devastating.

In Ontario, our basic health care services are paid through OHIP, but there are many things that are not covered through that plan that may be necessary for the proper support and care of children with Cerebral Palsy.

Children with Cerebral Palsy often require ongoing prescription drugs, such as medications that prevent seizures.  Prescription drugs are not covered by OHIP and Ontario’s public drug programs apply only to certain people and certain prescription drugs.  Children with Cerebral Palsy may or may not qualify for coverage.

Ongoing physiotherapy may be necessary for certain children with Cerebral Palsy in order to maximize the function of one or more limbs and to improve posture.  Some people have extended health care insurance coverage that covers part of the cost of physiotherapy, but these plans usually have a maximum coverage per year that may not be adequate for the treatment of children with Cerebral Palsy.

Many children with Cerebral Palsy require devices to assist with walking (such as braces or walkers) or wheelchairs.  These devices can be very expensive, particularly because growing children will likely need to have these devices replaced every year.   Even if parents have insurance coverage that covers wheelchairs or other devices, there is often a restriction on how often they can be replaced.  The Ontario Foundation for Cerebral Palsy will contribute up to $2,500 per year towards the purchase of certain qualifying devices for qualifying members of the foundation with Cerebral Palsy.

Depending on their particular needs, children with Cerebral Palsy may require specialized childcare services, tutoring or educational assistants.  Many people with Cerebral Palsy may require assisted living services throughout their adult lives.

While there are potentially tax breaks and charitable foundations that will help, the financial consequences of raising children with Cerebral Palsy can be overwhelming to parents.  It is imperative that parents of children with Cerebral Palsy consult with an experienced medical malpractice lawyer as soon as possible.  Cerebral Palsy is often caused by preventable birth trauma.  If you and your child have a legal claim for medical malpractice, the resulting award for damages might go a long way towards addressing your child’s needs.

There are a variety of specific causes of birth defects.  Often the specific cause of a birth defect is unknown.  In general, however, most birth defects are caused by genetic factors, environmental factors, or a combination of the two.

Genetic factors are responsible for some birth defects such as Tay Sachs and Cystic Fibrosis.  Often, a parent can carry a gene for these birth defects without having any symptoms. Those with a history of a genetic disorder in their families may wish to consult with a genetic counsellor before trying to become pregnant.

Environmental factors are responsible for, or contribute to, many birth defects.  Environmental factors that affect the development of the fetus are generally limited to diseases and chemicals to which the mother is exposed during pregnancy.  If the mother is exposed to certain viruses during her pregnancy, the risk of birth defects in the fetus is increased.

While most medications are harmless to the fetus, some medications have been found to increase the risk of birth defects if taken by the mother during pregnancy.  A well-known example of a medication causing birth defects is thalidomide, which was widely prescribed to pregnant women in the late 1950s and early 1960s as it eased morning sickness.  Unfortunately, the drug caused severe birth defects, commonly extreme malformation of the arms and legs.

Neural tube defects, such as Spina Bifida, are caused by a combination of factors.  Neural tube defects have been linked to insufficient levels of folic acid in the mother during the first trimester of pregnancy.  However, exposure of the mother to certain chemicals during pregnancy has also been linked to increased risk of neural tube defects.

Exposure of the mother in the workplace to industrial solvents or agricultural pesticides may greatly increase the risk of birth defects.  Workplaces such as the textile or plastics industries, commercial printing, agriculture and scientific laboratories may place women at increased risk of having babies with birth defects.  Women who believe that exposure to chemicals in their workplace may have contributed to their child’s birth defect should consult an experienced personal injury lawyer.

One of the more common forms of dental malpractice occurs when a dentist fails to obtain the informed consent of the patient. One of the dentist’s responsibilities is to explain to the patient the proposed treatment or procedure, the associated risks, and obtain the patient’s consent before proceeding.

