Tag: Cerebral Palsy

A new paper on Cerebral Palsy, published in the South African Medical Journal, challenges commonly held views on the subject and suggests that the causes of this tragic condition may be far more complex and multi-faceted. Commonly held assumptions that CP arises as a direct result of preventable adverse events during childbirth inform the current paradigm within South African medico-legal cases, in which the focus is almost exclusively on events during childbirth (intrapartum events). Among the paper’s findings are that intrapartum trauma may constitute the final link in a complex chain of pathophysiological processes that lead to brain injury and ultimately CP. In many cases this causal pathway could depend on (among other things) genetic factors, as well as adverse circumstances and even...