Our medical negligence solicitors secured compensation for our client Jody*. This came after medical negligence caused the avoidable death of her newborn baby, Natalie*.
What happened to Jody?
Jody had an uncomplicated pregnancy while she was carrying Natalie. When she went into labour, she visited the maternity unit at her local hospital. After an examination, it was confirmed that her membranes had ruptured. She was given advice about early labour care and discharged home.
Trust guidelines for a pre-labour rupture of membranes after 37 weeks recommend that women are offered either immediate induction of labour (IOL) when a bed is available, or IOL after 24 hours if labour hasn’t started. However, the report notes that this wasn’t discussed with Jody when she attended the hospital.
The Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB) noted that: “… had the mother offered and accepted IOL, the outcome for the Baby may have been different.”
Jody returned to the hospital when she started having contractions. However, she was experiencing intermittent contractions. In this situation, the national guidelines state that a foetal heart rate should be monitored every five minutes after every contraction. This wasn’t done.
The HSIB noted: “There was little acknowledgement of the infrequency of the contractions and no holistic approach to the management of the labour. This led to a prolonged second stage which may have contributed to the difficulties in delivery of the baby.”
An examination in the operating theatre showed that Natalie was looking sideways. The professionals attempted to manually rotate her into a different birth position and deliver her via caesarean section. The junior doctor noted Jody’s bladder was full and suggested gentle pressure should be applied to empty it.
After several failed attempts to deliver Natalie, a senior obstetric doctor took over and she was finally born. She was noted to be pale, floppy, not breathing or responding to stimulation, and with a heart rate of 60 bpm. Tragically, Natalie died within 24 hours of being born.
The traumatic and ultimately tragic birth of Jody’s first child has left her with severe psychiatric injuries.
How did Irwin Mitchell’s medical negligence lawyers help?
Jody contacted our medical negligence team with concerns she had about the care she’d received while in labour.
We instructed independent experts in obstetrics and psychiatry, who gave us their opinions on what caused Natalie’s death. The postmortem also found cause of death to be traumatic brain injury due to delivery.
There was an inquest, which found negligent care was responsible for Natalie’s death. The HSIB’s report found several failings in care, and on this basis, we launched a claim for compensation against the hospital Trust.
A six-figure settlement
The Trust admitted responsibility for some breaches of duty and causation. This meant we were able to settle Jody’s claim for medical negligence without needing to take further action, sparing Jody the stress of going to court.
Jody’s claim was settled for a six-figure sum. This money means she can now pay for the therapy she needs to process what’s happened to her and move forward.
Expert comment
Toni Maini, a solicitor in our medical negligence team, handled Jody’s claim and commented: “This was an extremely sad case. However, I was pleased that the Defendant agreed to settle this claim pre-action and allow my client some much needed closure to the litigation so that she could focus on grieving for the loss of her child.”
*Client names have been changed
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