Generally cases of dental malpractice arise when the dentist fails to inform the patient of a side effect that may occur as a result of the procedure. If that side effect occurs, and the patient had no warning of the risk, the patient may have a claim for dental malpractice. Whether or not that claim is successful will depend primarily on how likely it was that the side effect would occur. The dentist is not under an obligation to provide the patient with a lengthy list of every possible side effect, only those that are relatively likely to occur.
Another form of dental malpractice occurs when a dentist performs a treatment or procedure on a patient that he or she is not adequately skilled or qualified to perform. There are many types of dental specialists, including dental surgeons, gum specialists, and dentists who specialize in building and fitting prostheses such as false teeth and bridges. The family dentist who checks your teeth for cavities may not be qualified to perform a root canal or remove your wisdom teeth. We trust our dentist to refer us to a specialist for any procedure that the dentist is not qualified to perform. If a dentist injures a patient while performing a root canal and the court determines that the dentist did not have adequate training, experience or tools to perform the root canal, then the dentist may be liable to the patient for medical malpractice.

By making a dental malpractice claim against your dentist, you may be able to recover the cost of the initial dental work as well as costs for any dental procedures that had to be redone, or additional procedures that had to be done to repair damage caused by the initial procedure. You may also be able to recover lost income due to time off work and recover for pain and suffering.

It is important to note that a claim for dental malpractice must be started with the court within 2 years of the date that you know that you have a claim. Therefore, you should consult an experienced malpractice lawyer as soon as possible if you think you might have a claim for dental malpractice.

In a hospital, it is common practice for a nurse to be assigned specific patients for whom that nurse is responsible until the end of the shift. There are several benefits to this practice. It ensures that the same person is periodically monitoring a patient, making it much more likely that changes in the patient’s health will be noted early. It would be more difficult for nurses to determine if a patient was feeling better or worse if they were basing their assessment on notes made by the last nurse to check on the patient. A nurse’s failure to monitor a patient adequately may result in a nursing malpractice claim.

Having one nurse responsible for each patient is also important when a patient has two or more doctors. It is not uncommon for a patient in hospital to be under the care of both general practitioner and a surgeon or specialist. In such a case, the nurse is responsible for making sure that each doctor knows what the other doctors have done and what medications have been prescribed. The nurse often has the best overall picture of the patient’s care by virtue of having spent the most time with the patient.

In a hospital setting, it is often the nurse’s responsibility to ensure that the patient’s chart is updated as needed. Missing information from a chart can result in easily preventable errors such as overmedicating, mixing medications that cause negative side effects when administered together, and the triggering of allergic reactions.

Another of the nurse’s responsibilities is the administration of medication, treatments and tests. A nurse is expected to exercise proper care in carrying out these tasks to ensure that the proper medication is given in the proper dose. It is also important that tests are administered properly so that accurate results can be provided to the doctor or specialist for analysis.

Hospitals generally have protocols in place for nurses to follow in certain situations. For example, a hospital will have a sequence of steps that they expect a nurse to take if a patient stops breathing. A nurse is expected to know these protocols and to take care in following them in applicable situations. A nurse who fails to follow protocol in an emergency situation may trigger a nursing malpractice claim.

Nursing malpractice might involve any number of acts or omissions on the part of a nurse because the duties of a nurse can vary greatly. When analyzing a medical malpractice claim, it is important to take into account the responsibilities of each member of the health care team, including nurses.

Genetic causes of brain damage can be caused by the transmission of a single faulty gene from the parents. An example of this is Tay Sachs disease, a degenerative neurological disorder that is passed to children from parents who carry a specific faulty copy of a specific gene. It is also possible for random genetic mutations to result in brain damage or abnormal brain development of the fetus.

A mother who is infected with a virus during her pregnancy can be at greater risk of having a baby with brain damage at birth. Vaccines are available to protect the mother against certain viruses that place the fetus at risk, such as chicken pox and Rubella. Toxoplasmosis is a parasite found in the feces of infected cats. Pregnant women with cats are encouraged to avoid handling the cat litter until after they give birth.

The improper use of medical instruments used to aide in delivery, such as forceps and vacuums, has been known to cause brain damage at birth. Improper use of these instruments can lead to injuries to the skull, the blood vessels that feed the brain, or the brain tissue itself, all of which can lead to brain damage.

