Life is a struggle for everyone at times. Challenges arise. Grief takes over. You just can’t get ahead. But what about the child who suffers a birth injury? The fight begins for this little one from the moment he or she takes their first breath – and the family of this infant lives every day fighting, trying to survive the horrible hand they have all been dealt.
Birth Injuries Change Lives Forever
Birth injuries and traumatic brain injuries at birth cause a host of afflictions, including cerebral palsy, developmental delays, learning disabilities, cognitive disorders, and speech and language delays. The aftereffects from some minor birth injuries can be overcome with therapy and targeted medical care, but severe birth injuries are permanent and change a child’s life – and their family’s life – forever.
Consider a child who has severe cerebral palsy because of a birth injury: He cannot walk or feed himself. He suffers from seizures and has difficulty swallowing and breathing. Muscle tone is inadequate, developmental milestones are delayed and may never be reached, and he needs a wheelchair and other equipment.
Taking care of any child is exhausting, but for the caregiver of a child with cerebral palsy the fight is never ending.
You’re fighting for services to help your child.
You’re taking your child to therapy and doctor appointments, seeing to his daily needs – from bathing to eating, bathroom needs to emotional support – arranging for special schooling, and doing all of this in a specially designed vehicle.
Or maybe you don’t have the equipment you need to help assist your child and travel with your child. Maybe you’re trying to hold down a job and care for your child at the same time. You fight to secure the services your child needs within your budget and other constraints, because there are few free services. And those that are free are often not enough.
You’re fighting to stay financially afloat.
Children with severe birth injuries need around-the-clock care. If you’re not at home doing the caregiving yourself, you’ve had to hire someone to help your family. If you are at home, you have potentially given up a job to be a caregiver.
Maybe you don’t have the kind of health insurance that provides the medical care your child needs. If you’re trying to pay for a child’s special needs out of pocket, the debt will just grow bigger.
You’re fighting to create a new normal for your family.
When your child suffers a birth injury, family life is irrevocably altered. Your imagined family outings to the park or museums are gone, your daydreams about family vacations have vanished. These things could still happen, but with restrictions. Your other children may feel neglected and resentful. Guilt is everywhere for a parent of a child with special needs.
You’re fighting for people to understand what your child needs.
Organizations that offer the special services your child demands have checklists of what’s available. But maybe your child needs something more, like a certain kind of wheelchair, or overnight care. Or perhaps you don’t qualify for aid for whatever reason. Negotiating with the system can feel like a nearly impossible fight.
You’re fighting quietly within yourself.
A birth injury is preventable, and medical teams are responsible for failing to provide the standard of care that led to the birth injury. Nevertheless, parents of children with cerebral palsy or other conditions caused by birth trauma feel guilty. Could you have done something differently? Could you have prevented this from happening to your child and your family?
You’re fighting for justice.
The doctors, nurses, or other medical professionals who were responsible for your care and your child’s care during pregnancy, labor, and delivery should be held accountable for your child’s birth injury. Not only do you deserve justice for how your child’s life was forever altered, but your effort to bring poor medical care to light protects other families from the same struggles you now live with every day.
Don’t Fight Alone
The birth injury attorneys at Thurswell Law are ready to help you fight, to argue for your right to the compensation you deserve after your child’s preventable injury, so you can afford to care for your child and their medical, educational, and personal needs. Contact Thurswell Law for a free consultation. We do not charge any fees unless you collect. Call (248) 354-2222 today to schedule your consultation.
