When your child suffers a birth injury, it may be obvious right away. Perhaps the doctor was using forceps to assist with the birth, but your child suffered a shoulder injury or an arm injury. They needed treatment for a broken bone and it was very clear that this was not an optimal delivery from the moment that it happened.
That said, it is important for parents to remember that some birth injuries can be relatively hidden. Mistakes made during the delivery could harm the child, but the consequences of those mistakes will not be clear for a significant amount of time. One example of this is cerebral palsy, which is often diagnosed months or even years later.
Why is there a delay?
It just depends on the type of injury the child suffers. Cerebral palsy, in particular, is a brain injury. It happens because the child’s brain does not get the correct oxygen levels during the birth. But this injury is going to hinder brain development, and that only becomes clear when the child starts to miss milestones or fails to develop expected skills and abilities.
For instance, some children with cerebral palsy struggle with balance issues and have trouble walking. But parents of an infant may not realize that there are any balance issues because the child has not developed this ability to walk in the first place. Parents may start to notice that the child has trouble rolling over, sitting up, or even crawling, but they may not realize how serious it is until the child should be able to walk.
This is just one example, as cerebral palsy can have a wide range of potential symptoms. But it helps to show why parents need to understand all their legal rights to seek compensation, even if the medical mistake is not apparent until a later date.
