The birth of a healthy baby is the one wish all parents want to see come to fruition but what happens when the baby is harmed during childbirth due to an avoidable mistake by the medical professionals? This can be devastating for the child and the parents, especially, if the child is left with lasting physical and mental damage. The most serious type of damage to a baby during childbirth can result in cerebral palsy or Erb’s palsy, this kind of injury will leave the child with serious long term health issues where they are unable to live a normal independent life without 24/7 care. Other types of harm can occur where the baby ends up with developmental issues if they suffered hypoxic trauma, this is where the baby is starved of oxygen during birth. When a mother goes into labour she is handing her care the medical professionals but when things go wrong this can change the lives of those involved forever.
If the mother suffers damage she has 3 years from the date of the negligence within which to make a claim for damages for herself. Where the baby is harmed it is best to seek legal advice at the earliest opportunity as any compensation received will help with the cost of providing the best care the child may need. For a child the time limit is 3 years from their 18th birthday.
During the pandemic health care has been under enormous pressure but maternity care was continuing as before with the exception where in some instances, birthing partners were not allowed to accompany the mother in some cases as different hospital had different rules to deal with the restrictions imposed by the pandemic. We are now coming across cases where mothers were told to push to have a natural birth when a c-section should have been done, resulting in harm to the mother and the baby. We also hear from mothers where they had to wait longer than ideal for maternity care, resulting in the baby not surviving at all either because, the mother was waiting for hours in A & E in agonising pain before she is handed over the maternity team or because the right sort of care was not offered at the critical point.
We recently acted for a client where the medical expert report concluded that had the baby been born 45 minutes earlier the baby would have survived but tragically, the mother was left waiting for medical attention until a doctor was free to attend on her. In majority of cases where waiting times in A & E exceed their target time, the patient is left with frustration but in some cases, the delay in treatment can leave the patient with devastating consequences, and in childbirth, if the medical care is either late or badly managed, the outcome is either serious harm to the baby or loss of life.
We understand the sensitivity with which these case should be handled and our team have the expertise to help parents get answers.
If you would like to have an informal chat with our Clinical Negligence experts in confidence to see if you have a viable claim then please complete the contact form on our website and we will give you a call back at a time convenient to you or please call/ contact Daxa Patel, Clinical Negligence Partner & Solicitor by contacting us on 0330 107 0107 or email clinicalnegligence@imd.co.uk. Once we are contacted by you, one of our helpful team members will contact you. Please note we have a team of lawyers who speak many languages including English, Polish, Romanian, Russian and Lithuanian.
This article is for general information only and does not constitute legal or professional advice. Please note that the law may have changed since this article was published.
Talk to us today 
CONTACT US TODAY
0330 107 0107