Serious infant injuries that occur shortly prior to, during or following birth can owe to a multitude of reasons, including natural causes. Birth injuries, though, sadly occur in many instances due to the acts or omissions of hospital professionals that constitute medical malpractice.

Commonly, birth injuries involve respiratory failure, C-section error, lack of oxygen, fetal distress and birth trauma. In many cases, too, cerebral palsy - a seriously disabling neurodevelopmental condition - is an unfortunate birth injury outcome that is brought about by substandard medical care.

A recent study soon to be published in an upcoming volume of the Journal of Pediatrics concludes from its collected data that there have been some promising developments in recent years concerning both the number of cerebral palsy diagnoses and their severity in infants born prematurely.

The study, which was administered at the University Medical Center Utrecht in The Netherlands, examined 3,000 children born prematurely - an audience that is particularly susceptible to being diagnosed with cerebral palsy - over a 15-year period from 1990 to 2005. Researchers found that 6.5 percent of the infants born between 1990 and 1993 were diagnosed with the condition, with only 2.2 percent of the infants born between 2002 and 2005 being similarly diagnosed. They consider this a dramatic decline.

What study authors conclude from this data is that improvements in perinatal and neonatal care can be inferred over time from the reduced rate of cerebral palsy reported. That improvement extends to care and treatment that has also lessened the severity of the condition in many instances, especially in decreasing large hemorrhages and white matter lesions in the brain.

A flip side of this is that, with improved treatment and a higher standard of care, medical malpractice that contributes directly to a case of cerebral palsy becomes ever more egregious. An experienced and diligent medical malpractice attorney can help to hold medical professionals accountable for negligent care and future medical costs.

Related Resource: www.scienceblog.com "Decline in CP diagnoses in premature infants suggests improvements in perinatal care" March 2, 2011