Cerebral palsy is a lifelong condition which affects a child from birth throughout life. The high reliance on continual medical treatment means that medical costs associated with the condition are likely to be very high, and are estimated to be substantially higher than for a child with a physical disability. Costs arise from both medical treatment and non-medical expenses such as home modification and special education. A cerebral palsy lawsuit to recover compensation for these costs may be pursued if there is evidence that medical malpractice was responsible for causing the condition. The most common complications which may be associated with development of cerebral palsy include complications which required the use of forceps, vacuum extraction or cesarean section. This may have meant that the child spent too long in the birth canal and was then starved of oxygen. Also, if your child required cardiopulmonary resuscitation or "CPR" after birth, this too may be a sign of complications which prevented oxygen getting to the baby's brain. This lack of oxygen to the brain, medically termed "hypoxia", can severely damage the brain and be a major causative factor in development of cerebral palsy.