Our Six Decades of Results Prove We’re Tacoma’s Top Cerebral Palsy Attorneys

Has your child or loved one been diagnosed with cerebral palsy? Ten thousand babies are diagnosed each year. Often, Cerebral palsy is unpreventable. It can develop before birth, during birth, or even into the first few years of the child’s life.

But what about when cerebral palsy could have been avoided? Or, what if a medical error caused the cerebral palsy? Who should be held accountable for such preventable birth injuries? Medical malpractice, tragic and inexcusable, can sometimes be the cause of cerebral palsy.

At RHHK, pursuing your justice fuels us. If you’ve been wronged by a negligent medical professional, we urge you to fill out our contact form for a free consultation.

What Is Cerebral Palsy?

Among children with motor disabilities, cerebral palsy is the most common. Symptoms can look different for different people, but cerebral palsy affects the ability to move and maintain balance and posture. While one person’s ability to walk may be only slightly affected, another may need special walking equipment.

Depending on their type of cerebral palsy—spastic, dyskinetic, ataxic, or mixed—a person may experience symptoms affecting their muscle control. Some symptoms of cerebral palsy include, but are not limited to:

• Stiff muscles and exaggerated reflexes
• Stiff, or rigid, muscles with normal reflexes
• Muscle tone variations, such as stiff or floppy
• Lack of balance and muscle coordination
• Difficulty with fine motor skills
• Difficulty walking

For in-depth information about the types of cerebral palsy and their symptoms, we suggest you visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) webpage about cerebral palsy here.

Can Medical Malpractice Cause Cerebral Palsy?

Yes, it can. And when a child’s cerebral palsy is caused by medical negligence, it’s more than a tragedy—it’s an injustice. Like with other personal injuries, cerebral palsy can happen when a medical professional fails to provide an acceptable standard of care. This can result in a birth injury, like cerebral palsy. Some ways a medical professional may cause cerebral palsy include, but are not limited to:

• Anesthesia or surgical errors
• Failure to detect and treat infections, like meningitis
• Failure to identify and treat problems with the umbilical cord, such as prolapsed umbilical cord
• Failure to monitor infant heartbeat
• Failure to properly carry out an emergency c-section
• Failure to properly monitor oxygen levels
• Improper use of forceps or vacuum extraction tools during delivery

At Rush, Hannula, Harkins & Kyler PLLC, we’re a team of trial lawyers who are fueled by pursuing your justice—and we have the results to show for it. Known and respected throughout Washington, we have more than six decades of handling cerebral palsy cases. For a free case review, simply fill out our contact form here.

Fueled by Getting You the Compensation You Deserve

Having cerebral palsy can be a financial burden. If your child’s injury was caused by medical malpractice, you may be entitled to compensation. Some reasons for compensation may include, but are not limited to:

• Home accommodations
• Medical care
• Medication
• Mobility equipment
• Pain and suffering
• Surgery
• Therapy
• Other injury-related costs

As cerebral palsy lawyers, we’ve helped people just like you recover damages and live well. From Seattle to Olympia, our legal team is equipped to face any medical provider or insurance company—of any size. Fill out our contact form for a free evaluation of your medical malpractice case.

Our 4-Step Plan for Pursuing Your Justice

Don’t know how to file a birth injury lawsuit? We do. And we’re on your side. As some of Tacoma’s best birth injury attorneys, we’ll be with you every step of the way. And the first step is a free consultation.

1. Come in for a free case review. It can be difficult to know the strength of your case without professional legal help. During our initial consultation, we’ll clearly explain the legal process; we’ll examine your case and give our honest opinion about its strength.
2. We’ll build your case. During this stage, we’ll gather evidence to help prove the medical provider’s negligence. We do this by examining medical records, taking witness statements, and other investigations. This work will help strengthen your position for the next round: negotiations.
3. We’ll try to settle out of court first. Most often, cases can be settled out of court, and that’s a good thing. Most medical providers prefer to avoid bad publicity, like a court trial. By negotiating, we can fight for the best settlement terms for you.
4. It may be necessary to file a lawsuit. Sometimes the negligent medical provider may not wish to settle. We may recommend taking the case to court. To prepare, we’ll conduct depositions, or sworn testimonies accepted as evidence. With RHHK’s relentless birth injury lawyers on your side, your case will have much more than a fighting chance.

Even though defending the wronged is what we do every day, no lawyer can guarantee a given outcome. But with 60 years providing results for our clients, we confidently rely on our expertise and experience when evaluating the strength of your case.

60 Years of Being a Different Kind of Law Firm

For more than six decades, RHHK has been guided by one singular focus: pursuing justice. And we’re not only justice-minded—we’re compassionate. Our clients come to us having suffered a profound loss. It’s our privilege and our duty to seek justice—and compensation—for them.

But what sets us apart—what truly makes us different—is our unfaltering dedication to your story. Your voice will be heard, not quieted. You will be championed, not ignored. And justice will be delivered, not forgotten.