Our birth defects attorneys strive to provide parents of children born with cleft palates and lips with pertinent information about their child’s disorder. Over half of children born with a cleft palate will encounter speech problems at some point during their lives. Regular evaluations by the speech-language pathologist on your child’s care team may be necessary to monitor your child’s speech and language progress and make any changes that are necessary. It is certainly possible for a child born with a cleft palate birth defect to not experience any speech disorders and, if the child has surgery before speech develops, the problem may be avoided completely. However, even if your child is not of speech age, it is important to familiarize yourself with difficulties that they may face in the future.
What Causes Speech Problems
When a cleft palate exists, the oral and nasal cavities are not separated, which causes two distinct issues that affect the formation of speech. First, the child has difficulty building the required air pressure in the mouth because it escapes out of the nose. Second, the tongue has less tissue available to touch on the roof of the mouth. Both of these issues make it difficult for a child to make some sounds required for speech. Once the palate is repaired it may be easier for your child to learn the sounds needed for the formation of speech. But remember: development of speech may end up being slower, so do not be frustrated.
Birth Defects Attorneys in New Jersey and Philadelphia
Parents often wonder if they require birth defects attorneys because their child was born with a cleft palate. In most cases, the answer is simply no: natural causes lead to the birth defect. However, contacting the Mininno Law Office birth defects attorneys may be one of the most important decisions you can make for your child if Topamax (Topiramate) was used while your child was in the womb. Topamax has been linked to a drastic increase in cleft palate formation when women take the drug while pregnant or during their child bearing years. If you believe that Topamax may have been a cause of your baby’s cleft lip or palate, do not hesitate to contact us.
We offer FREE consultations and case evaluations. There is no upfront cost to meet with the experienced birth defects attorneys at the Mininno Law Office. Please do not hesitate to ask our birth defects attorneys for help for your child. Contact the Mininno Law Office for a free case evaluation or call for a free consultation at (856) 833-0600 in New Jersey and (215) 567-2380 in Philadelphia.
The surgeon who performed the surgery, Dr. Shawn Goodman, said she “didn’t realize I had operated on the wrong eye until I was done operating on the eye”. The child’s mother reports that since the operation, there has been no improvement in the right eye and the left eye, which was unnecessarily operated on, now appears to be wandering also. The doctor did send out a nurse to inform the parents that they would be operating on both of the child’s eyes, but she provided no explanation and did not ask for the parent’s consent before she soon vanished. 
Many nursing home residents have physical and psychological disabilities that make caring for themselves difficult or impossible. These residents need the staff to be attentive to thinks like oral care in order to prevent the physical complications that can result. Eating less and losing weight is one problem associated with poor dental care, something that can cause severe problems in the elderly. 
Babies that are born with a cleft palate are more likely than other children to frequently suffer from ear infections. The cleft palate contributes to a buildup of fluid in the middle ear, and if this becomes infected, the baby can develop a fever and an earache. Unfortunately this buildup can also cause moderate hearing loss. This hearing loss, if treated properly, need not be permanent. It is recommended that the child have their ears checked yearly so that if fluid is detected, it can be treated with the appropriate medicine or minor surgical procedures. This may seem daunting on top of all of the other responsibilities a parent of a child with a cleft palate birth defect may face, but it is possible that experienced 
The Georgia House recently passed an interesting bill which would make it mandatory for physicians to reveal their malpractice insurancestatus; whether or not they are insured. House Bill 147 still needs to be approved by both the State Senate and Governor Nathan Deal.
This piece of legislation would allow patients to find out if their physician is insured in the tragic event of medical malpractice. Rep. Ben Watson stated, “this is part of how a patient can judge a physician.” In the event the bill is passed, anyone could go through a website run by the Georgia Composite Medical Board and request information. Patients take on an enormous risk when deciding to undergo a medical procedure. Medical malpractice attorneys believe that it is a fair result to allow patients to research a doctor and their insurance coverage before electing to trust them to perform the procedure correctly.
It seems that the drugs are being used as chemical restraints; a way to sedate patients so that they require less attention. As an added “bonus,” the home can end up making a large profit from this practice. Due to medicaid reimbursements, the home is making money on every patient they wrongfully sedate with anti-psychotic drugs.
Healthcare Blue Book states that cleft lip surgery alone can cost an upwards of $1700. If your newborn baby suffers from a birth defect, such as cleft lip or cleft palate, that surgery costs on average more than $4000. These prices can vary depending on anesthesia fees and hospital fees that are not always included in the cost of the birth defect surgery. Other sources have the surgeries varying in price by several $1000 and the exact price of your child’s health will depend according to severity and location of the defect, as well as other external factors. 
