Medical facilities for diagnosing cerebral palsy in Cleveland
Cleveland Clinic Children’s
9500 Euclid Avenue
Cleveland, OH 44195
Phone: (216) 444-5437
Website: my.clevelandclinic.org/pediatrics
Cleveland Clinic Children’s provides pediatric neurology, developmental pediatrics, neuroimaging, and comprehensive diagnostic evaluations for children with suspected cerebral palsy.
University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital
11100 Euclid Avenue
Cleveland, OH 44106
Phone: (216) 844-5437
Website: www.uhhospitals.org/rainbow
Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital is a regional referral center for neonatal intensive care and pediatric neurology. Its developmental services team evaluates motor disorders, seizure conditions, and global developmental delays.
Akron Children’s Hospital
214 W. Bowery Street
Akron, OH 44308
Phone: (330) 543-1000
Website: www.akronchildrens.org
Akron Children’s serves families throughout Summit and surrounding counties with pediatric neurology, orthopedics, and developmental clinics.
Treatment and therapy for cerebral palsy in Cleveland
Cleveland Clinic Children’s Rehabilitation Services
9500 Euclid Avenue
Cleveland, OH 44195
Phone: (216) 444-5437
Website: my.clevelandclinic.org
Offers physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech-language pathology, and spasticity management including Botox and surgical consultation.
University Hospitals Pediatric Rehabilitation
3605 Warrensville Center Road
Shaker Heights, OH 44122
Phone: (216) 844-5437
Website: www.uhhospitals.org
Provides comprehensive therapy services and adaptive equipment evaluations for children with motor impairments.
Akron Children’s Hospital Rehabilitation
215 W. Bowery Street
Akron, OH 44308
Phone: (330) 543-8050
Website: www.akronchildrens.org
Offers intensive therapy programs, feeding therapy, and mobility training.
Organizations that support cerebral palsy in Cleveland
United Cerebral Palsy of Greater Cleveland
10011 Euclid Avenue
Cleveland, OH 44106
Phone: (216) 791-8363
Website: www.ucpcleveland.org
Provides community living supports, vocational services, and family assistance.
Ohio Early Intervention (Cuyahoga County)
Phone: (800) 755-4769
Website: ohioearlyintervention.org
Offers in-home services for children under age three with developmental delays.
The Achievement Centers for Children
4255 Northfield Road
Highland Hills, OH 44128
Phone: (216) 292-9700
Website: www.achievementcenters.org
Provides therapy, educational programming, and family resources.
Fundraisers for cerebral palsy in the region
United Cerebral Palsy of Greater Cleveland Annual Walk & Roll
Website: www.ucpcleveland.org
Akron Children’s Hospital Charity Walk
Website: www.akronchildrens.org
Various regional disability advocacy walks and adaptive sports fundraising events occur throughout Northeast Ohio each year.
Legal rights for those with a cerebral palsy disability
- Medicaid coverage: Ohio Medicaid and waiver programs can cover therapy, durable medical equipment, home health care, and residential supports for qualifying children.
- Right to education: Under federal IDEA and Ohio law, children are entitled to a Free Appropriate Public Education, including individualized education programs (IEPs) through local school districts.
- Employment protections: The Americans with Disabilities Act and Ohio Civil Rights Law prohibit workplace discrimination and require reasonable accommodations.
- Financial assistance: Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), and Ohio waiver programs may provide income and service support.
Helpful information for families dealing with cerebral palsy in Cleveland
Ohio’s Early Intervention program serves children under age three, and local school districts provide preschool special education beginning at age three. Families should request developmental evaluations promptly when delays are suspected.
Transportation resources through county boards of developmental disabilities can assist families who struggle with travel. Adaptive sports programs and community recreation initiatives in Northeast Ohio also offer opportunities for social engagement and physical activity.
For parents who believe a birth injury contributed to their child’s diagnosis, timely consultation with an attorney is essential. Ohio imposes statutes of limitation for medical malpractice damage claims from parents and children.
Lawsuits for cerebral palsy in Cleveland
Families who suspect something went wrong during labor or delivery should consider having an independent legal review performed on their case. Often times, parents don’t get straight answers from medical providers about what happened, and answers are only found after attorneys get involved.
In recent decades, Ohio laws have allowed cerebral palsy lawyers in Cleveland and surrounding areas to recover hundreds of millions for families to help deal with their child’s lifetime medical needs.
Preparing for a birth injury lawsuit in Cleveland
Some of the signs of medical mistakes that can contribute to cerebral palsy include:
- oxygen deprivation
- delayed C-section
- untreated infection
- improper use of forceps or vacuum extraction
If parents suspect any of these, the first step is to have an attorney preserve vital medical records for review such as prenatal records, labor and delivery notes, fetal monitoring strips, NICU records, and MRI results.
The role of parents is to furnish background information and sign medical authorizations, while their attorney obtains certified hospital records and consults with medical experts.
This evidence will be used to meet the four elements of an Ohio birth injury lawsuit, which are:
- A doctor, patient relationship existed.
- The provider breached the accepted standard of care.
- That breach directly caused injury.
- The child suffered damages as a result.
Ohio law also requires an “affidavit of merit” at the time of filing. This means a qualified medical expert must review the case and certify that negligence likely occurred. This distinguishes Ohio from some states where expert review comes later in litigation.
How many birth injury lawsuits are filed in Cleveland?
