Cerebral Palsy Occupational Therapy

Cerebral palsy (CP) is an all-encompassing ailment. Even carrying out the most basic tasks can be a challenge for someone with CP, which is where occupational therapy can help. This specific type of therapy aims “to help people to live their lives more independently,” and achieving that goal can involve several exercises and treatments.

Your child deserves access to every resource that fosters independence and improves their quality of life. If you want to learn how a Cerebral Palsy Lawyer will seek compensation for your child’s occupational therapy and other CP-related damages, call the Cerebral Palsy Lawyer Alliance today. We can connect you with the right legal professional.

What Is Occupational Therapy?

The term “occupational therapy” can include a range of exercises, instructions, and resources meant to improve the patient’s independence, daily functioning, and overall health. Examples of occupational therapy include:

• Movement exercises, which may improve your child’s balance and help them walk more naturally
• Activities that improve your child’s concentration and memory
• Communication-specific instruction and exercises
• Instruction and practice about completing daily tasks (like self-hygiene, getting dressed, and getting in and out of bed)
• Assistance learning how to use aids like a walker or wheelchair
• Instruction specific to schoolwork or a career
• Family-focused instruction that helps parents and other loved ones care for someone with cerebral palsy

Everyone with cerebral palsy has unique symptoms, and there are categories of cerebral palsy defined by different symptom clusters. An occupational therapist can:

• Review your child’s medical records
• Speak with you about your child’s cerebral palsy (and their struggles related to the CP)
• Devise a personalized plan for your child’s occupational therapy
• Review the plan with you, get your feedback, and answer your questions

Caring for a child with cerebral palsy is, for most, a collaborative effort. An occupational therapist may provide services and perspectives immensely valuable to you (and, of course, your child).

Why Occupational Is Often Critical to Helping Those with Cerebral Palsy

Occupational therapy often has specific aims, such as improving a patient’s gait or helping them learn to dress themselves. There are also bigger-picture benefits that often come from prolonged occupational therapy, which include:

• Promoting the child’s independence
• Improving the child’s self-esteem
• Reducing pain, as their ability to walk and move in specific ways may reduce immediate and long-term discomfort
• Improving your child’s overall quality of life
• Enhancing the child’s physical health, as the many benefits of occupational therapy may reduce stress and promote physical health in other ways
• Allowing the person with cerebral palsy to pursue a career, if their symptoms allow (which may deliver many socially-derived benefits)

You likely want your child to have the best life possible despite facing the challenge of cerebral palsy. Occupational therapy is proven to deliver many benefits, so you should plan on it becoming part of your child’s treatment plan, if it is not already.

Occupational Therapy Is Just One of Several Treatments for CP

Occupational therapy is not the only treatment available for children and adults with cerebral palsy. Some other common ways of improving patients’ quality of life include:

Physiotherapy

Physiotherapy has several goals, and the target outcome of this therapy (sometimes referred to as physical therapy) may depend on your child’s specific symptoms. Your child may:

• Receive regular stretching that improves their range of motion, helps their mobility, and reduces discomfort
• Undergo exercises that improve their balance and gait
• Receive instruction that improves their posture
• Receive several other types of physical therapy that deliver various benefits

Just as an occupational therapist will create a plan specific to your child, a physiotherapist will do the same.

Surgery

Some symptoms of cerebral palsy are debilitating enough that surgery is warranted. Surgery for cerebral palsy may:

• Be necessary when the individual suffers an injury
• Reduce muscular tension, which is a common symptom of CP
• Improve the patient’s scoliosis
• Achieve other means

Surgery is always serious and is not always necessary for those with CP. However, surgery can be a means to a better quality of life.

Medication

Medication can become a constant in the lives of those with cerebral palsy. Medicines may achieve several ends, from relaxing muscles to staving off seizures.
Your child may require some medications for the remainder of their life, and this may prove expensive.

General Care 

Those who have cerebral palsy may be more likely to need:

• Dental care beyond regular cleanings
• Continuous medical care
• Medical equipment
• Care for their eyes and ears
• Medical care for conditions that aren’t part of their cerebral palsy, but may be caused in part by the CP

Many children born with cerebral palsy never reach full independence. This means that their parents may face the financial cost of care throughout their lives, as well as the cost of sheltering and feeding the person with CP.

Is Occupational Therapy Expensive?

Occupational therapy can be expensive, especially if your child requires it throughout their life. Even more expensive, though, will be the total cost of all your child’s care (including the care they need as an adult).
Most parents do not expect their child to be born with a serious disability, which means many parents are not financially prepared for:

• The emergency services a child with CP often requires
• The thousands of dollars of medical equipment many with CP require
• The long-term cost of intensive medical care, therapy, and rehabilitation
• The cost of caregiver services
• The cost of raising a child into adulthood

While the emotional and psychological challenges of raising a child with CP must also be acknowledged, the direct financial cost of the condition often causes parents the most stress. 

I’m Not Sure I Can Afford Therapy for My Child. What Are My Options?

Most parents are daunted by the financial toll that cerebral palsy imposes. The challenges of raising a disabled child can make these financial obligations even more stressful, and you must access all the financial relief you are entitled to.
Consider this: Your child’s cerebral palsy may be the result of medical malpractice. If this proves true, you may secure compensation through:

• A medical malpractice insurance claim
• A medical malpractice lawsuit

An attorney will evaluate your circumstances and explain your options. They may also advise you which course of action makes the most sense. Among other considerations, your lawyer will weigh whether those who committed malpractice have the insurance coverage necessary to account for your family’s CP-related damages.