A loss of oxygen to the brain of the fetus at around the time of birth is one of the more common causes of brain damage at birth. Loss of oxygen can be caused by damage to or blockage of the placenta or the umbilical cord, which provide oxygen rich blood to the fetus. A loss of oxygen can also be caused by a fetal stroke.

It is often possible for doctors to minimize the damage done to a fetus’ brain due to lack of oxygen by monitoring both the mother and the fetus during labour, and by performing a cesarean section when there are signs of distress. The failure of a doctor or nurse to properly monitor the mother and fetus, or the failure to perform a cesarean section when it was needed, can be contributing factors to brain damage at birth.

It is important to examine all of the factors that might contribute to brain damage at birth in order to determine if there is a legal claim for medical malpractice. In a medical malpractice suit stemming from brain damage at birth, the court must find that the acts or omissions of the doctor caused, or contributed to, the brain damage in order to find the doctor liable.

Malpractice occurs when a professional fails to act in accordance with the standard of care or standard of conduct established by his or her profession and someone is injured or harmed as a result. The malpractice can occur through an error, negligence, ignorance or intentional wrongdoing on the part of the professional.

When a person is harmed as a result of the malpractice of a professional, that person may have a legal claim for malpractice. Typically, a malpractice suit is brought in the form of an allegation of negligence on the part of the professional. In order to establish a claim for malpractice, the injured person must prove to the court:

a) what is the applicable standard of care or standard of conduct; and
b) that the professional in question acted outside that established standard.

Malpractice cases almost always require expert witnesses to establish the standards that applied to the professional in question.

Medical malpractice is one of the more common forms of malpractice. This generally occurs when a doctor or surgeon injures or harms a patient through some act or omission that does not meet the standard of care set by the medical profession. Other professionals that are held to a standard of care or a standard of conduct include lawyers, dentists, accountants, engineers, architects, and veterinarians.

Because these professionals are at risk of being sued for malpractice, they generally obtain malpractice insurance. In Canada, professionals are often required to have malpractice insurance as a condition of obtaining and maintaining their licenses or credentials. Each profession has a licensing or governing body, which determines the particular rules that will apply to that profession. For example, Ontario doctors are governed by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario. The College requires doctors in private practice to have malpractice insurance, which is available from the Canadian Medical Protective Association. Similarly, lawyers throughout Canada are required by their provincial Law Societies to maintain professional insurance through a specified insurance company.

So, what is malpractice? Essentially, it is the failure of a professional to live up to our expectations of someone in that profession, which failure causes harm to another person. Malpractice law can be one of the more technical types of law to practice. If you think that you have a legal claim for malpractice, it is important that you see a lawyer with experience in that area of law.

Over the years, doctors have developed various methods of classifying patients with Cerebral Palsy. Some of the more common terminology used to describe the types of Cerebral Palsy includes:

Spastic: Between 70% and 80% of Cerebral Palsy cases fall into this category. The patient suffers from an increase in muscle tone, which can be seen in rigid limbs, and jerky movements. This is also known as Pyramidal Cerebral Palsy; this name refers to the area of the brain that is damaged in order to cause these symptoms.

Non-Spastic: (also known as Extrapyramidal): Approximately 20% of Cerebral Palsy cases fall into this category, which is typically characterized by a decrease in muscle tone or uneven muscle tone. Patients with this type of Cerebral Palsy are less likely to suffer from seizures or developmental problems. A patient with non-spastic Cerebral Palsy might suffer from a variety of symptoms, each of which has its own label:

• Ataxia means the patient suffers from impaired balance and coordination;
• Dystonia affects the trunk muscles more than the limbs, resulting in involuntary twisted postures that might be held for long periods of time;
• Athetosis means the patient makes repetitive, slow, rhythmic and flowing movements with his or her limbs, fingers, hands, toes or feet;
• Chorea means the patient makes irregular movements, without rhythm. The patient’s movements are often shaky;
• Choreoathetoid means the patient makes irregular movements, but they are more sinuous or twisting in nature.

