What is cerebral palsy?
Cerebral palsy (CP) is a group of lifelong disorders of movement and posture caused by damage to the developing brain, most often before or around the time of birth. The word breaks down plainly: cerebral means the brain, and palsy means a problem with movement or muscle control. The brain injury itself does not get worse over time, but its effects on the body change as a child grows.
CP is the most common motor disability of childhood. Depending on where and how severely the brain was affected, a child may have tight or stiff muscles, involuntary movements, poor balance, or a mix of these. Many children with CP also have associated conditions: seizures, intellectual disability, vision or hearing loss, or difficulty speaking and swallowing, but some have normal intelligence and only a physical impairment. No two children with cerebral palsy are exactly alike.
How common is cerebral palsy?
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), cerebral palsy affects about 1 in 345 children in the United States, based on community surveillance data. It is more common in children born prematurely or at low birth weight, and slightly more common in boys than girls. Roughly three in four children with CP have the spastic (stiff-muscle) form.
Most children with CP are diagnosed in the first two years of life, though milder cases are sometimes not confirmed until age three to five, when subtle differences in coordination become clearer.
The main types of cerebral palsy
Doctors classify CP by the kind of movement problem it causes and by which parts of the body are involved.
| Type | What it looks like | Part of the brain affected |
|---|---|---|
| Spastic (about 75-80% of cases) | Stiff, tight muscles; jerky movements; the most common form | Motor cortex |
| Dyskinetic / athetoid | Slow, writhing, or abrupt involuntary movements; changing muscle tone | Basal ganglia |
| Ataxic | Poor balance and coordination; shaky, unsteady movement | Cerebellum |
| Mixed | Features of more than one type together | Multiple regions |
The dyskinetic form has a particular legal significance: it is the classic pattern seen after kernicterus, brain injury from severe untreated newborn jaundice, which is one of the most preventable causes of cerebral palsy. Our full breakdown of the categories, subtypes, and the GMFCS severity scale is on the types of cerebral palsy page.
What causes cerebral palsy?
Cerebral palsy is the end result of an injury to or abnormal development of the brain. That injury can happen at different points:
- Before birth (prenatal): the largest share of cases. Causes include infections during pregnancy, problems with placental blood flow, strokes in the fetus, and genetic or developmental differences in how the brain formed.
- Around the time of birth (perinatal): oxygen deprivation during a difficult labor (hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy, or HIE), untreated severe jaundice (kernicterus), and serious infections acquired around delivery.
- After birth (postnatal): a small share of cases, from causes such as meningitis, severe head injury, or near-drowning in infancy.
A full, candid account of each pathway, including which ones can involve medical negligence and which typically cannot, is on our what causes cerebral palsy page.
When cerebral palsy is birth-injury-related, and when it is not
This is the question that brings most parents to a page like this, and it deserves a straight answer. Most cerebral palsy is not caused by medical malpractice. Decades of research have shown that a large proportion of CP originates in events during pregnancy that no one could have prevented: the brain was already affected before labor began.
But a meaningful minority of cases do trace back to preventable failures around delivery. When a baby is deprived of oxygen because fetal distress on the monitor was ignored, when a necessary cesarean is delayed for hours, or when dangerous newborn jaundice is never measured or treated, the resulting brain injury, and the cerebral palsy that follows, may have been avoidable. In those cases the law recognizes that families deserve answers and support.
The only reliable way to tell which category a specific child falls into is to review the actual medical records: the fetal monitoring strips, the delivery timeline, the newborn bilirubin levels, the resuscitation notes. That review is exactly what separates an honest evaluation from a sales pitch, and it is where our attorneys and independent medical experts start.
Early signs of cerebral palsy by age
Because the brain injury is present early but the body’s abilities unfold over months, CP is usually recognized through missed milestones rather than a single symptom. Signs differ by age: stiffness or floppiness in a newborn, a hand preference before 12 months, not sitting or walking on schedule in a toddler. Our signs of cerebral palsy by age guide walks through what to watch for from the newborn period through toddlerhood, and when to ask for a developmental evaluation.
How cerebral palsy is diagnosed
There is no single test for cerebral palsy. Diagnosis combines a detailed history, repeated physical and neurological exams, and brain imaging such as an MRI, sometimes supported by a standardized tool called the General Movements Assessment in young infants. Because doctors often wait to see how motor skills develop, a firm diagnosis is frequently delayed, which matters for families, because certain records become important later. See how cerebral palsy is diagnosed for the full process and the records worth preserving.