What Is Medical Malpractice?

If you plan to learn whether medical malpractice contributed to your child developing cerebral palsy, you must know what medical malpractice is.
Medical malpractice is negligence in the medical field. Those who may be responsible for medical malpractice include:

• Doctors (including those who provide prenatal care and deliver children)
• Nurses
• Owners of medical facilities
• Medical device manufacturers
• Anyone else who plays a role in the chain of patient care

An attorney may prove that one or more medical professionals committed malpractice by:

• Establishing that at-fault parties owed you and your child a duty of care: Medical providers, including those who care for pregnant women and children, owe their patients a duty of care. Your lawyer will establish this fact as they argue that medical malpractice has occurred.
• Proving how the at-fault parties breached their duty of care: Your attorney will present all available evidence that one or more parties breached their duty of care, in doing so, committing medical malpractice.
• Proving that the breach of duty of care caused your child’s CP
• Proving how the cerebral palsy has negatively affected your child and family

Understanding How Medical Malpractice Can Cause Cerebral Palsy

Cerebral palsy can result in several ways, so many potential types of medical malpractice can contribute to CP. Some of the medical errors (and other types of malpractice) that may have contributed to your child’s disability include:

• Incorrectly interpreting imaging or other signs of fetal health during pregnancy
• Failing to diagnose a prenatal condition that posed a heightened risk of your child developing cerebral palsy
• Recommending that the mother take unsafe actions (or undergo unsafe treatments) during pregnancy
• Not monitoring the mothers’ and child’s health throughout pregnancy and childbirth
• Not ordering an emergency C-section 
• Exposing mother, child, or both to unsterile conditions that contribute to an infection
• Committing a physical error during delivery that may have caused the CP

Doctors, medical facilities, and others in the medical field must exercise abundant caution. The patient’s safety must always be the foremost priority, and unborn children and newborns qualify as patients.
An experienced cerebral palsy lawyer will review all relevant information, evidence, and documentation. They will also work with medical experts. Your attorney will weigh all the facts and explain whether you have grounds for a medical malpractice claim or lawsuit.

How a Cerebral Palsy Lawyer Will Pursue Compensation for Your Child’s Therapy (and Other Damages)

Though every medical malpractice lawyer has their own approach, they share a common mission. When you hire a lawyer, their goal is to obtain fair compensation for you, your child, and anyone else affected by the challenges of cerebral palsy.
Your attorney will also work to hold liable parties accountable for causing harm to your child (and your family). They will fight for your financial recovery by:

Identifying and Proving All Instances of Malpractice

As the basis of any malpractice case, an attorney must prove malpractice. Your lawyer may prove medical providers’ negligence with the following:

• Your account of what happened during pregnancy and childbirth
• Medical experts’ testimony about how one or more medical providers failed you and your child
• Relevant medical records and bills

Testimony from medical experts is often critical to cerebral palsy cases. Those experts may testify explicitly that liable medical providers failed in their duties to you and your child.

Determining Who Owes You and Your Child Compensation

As your lawyer investigates the cause of your child’s CP, they will determine:

• Whose negligence most likely caused or allowed the condition
• Who is financially liable for that negligence

Medical providers often have malpractice insurance, meaning their insurance provider may be imminently liable for the harm your family has suffered. You may also have the right to sue negligent parties directly.

Documenting Your Family’s Recoverable Damages

Your lawyer will secure all relevant documentation of your and your child’s damages, which may include:

• For your child’s damages: Medical records, testimony from medical experts and mental health professionals, your testimony about the challenges your child has endured
• For your damages: Medical bills (parents generally face the cost of their child’s care), mental health experts’ testimony about your pain and suffering, proof of lost income

The harm caused by cerebral palsy is complex, long-lasting, and often affects the entire family. Your attorney will use all available documentation to prove your recoverable damages.

Setting a Settlement Target That Reflects Long-Term Damages

Your attorney will consider both present and long-term damages as they calculate the value of the medical malpractice case. They may work alongside medical experts, economists, and other experts to ensure their valuation is accurate.

Negotiating Fiercely for a Settlement

When your attorney has identified your case value, they can then pursue the settlement your family deserves. 

Guiding You Through the Legal Process, If Your Case Requires It

If you must sue a negligent doctor or any other at-fault parties, your lawyer will file the lawsuit and lead you through the legal process (including any necessary trial).

What Damages Can a Cerebral Palsy Attorney Seek Compensation For?

Some damages that lawyers often include in cerebral palsy-related malpractice cases include:

• The child’s pain and suffering
• The parent’s pain and suffering
• The cost of mental health services for all affected by the CP
• Medical expenses
• The parent’s lost income
• Caregiver costs
• Medical equipment costs
• The cost of raising an adult with CP
• All other economic and non-economic damages

Your lawyer will speak compassionately with you to ensure they have all the necessary information. This will ensure they seek fair compensation for your family.

Call the Cerebral Palsy Lawyer Alliance Today About Working with a Medical Malpractice Lawyer

Cerebral palsy-related medical malpractice cases often have filing deadlines. You should not wait to connect with an attorney, and our legal network can help.
Call the Cerebral Palsy Lawyer Alliance today so we can put you in touch with a proven and compassionate lawyer.