Mixed: It is possible for one individual to have more than one type of Cerebral Palsy, particularly if more than one area of the brain was damaged. Most commonly, these individuals will have spastic symptoms in one limb and non-spastic symptoms in another limb, but any combination of symptoms is possible. Mixed Cerebral Palsy may account for up to 10% of Cerebral Palsy cases.

A smaller percentage of births result in more serious and permanent birth injuries, such as cerebral palsy, developmental delays, spinal cord damage and death. While all birth injuries can occur for reasons that are outside of anyone’s control, some birth injuries can be attributed to errors made by the doctor or hospital staff before, during or after the birth, such as:

• failing to detect complications or fetal distress,
• improper use of forceps or other medical or surgical instruments,
• waiting too long to perform a cesarean section, or
• using the wrong medication or too much medication during labour.

If your baby has suffered a birth injury due to medical malpractice, you and your baby might be entitled to compensation. If you wish to pursue the possibility of obtaining compensation for your child’s birth injury, it is important that you consult a lawyer specializing in birth injury as soon as possible once you are aware that a birth injury has occurred. Many brain injuries, such as cerebral palsy, are not evident until several months or years after the baby’s birth. Typically medical malpractice claims must be brought within 2 years of the date that you become aware of the facts leading to your claim. In the case of an injured baby, this limitation period may be extended until the child reaches 18 years of age and can pursue the claim on its own without the help of its parents. However, the law governing limitation periods can be complicated and you should always consult an experienced lawyer as soon as possible to ensure that you do not lose the opportunity to bring your claim.

It is important to consult a lawyer who has experience with medical malpractice cases, specifically birth injury cases, as these lawyers will be better able to advise you regarding whether you have a legal claim to compensation. You should know, however, that your lawyer might not be able to provide you with solid advice about your case without first obtaining your baby’s medical records and seeking the opinion of a medical expert.

Elective Plastic Surgery Procedures

Some of the most common types of elective plastic surgery procedures that leave patients susceptible to medical errors include the following.

• Lip suction
• Breast augmentation
• Face lifts
• Gastric bypasses
• Stomach stapling
• Rhinoplasty
• Various other procedures that can take place in surgical centers, hospitals and doctor’s offices.

When a plastic surgery procedure is conducted in a hospital, your doctor may have numerous staff members to assist in the procedure like a board certified anesthesiologist, staff nurses, and critical care nurses all available to monitor patients. But, when you go to a doctor’s office or a surgical center for a plastic surgery procedure, you may not be given anesthesia, or if given it, may not have a person administering it who has extensive experience working with anesthesia. Consequently with the growing number of Canadians seeking plastic surgery, an increase in errors related to plastic surgery procedures has occurred in recent years.

Most problems that occur in plastic surgery procedures involve anesthesia and post-anesthesia recovery. This is typically due to the surgeon who performs the surgery not knowing how to properly handle an anesthesia-related incident and not utilizing a certified anesthetist when a procedure is done outside a hospital setting. In a lot of these medical malpractice cases, the plastic surgery appears to have gone successfully until the patient is severely injured or dies as a result of an anesthesia injury. Thus, it is highly important that patients be made aware of the risks of an elective surgery and carefully chose a plastic surgeon who they are confident is qualified and equipped to handle not only the plastic surgery but any emergency situation that might arise as a result of the surgery or anesthetic.

Anesthesia Errors that Result in Injuries during Plastic Surgery

Some of the errors that result in an anesthesia injury during plastic surgery involve the following.

• Inexperienced or untrained staff
• Communication mistakes between medical personnel who perform the surgery
• Failure of staff to adequately familiarize themselves with a patient’s medical records to deal with health conditions, allergies and medication sensitivities that might cause problems during a plastic surgery procedure

Since patients are usually unconscious during any surgical procedure, he or she is usually the last to know that a medical malpractice has occurred. Most medical mistakes, while correctible do no leave patients with permanent effects. However, when injury does occur as a result of medical negligence, those mistakes may be subject to compensation to the injured patient through the filing of a medical malpractice lawsuit against the doctor, staff, or hospital where the surgery took place.

If you have suffered an injury or lost a loved one as a result of a plastic surgery, contact an experienced medical malpractice lawyer immediately.