Cerebral Palsy Information | What to Expect after a CP Diagnosis

What to Expect after a CP Diagnosis

When your child is diagnosed with baby brain damage and it turns out to be severe enough to result in cerebral palsy, there are a few things that you can expect to happen. First and foremost, you can expect that you're going have some very high medical costs because of having to deal with the treatments and diagnoses that go along with caring for a child who has this condition.

Expenses

A child with cerebral palsy will end up needing more expensive medical care as they age. At first, the child will obviously have no need for assistive devices for getting around, hearing aids, glasses, special education or any of the other expenses that will come along with cerebral palsy. These things will come later, however, and they can be very expensive in many cases.

Care

Your child may also need some very intense types of caregiving to have any quality of life. For example, some people with cerebral palsy cannot even feed themselves while others have only minor symptoms. If your child has a very severe case of cerebral palsy, you may find that you have to provide them with quite a bit of assistance for them to get by. This may even require that you hire a professional caregiver to work with the child in your home or, at least, that you undergo some training yourself so that you're able to give a level of care commensurate with their needs.

Education

You can also expect that your child will have some issues in school. Some of these issues will stem from the fact that children with cerebral palsy tend to have trouble hearing and speaking. Vision problems are also very common and any of these issues can lead to diminished learning ability. Combined with the fact that many people who suffer from CP also have cognitive deficiencies, the learning disabilities can be even more pronounced.

If you believe that medical negligence played a part in your child suffering a brain injury that led to cerebral palsy, you may be able to file a lawsuit that could win you a jury award that could go a long way toward paying for the treatment of cerebral palsy. There are lawyers that specialize in these cases and they may be able to sit down with you and tell you whether or not you have a case worth pursuing and, if so, if they would be interested in representing you.