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Striding into Cerebral Palsy Awareness Month comes disabled athlete Alex Roca, who this week has become the first person with a 76% physical disability to complete a marathon, providing inspiration for CP sufferers worldwide. Alex, a 32-year-old Spanish national, has Cerebral Palsy after contracting encephalitis from the herpes virus at six months old.
Cerebral Palsy Awareness Month is an initiative started in 2006 to strive for changes in education, healthcare and society more generally so that those living with this condition have better opportunities.
Cerebral Palsy is a neurological condition that affects muscles, movements, and mobility. It is the most common motor disability of childhood. Sufferers will have varying symptoms but their needs can be very profound with some unable to control movement, feed themselves or see and hear properly. The cause of Cerebral Palsy is not always known but it can happen if a baby’s brain does not develop normally during pregnancy or is damaged during or soon after birth.
When Cerebral Palsy is caused by negligence
Cerebral Palsy can be caused by medical negligence, most commonly from mistakes made during birth leading to brain injuries, including a lack of oxygen. Cerebral Palsy can also be caused by undiagnosed issues in pregnancy, such as an infection, or failures in treatment after birth including inadequate management of jaundice, leading to a condition called kernicterus, which can cause brain damage.
New technologies can change the future
There is currently no cure for Cerebral Palsy but there are treatments available which can help those with the condition to be as active and independent as possible. These include physiotherapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy. Technologies are improving all the time to upgrade the quality of life for those living with the condition. We previously addressed this in our article about a young Cerebral Palsy sufferer walking unaided. Robotic technology and other innovations have the potential to change the future landscape dramatically.
Anything is possible
Just as Alex fulfilled his dreams running in the Barcelona marathon, BBC news recently reported on Jonathan Turtle a young man with Cerebral Palsy who is now able to pursue his passion for dairy farming thanks to a specially adapted wheelchair.
Kingsley Napley help many clients with Cerebral Palsy
We specialise in Cerebral Palsy clinical negligence cases, whether the claim is that negligence caused the condition or the claim is for some other treatment issue. We work with a wide range of experts in areas such as neuro-rehabilitation, physiotherapy, speech and language therapy, educational psychology to name a few, in order to ensure that we have a complete picture of the needs of an individual both now and in the future. We have won many multi-million-pound awards for such clients, allowing them to access the treatment and support they need for a positive future. Some innovative treatments/technologies are not available on the NHS and awards of damages can enable these to be funded.
If you would like to speak to a member of our medical negligence team then please call us on 020 7814 1200.
FURTHER INFORMATION
If you would like any further information or advice about the topic discussed in this blog, please contact our Medical Negligence and Personal Injury team.
Medical Negligence and Personal Injury Team
We welcome views and opinions about the issues raised in this blog. Should you require specific advice in relation to personal circumstances, please use the form on the contact page.
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