Treatment and lifelong care
Cerebral palsy cannot be cured, but a great deal can be done to improve function, comfort, and independence: physical, occupational, and speech therapy; medications and Botox injections for spasticity; orthopedic surgery or selective dorsal rhizotomy in some children; braces, walkers, wheelchairs, and communication devices. Care is lifelong and can be expensive: see cerebral palsy treatment and therapy and, for questions of prognosis, cerebral palsy life expectancy.
Wondering whether something went wrong during your child’s delivery? The answer is in the medical records: the monitoring strips, the delivery timeline, the newborn labs. Reviewing them with our attorneys costs nothing, and we will tell you plainly if there is no case.
Was it preventable?
Preventability is not a yes-or-no fact you can read off a chart. It is a medical and legal judgment about whether the care met the accepted standard and whether a departure from that standard caused the injury. In cerebral palsy, the questions experts ask include: Was fetal distress recognized and acted on? Was a needed cesarean performed in time? Were newborn jaundice and infection screened for and treated? Was resuscitation handled properly?
Not every case of cerebral palsy is malpractice, and a responsible evaluation will say so plainly when the records show care was appropriate. But where a documented failure lines up with the timing and pattern of a baby’s brain injury, families have the right to pursue accountability and the funding their child’s care requires.
Legal options for families
A cerebral palsy claim is a medical-negligence claim. It asks whether the care a mother and baby received fell below the accepted standard, and whether that failure caused the brain injury. Because a child with CP may need decades of therapy, equipment, and attendant care, compensation in these cases can cover lifetime medical costs, lost future earnings, home and vehicle modification, and the family’s losses. Our guide to suing for cerebral palsy explains when a case exists and what evidence matters, and published outcomes are discussed on our cerebral palsy settlement amounts page.
Deadlines to file, statutes of limitations, vary by state and are explained on our statute of limitations guide. Where your case would be handled depends on where the care happened: Banville Law attorneys are licensed in New York and Washington, D.C.; The Weitz Firm attorneys are licensed in Pennsylvania and New Jersey; elsewhere, the alliance connects families with its vetted network of local birth injury attorneys.
Frequently asked questions
Is cerebral palsy always caused by a mistake at birth?
No. Most cerebral palsy originates in events during pregnancy that could not have been prevented. A minority of cases trace to preventable failures around delivery, such as ignored fetal distress, a delayed cesarean, or untreated newborn jaundice. Only a review of the medical records can tell which applies to a given child.
Can cerebral palsy be cured?
No. The underlying brain injury is permanent. Treatment focuses on improving movement, communication, comfort, and independence through therapy, medication, surgery, and equipment, which is why lifetime-care funding matters so much for affected families.
Will my child’s cerebral palsy get worse?
The brain injury itself does not progress. However, its effects on the growing body (muscle tightness, joint problems, posture), can change over time, which is why ongoing therapy and orthopedic care are important.
How is cerebral palsy different from HIE?
HIE (hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy) is a specific brain injury from oxygen deprivation around birth; it is one of the causes of cerebral palsy. CP is the lasting movement disorder that can result. A child can have HIE that leads to CP, or CP from an entirely different cause.
What does a case review cost?
Nothing. The review is free and confidential, and birth injury cases are handled on contingency: attorney fees come only from a recovery, never out of your pocket.
Sources
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Data and Statistics for Cerebral Palsy. National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities.
- National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS). Cerebral Palsy: Hope Through Research. U.S. National Institutes of Health.
- Rosenbaum P, Paneth N, Leviton A, et al. A report: the definition and classification of cerebral palsy. Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology. 2007;49(s109):8-14.
- American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists & American Academy of Pediatrics. Neonatal Encephalopathy and Neurologic Outcome, 2nd ed. 2014 (reaffirmed).
- Novak I, Morgan C, Adde L, et al. Early, Accurate Diagnosis and Early Intervention in Cerebral Palsy. JAMA Pediatrics. 2017;171(9):897-907.
This page is for general education and is not medical advice. Medical facts above are drawn from the cited primary sources; legal statements reflect the reviewing attorneys’ professional experience. Always consult your child’s physician about medical concerns.