[CEREBRAL PALSY AT THE AGE OF MODERN OBSTETRICS: ANCIENT BELIEFS VERSUS SOLID FACTS]

For many decades the conventional wisdom was that the sole etiology for cerebral palsy is difficult delivery. The adverse outcome associated with cerebral palsy was intuitively related to complications during labor. The blame, unjustifiably and recklessly, was placed on devoted physicians and midwifes. This wrongful accusation, that one may describe as "scientific blood libel" is unprecedented in medicine. In his article, Professor Blickstein scrupulously revises the scientific evidence connecting birth asphyxia and cerebral palsy and refutes the common belief that the only cause for cerebral palsy is complicated delivery. Indeed, meticulous review of the scientific data suggest that the overwhelming majority of cerebral palsy cases has nothing to do with the process of labor.