What Do a Birth injury, Erb’s Palsy, and an NFL Football Player All Have in Common? Adrian Clayborn.

First-round draft picks for the NFL are always talked about, criticized or commended. What is it about this year’s first-round draft pick of Adrian Clayborn that caught everyone’s attention? What is so special about him being picked in the first round of the NFL draft? What is unique and very special about Clayborn being drafted as an NFL football player is that he was born with a birth injury called Erb’s palsy. Both he and his mother refused to accept the fact that he had a birth injury that could potentially disable him for the rest of his life.

When Adrian was being delivered, he suffered a birth injury to his right arm called Erb’s palsy. The palsy can be caused by a shoulder getting stuck, also known as shoulder dystocia, or if an obstetrician or nurse-midwife pulled too hard on a baby’s arm during delivery. Erb’s palsy is damage to the brachial plexus, or nerves in the shoulder area, which can lead to paralysis or weakness of the affected arm and fingers. Brachial plexus injuries or Erb’s palsy can be caused by stretching of the nerves, rupture of the nerves, crush injury to the nerves or from scar tissue development on an injured nerve.

The only potential treatments for Erb’s palsy are early physical therapy or surgical repair of the damaged nerves. Clayborn’s mother decided to have Adrian undergo early physical therapy when he was only a few months old. That physical therapy lasted throughout his entire childhood and it really paid off. Not only does he now have enormous biceps, he was declared void of any disability related to his birth injury. Now at 6’3″, 281 pounds, the former birth injured baby boy is a first round draft pick NFL football player.

Unfortunately, not all children born with Erb’s palsy will overcome the birth injury. Many families do not have the access or financial means to undergo extensive physical therapy sessions to help treat the Erb’s palsy. That is when many parents of a child born with Erb’s palsy due to medical negligence during birth turn to a lawyer looking for help. When a family believes that their child’s Erb’s palsy was caused by medical malpractice during birth they are attempting to get the compensation needed to provide their child with the best medical care and physical therapy required to help repair the damage.

Here at the nationally recognized Philadelphia Beasley birth injury law firm we have highly experienced medical and legal teams on staff that really do understand everything you and your child are going through right now. Since 1958, we have successfully evaluated thousands of birth injury cases with proven results. Our experience and knowledge has led to having billions awarded on behalf of injured victims just like you or a loved one.

If your child was injured during delivery, please feel free to speak to one of our experienced Philadelphia medical negligence attorneys for a risk free, confidential consultation.