Pregnancy for many is one of the most exciting events to be experienced in an individual’s life. Sadly for some the experience is not quite so positive with instances of injury or even death occurring as a result of the care that mother and/or baby have received.
If you have been affected by medical negligence, we can help you find out if you have a birth injury compensation claim. Call our personal injury lawyers today on 0800 011 9440 or by completing our online contact form.
Recent reports by the NHS have shown that legal actions for medical negligence blunders are still continuing to rise and are costing the NHS millions of pounds per year.
Many families also have to wait significant periods of time before any form of compensation is awarded.
One family was awarded £9.45 million in 2016 for their son’s life long care and rehabilitation after he suffered brain damage due to oxygen starvation. The boy’s mother reported to doctors that she could not feel her baby moving and heart monitors traced that the baby had an abnormal heartbeat. Consultants delayed sending the boy’s mother for an emergency caesarean section for 2 hours by which time the boy had suffered significant brain damage.
Whilst many claims against Health Trusts appear to be decades old, 2017 also saw a record high of just under £2billion being paid out by the NHS for medical negligence claims, with a large number of these coming from new instances of negligence. Many of the claims came from pregnancy where injury or death had been caused to the mother and/or the child. Statistics showed that the cost of such negligence has nearly doubled since the same time period in 2010/11. One report suggests that 276,000 incidents were logged by hospital staff in the UK between April 2015 and March 2017. This equates to roughly one mistake in every five births, which is a staggering amount. Most commonly the mistakes arise out of failure to accurately monitor a baby’s heartbeat and also the failure to detect oxygen starvation. Babies who are subjected to this quite often go on to develop conditions such as cerebral palsy.
In 2016/17 10% of all claims against various Health Trusts came as result of babies being starved of oxygen either in the womb or after birth. Whilst this number may seem relatively small, 50% of all money paid out for the same time period went to those starved of oxygen for the life long specialist care and rehabilitation they will require.
Senior Coroners have called for reforms to the Health Trust recruitment system to alleviate strains on Health Trusts and reduce such cases of negligence. One recommendation is that NHS trusts stop recruiting newly qualified members of staff until their skill set can be accurately tested and proven.
Whilst there are calls for changes and reforms to be made, there still appears to be a lot of lessons to be learnt by Health Trusts, as stories continue to appear regularly in the news reporting on another instance of negligence. Recently there was the tragic story of the Doctor who sadly decapitated a baby after failing to choose the correct method of delivery. Whilst the Doctor was ultimately removed from working for that specific NHS Trust, this will unlikely give the family the closure and answers they deserve into this devastating case of negligence.
It can be a distressing time for all if you have experienced a similar matter or any issue regarding medical negligence but it’s important to contact a specialist lawyer to discuss your situation and determine whether or not you have a claim.
We have a team who specialises in medical negligence claims. David Armstrong who heads up our Medical Negligence team secured compensation for a couple and their child following a negligent birth. If you think you may have a potential claim, you can contact us for advice on 0800 988 8082 or by completing our online enquiry form.
