Pages On: Birth Injury
Having a child is mostly a magical experience, however, preventable complications can arise. Medical professionals hold a duty of care to all patients, and pregnant people are no different. Injuries during childbirth can occur to the mother and baby where doctors and nurses act negligently. It can have seriously damaging consequences for the life of the child, such oxygen starvation leading to cerebral palsy. Such conditions can render a child essentially helpless, needing constant care. This not only removes the livelihood of the child, but the parents also. If you’ve suffered a birth injury, and feel medical negligence is to blame, you may be entitled to claim compensation.
Birth Injury Compensation Claims in Manchester
Posted in: Birth Injury, Medical Negligence
A new baby being born should be one of the most significant and special moment in a family’s life, so when something goes wrong during childbirth or pregnancy, the ramifications can be extremely serious. On very rare occasions mother and baby can be hurt or injured due to medical negligence and in these cases it is wise to seek birth injury compensation if there is a personal injury case to answer. Claim for Birth Injury Compensation – How Claims Work If you have been given poor treatment or poor diagnosis either…
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Child awarded £11.5m in compensation
Posted: 10 December 2015
Posted in: Birth Injury, Head and Brain Injuries, Medical Negligence
Royal Sussex County Hospital have awarded a five-year-old child a near record £11.5 million after admitting that had he been born 11 minutes earlier, he would have not sustained any harm. His umbilical cord had prolapsed during the birth process resulting in a lack of oxygen to his brain, which, had it been noticed by midwives, could have been avoided. The negligence has left the boy suffering from cerebral palsy which affects both his arms and legs. The High Court in London heard yesterday that interim payments have allowed the…
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‘Unsafe’ maternity service triggers move
Posted: 28 November 2015
Posted in: Birth Injury, Medical Negligence
Following concerns raised in a report published in October, maternity services at Redditch’s Alexandria Hospital have been withdrawn. The services have been transferred to Worcestershire Royal Hospital earlier this month, a move which has been described by the town’s MP as the right decision. Conservative MP Karen Lumley agreed that the service was ‘unsafe’, and together with Bromsgrove MP Sajid Javid, has met with Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt to discuss the problems at the hospital. ‘Dirty equipment’ Back in October, a report highlighted eleven known cases of patients being infected…
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Neonatal care downgrade plans criticised
Posted: 2 November 2015
Posted in: Birth Injury, Medical Negligence
Leaders of the North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust have criticised a report published by the Royal College of Child Health which recommends that the neonatal intensive care department at the University Hospital of North Tees be downgraded to provide special care only. The independent report would result in parents from East Durham and Hartlepool requiring to travel to Sunderland, Newcastle or Middlesburgh instead. The leaders of the Trust claim that the report does not give adequate options, and Chief Executive, Alan Foster, stated “I’m quite passionate about this…
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Family to receive £6.5 million in compensation
Posted: 9 October 2014
Posted in: Birth Injury, Head and Brain Injuries, Medical Negligence
A hospital trust is to payout £6.5 million in compensation to the family of a boy who was born with severe brain damage following a series of medical mistakes. Cody Lyster-Hughes’s mother, Caroline Lyster, was admitted to the Diana Princess of Wales Hospital, Grimsby, after it was discovered that she had an infection while pregnant. Mrs Lyster was seven-and-a-half months pregnant when the infection was first detected in 2005. Doctors treated her with a course of antibiotics and steroids. Following hospital treatment, a pathology report was produced which showed that she had…
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Contaminated hospital feed kills second baby
Posted: 13 June 2014
Posted in: Birth Injury, Food Poisoning, Medical Negligence, Wrongful & Accidental Death
Another baby has died at St Thomas’ Hospital in London from what is believed to have been a contaminated food supply. Twenty-two babies are currently being treated for blood poisoning in connection with the infectious outbreak. All of the babies were being fed a liquid mixture of nutrients directly into their bloodstream, after which the babies developed septicemia. Public Health England said that the septicemia was caused by the Bacillus cereus bacterium, a form of bacteria linked closely with an “intravenous fluid supplied by ITH Pharma”. Public Health England (PHE)…
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Poor care to blame for baby’s death
Posted: 22 March 2014
Posted in: Birth Injury, Medical Negligence, Wrongful & Accidental Death
The family of a baby who was stillborn have blamed the hospital’s poor standard of care for what happened. Deborah and Richard Horner, from North Yorkshire, were expecting their daughter Abbie to be delivered at St James’ Hospital in Leeds in 2011. Abbie, however, was still born as a result of care failings and poor communication between hospital staff. The midwife in charge of Mrs Horner’s care was suspended by the Nursing and Midwifery Council, and has since retired. Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust admitted to their failings, saying that…
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Maternity units short of senior doctors
Posted: 31 January 2014
Posted in: Birth Injury, Medical Negligence
A recent report by MPs has discovered that more than half of Britain’s maternity units are understaffed, and are putting the lives of newborn babies at risk as a result. Due to a lack of senior doctors, patients are not receiving adequate treatment around the clock, with many being particularly vulnerable to infection and injury during weekends when staff shortages fall even lower. The Commons Public Accounts Committee said that only 47% of units have an adequate number of consultants in Britain, with a national shortage of 2,300 midwives. The…
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Hospital payout for birthing errors
Posted: 8 October 2013
Posted in: Birth Injury, Head and Brain Injuries, Medical Negligence
A University Hospital in Coventry has given a compensation payout to the family of an 8-year-old girl who was left severely disabled after complications in her birth in 2005. Maryellen McDowall was admitted to the University hospital when her contractions started, but when her baby, Hollie, appeared not to be moving, hospital staff did not act. Hollie was starved of oxygen as a result of these medical failures, resulting in her now needing 24-hour care for cerebral palsy. Hollie currently lives in a specially adapted flat on the ground floor…
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48 hospital cases investigated
Posted: 24 July 2013
Posted in: Birth Injury, Medical Negligence
The General Medical Council (GMC) has been forced to investigate nearly 50 cases across hospitals in Essex following complaints about the work of doctors in the area. BBC Look East requested, through the Freedom of Information Act, to view the figures, which revealed 48 cases were being investigated by the GMC in and around Essex as of the 22nd of March. The Queen’s Hospital in Romford – which is used regularly by people from Essex and London – housed eighteen of these cases, all of which the GMC are highly…
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Damages awarded for injury at birth
Posted: 15 January 2013
Posted in: Birth Injury, Head and Brain Injuries, Medical Negligence
A mother has won her 14-year legal battle for medical negligence compensation after her son suffered severe brain damage at birth, reports the Guardian. Clare Scott claims that during her labour, her son Charlie’s umbilical cord was wrapped around his shoulders for 20 minutes in the womb before it was noticed by midwives. Even after the problem was picked up, medical staff at the Royal Bournemouth Hospital Trust failed to act quickly enough, and Charlie was starved of oxygen. He was left with severe cerebral palsy, and requires constant care.…
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