Cerebral palsy is the result of a preventable birth injury. The family that has a child with cerebral palsy is not prepared for the financial challenges that come with having a child with special needs, let alone the physical, mental, and emotional struggles that must be faced on a daily basis.
Paying for the Needs of a Child with Cerebral Palsy
The physical needs of a child with cerebral palsy can be extensive, depending on the severity of their condition. Parents will face unexpected obstacles in their efforts to secure the care their child requires. Here are just some of the financial battles a parent of a child with cerebral palsy can face:
- Home modifications: Home modifications may be necessary to make it easier for you to care for your child. Changing your home is also important, in less severe cases of cerebral palsy, to give your child some independence whenever possible. Modifications include creating wider doorways and hallways, eliminating carpeting, creating ramps, easy bathroom access, lower light switches, grab bars with reinforced walls, and more. Any home renovation is expensive, but these special considerations are even costlier.
- Equipment: A child with cerebral palsy often needs access to special equipment to help them move, speak, and simply function. This can include wheelchairs, walkers, an adapted family vehicle, communication devices, stair glides, stool scooters, mechanical lifts, bath chairs, and more. All these items come with high price tags.
- Special schooling: Children with mild CP can often attend school with their peers without needing any special adjustments. Remember, many children with CP do not suffer with any learning disabilities and have a normal intellectual capacity. Their ability to learn like other kids or at the same pace, however, can be stunted because of their physical and communication limitations. In-home tutoring is often the best choice, or other special schooling, and this does not come free.
- In-home care: Whether parents of a child with CP must work to pay for their child’s needs, or whether they require assistance to manage their child around the clock, in-home care is a major help, but also a major expenditure.
- Medical costs: Daily physical therapy and ongoing medical care will be necessary for a child with cerebral palsy, particularly for children who have more severe cases. Some people may require medication or surgeries.
One of the greatest costs of cerebral palsy is, for parents, the grief, sadness, and anger that come with realizing their child’s future has been stolen from them because of a problem that could have been prevented during the child’s birth.
Affording the Costs of Cerebral Palsy
Cerebral palsy is not considered a degenerative disease, however, growing older while suffering with CP brings its own challenges, such as increased pain, side effects from long-term medication use, difficulty eating and swallowing, and trouble walking.
Nowhere along the way does the need for medical care and therapy ever wane for a person with cerebral palsy. Some estimates give the average lifetime care for a person with cerebral palsy around $1 million. Get the compensation you deserve to give your child with cerebral palsy the best life they can possibly have. Contact Thurswell Law for a free consultation to discuss your case. We do not charge any fees unless you collect. Call (248) 354-2222 today.
