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Cerebral Palsy Litigation—Reply
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In Reply: We thank Dr Bishop for bringing to the discussion on obstetric malpractice litigation the costs of care for persons with cerebral palsy. These dauntingly high costs may indeed motivate parents to initiate litigation, whether or not there is causal evidence about the child's disability. However, seeking to recover costs of care through litigation is an extraordinarily inefficient process, both slow and unpredictable. Even when an award is made, the majority of money may go to "administrative costs" for lawyers, the court, and witnesses, rather than to the needy child and family. In addition, trying to provide for disabled children by lawsuits against clinicians who cannot prevent cerebral palsy is profoundly unfair and makes those caregivers want to stop delivering babies.
There must be a better way to provide for persons who need care, however their disability might have arisen. It is international experience that provision of care via . . . [Full Text of this Article]
Alastair MacLennan, MD
Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology
Women's and Children's Hospital
University of Adelaide
Adelaide, Australia
Karin B. Nelson, MD
knelson@helix.nih.gov
Neuroepidemiology Branch
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke
National Institutes of Health
Bethesda, Md
Gary Hankins, MD
Department of Obstetrics
University of Texas Medical Branch
Galveston
Michael Speer, MD
Department of Pediatrics
Baylor College of Medicine
Houston, Tex
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