Cleveland sits in Cuyahoga County, one of Ohio’s busiest court jurisdictions. Of the 700,000 to 900,000 civil case filings statewide per year, around 70,000-90,000 of these occur near Cleveland.
National data suggests that medical malpractice claims represent about 1–2% of civil filings, or 700 to 1800 of claims in the Cleveland area.
However, the rarest and most complex of these, birth injury lawsuits for brain injury and cerebral palsy, only account for 90-185 of the total court cases each year.
How much are cerebral palsy lawsuits worth in Cleveland?
The value of a birth injury case in the Cleveland area can vary greatly based on the amount of medical negligence, severity of injury, weight of evidence for a jury and experience of your lawyer.
While there is no average value for cerebral palsy lawsuits in Cleveland, some recent case outcomes can be a guide for potential:
- $8.3 million settlement (Summit County 2017) - Claim alleged brain injury from delayed response to fetal distress and improper labor management.
- $15 million verdict (Stark County 2021) - Claim involved cerebral palsy due to prolonged oxygen deprivation during delivery.
- $6 million settlement (Cuyahoga County 2014) - Alleged failure to diagnose infection leading to neonatal brain injury.
- $12.5 million verdict (Lorain County 2019) - Allegations involved failure to timely perform a C-section, resulting in hypoxic brain injury.
- $15 million verdict (Cleveland 2017) - cerebral palsy linked to alleged failure to respond to abnormal fetal monitoring.
These verdicts and settlements show the value that juries and insurance experts might place on the lifetime care needs for those with cerebral palsy when evidence clearly shows mistakes in treatment.
Birth injury trends in the Cleveland area
Cuyahoga County and the surrounding areas account for roughly 18,000 to 25,000 births annually. Although exact data isn’t kept for each county, national birth trauma rates range from 2 to 7 per 1,000 live births.
Estimates suggest between 36–100 birth trauma cases are reported annually in the Cleveland area.
Although these rates were on the rise historically, recent data indicates that serious birth trauma rates have remained relatively stable over the past decade in Ohio. Also, improved fetal monitoring and NICU care have reduced mortality rates.
Cerebral palsy lawyers in Cleveland
Ohio’s specific laws for birth injury claims require special skills to navigate medical causation, damage caps, life-care planning and expert witness qualification.
While thousands of lawyers pursue personal injury litigation, only a small percentage have experience in multiple cases involving complex brain injury and cerebral palsy.
Of the roughly 40,000 licensed attorneys in Ohio, between 6,000-8,000 practice in Northeast Ohio. Only 180-400 of these handle general medical malpractice, while only 50-75 cerebral palsy lawyers in Cleveland have extensive experience litigating these cases.
Families navigating a child’s CP may be overwhelmed with finding a qualified birth injury lawyer in the Cleveland area. We recommend asking any potential attorney the following:
- Have you handled birth injury lawsuits in Cleveland for more than 10 years?
- Do other attorneys in the area refer cases to you because of your expertise?
- Do you have a reputation in Northeast Ohio for litigation or high volume settlement?
- Can your firm afford the costs to pursue this case through trial?
Cerebral Palsy Center works exclusively with firms that can investigate, manage and fund your case against powerful companies, joined with qualified cerebral palsy lawyers in Cleveland that have the local knowledge to maximize your results.
Cost of a birth injury lawsuit in Cleveland
Cleveland’s litigation costs are generally comparable to national averages, which range from $75,000 to $200,000 or more for litigating a complex medical malpractice case.
These costs are mostly made up of:
- Medical and economic expert fees
- Depositions
- Medical record gathering and certification
- Hearing attendance
- Trial preparation and displays
Fortunately, your attorney will cover the costs for your birth injury lawsuit upfront, as well as any attorney’s fees, and are only reimbursed if you receive an award.
Where a Cleveland birth injury case starts
The Quentin and Elisabeth Alexander Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at University Hospitals Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital holds Level IV status, the highest Ohio certifies, and has done for more than twenty years. It runs 82 neonatal beds. Cleveland also has the Cleveland Clinic children's system in the same market, so a family's records are often spread across two large independent institutions that do not share a chart.
A claim arising from care in Cleveland is generally filed in the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas. Ohio requires an affidavit of merit from a qualified expert to accompany a malpractice complaint, so the medical review has to be finished before filing rather than after.
Filing deadlines
Ohio’s filing deadlines do not change from one Ohio city to the next, and the two that matter most are set out below. The exceptions and the full damage rules are covered on our Ohio cerebral palsy lawyers page, and the Ohio line of our national deadline chart shows the dates at a glance.
The deadlines that apply here
Ohio is unusually short for parents. Their own claim must be filed within one year of when the injury was discovered or should have been, although a written 180 day letter sent before that year runs out extends the one year deadline to 180 days after the letter. Either way, the parents cannot file more than four years after the care. The child has far longer, until the 19th birthday for a birth injury claim. On damages, Ohio caps certain non-economic awards, generally $500,000 per plaintiff or $1 million per occurrence for catastrophic injury with permanent disability, while economic damages such as medical costs and lifetime care are not capped.
Sources
Data and Statistics for Cerebral Palsy. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved from cdc.gov
Understanding Supplemental Security Income, SSI for Children. Social Security Administration. Retrieved from ssa.gov
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, Subchapter III, Infants and Toddlers with Disabilities. U.S. Department of Education. Retrieved from sites.ed.gov
