5 Facts About Hemiplegia That You Should Know
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If you work in the medical field, you might know about hemiplegia. If you don’t, though, you may not know what this term means. Hemiplegia happens relatively often, though, so it’s something you should probably know about, particularly if you’re in a situation where you’re considering pursuing legal action because someone caused it.
Medical mistakes can sometimes cause hemiplegia, and when they do, you need to determine whether you can hold someone legally liable. If so, then you’ll likely try to find yourself a personal injury lawyer who can step in and help you get the compensation that you feel you’re due.
In this article, we will talk about hemiplegia. We’ll break down what the term means, how it happens, and the implications when it does.
What Does Hemiplegia Mean?
The term “hemiplegia” refers to a medical condition. The afflicted individual experiences weakness or paralysis. However, it only occurs on one side of their body.
This condition can impact someone’s trunk, arm, and leg at the same time. It can affect their face as well.
If the brain’s motor cortex receives any damage, that can cause it. Since the motor cortex controls the body’s movements, it makes sense that you might see this kind of paralysis if this crucial nerve cluster sustains any damage.
You can experience hemiplegia due to several different situations or conditions. For instance, if you have a brain tumor, that can cause it. If you have cerebral palsy, that can cause it as well. You might also point to a stroke or to some other kind of brain injury as the reason someone has it.
If you have it, then it usually starts with weakness on one side of the body. Later, you may also notice difficulty with speed or swallowing. Your face may droop, and you might have stiffness in your limbs as well.
You may experience loss of sensation on one side of the body. You might have stiff muscles as well, which the medical community sometimes calls spasticity.
How Often Does It Occur?
Hemiplegia remains relatedly rare, but it’s by no means an unknown condition in the medical community, even in the present day. About one in 1,000 children have it.
What Might You Do to Prevent It?
Since there’s no single medical condition that causes hemiplegia, but several, it’s hard to pinpoint one behavior in which you may engage or that you might avoid that can keep it from occurring. In a general sense, though, since some avoidable health conditions cause it, you can do all you can to prevent those.
Since high cholesterol and high blood pressure in older adults can cause a stroke, which in turn can cause hemiplegia, trying to keep your cholesterol and blood pressure levels under control makes sense. Type 2 diabetes can cause it, so you’ll want to eat a healthy diet and exercise.
As for infants born with this condition, there’s not really anything you can do about that. It’s a statistical abnormality if someone comes into the world with hemiplegia, but it happens sometimes, and there’s little medical science can do.
Does It Happen Naturally, Through Human Error, or Both?
Hemiplegia can occur naturally or through human error. Usually, a doctor will notice that an infant has it at birth.
About 80% of hemiplegia cases have congenital status, meaning that approximately four out of five cases happen through natural means. It’s an abnormality that doesn’t have one specific medical cause, or no single obvious one.
However, human error can also definitely cause hemiplegia as well. If so, it’s usually because the doctor did something wrong during the birth that damaged the motor cortex.
If that happens, then it’s relatively rare. A doctor or other medical professional would probably have to do something unusual or well outside of the realm of normal treatment of a young child for them to inflict this condition on them.
What Can You Do if Someone You Love Has This Condition?
If someone in your family has hemiplegia, they need to meet with a doctor to determine the best path forward. The doctor will doubtless consider their age, the underlying condition that caused the hemiplegia, and several other factors before giving the afflicted individual or their caretaker the proper advice.
It’s also possible in rare conditions that the parent of a young person with hemiplegia might sue the doctor that gave them the ailment if the parent feels that’s a viable option.
This article is for information only. If you have any concerns about your health and/or legal position, please talk to your relevant professionals.
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