Accredited Medical Negligence Experts
Specialists in Medical Compensation Claims
Birth Injuries To Mothers and Babies – The Hidden Trauma
The birth of a child is usually perhaps the most memorable and joyous experiences life has to offer. In the developed world the process is mostly willingly handed over to trusted medical professionals -and as a result entirely safe. But sadly, that’s not always the case.
The trauma to the victim and their family can be extensive – and life changing. And although at such a terrible time, a victim’s thoughts probably won’t turn immediately to compensation, if the treatment received my mother and baby was negligent, a successful birth injury claim may be possible.
Your birth injury – there’s no need to suffer in silence
Birth injuries to mothers are a sensitive subject, and are rarely talked about. Nevertheless, official statistics suggest that there is something of a silent epidemic. The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists report that over 85% of women will suffer some degree of physical injury during a vaginal birth, with 60-70% of these injuries needing sutures.
The main physical risk is a perineal tear, but the psychological damage shouldn’t be underestimated either. Imagine the trauma of safely delivering a baby only to sustain an injury that requires invasive surgery, and which can leave a new mother with painful problems for years to come. Add to this a sense of shame and embarrassment, and it’s easy to see why many women prefer to suffer in silence.
This distressing state of affairs will only change if the issue is brought out into the open. Shame and embarrassment are made worse by silence. Any new mother who suffers a birth injury needs to realise that they are not alone, and they should always seek medical help. There may also be a case for medical negligence compensation, so new mothers should never be afraid to obtain specialist legal advice. If medical negligence has led to an injury, it needs to be challenged to stop it happening again.
Call or Email Us Now for Your FREE Specialist Legal Advice on Birth Injury Claims– free phone advice and a free first face to face or video call appointment. Call FREEPHONE 0800 1404544 or locally on (01722) 422300
The importance of specialist legal advice
Claiming compensation from a medical professional requires a particularly high level of skill and experience. Not only does a solicitor involve need to have an excellent understanding of law and procedure, but they also need to understand medical issues – for example in properly interpreting x-rays and other medical records.
And that’s why of over 150,000 qualified solicitors in England and Wales, just 180 or so are accredited by the 2 highly specialist medical negligence panels – run by the solicitors organisation, the Law Society, itself and AVMA (the excellent patient campaigning charity, Action Against Medical Accidents).
And in appointing us as your solicitors us to run your claim, you can rest assured you have such a specialist your side. In Denise Broomfield, we have a highly experienced female medical negligence solicitor, with membership of both Law Society itself and AVMA panels, who specializes in birth injury claims and who will listen to your position with sympathy.
Click here to read more about Denise Broomfield
Different types of birth injury claim
Unfortunately, two of the most serious birth injuries to babies are also the most common, namely Cerebral Palsy caused by the baby being starved of oxygen during the birth due to medical negligence and Erb’s Palsy, a paralysis of the arms’ main upper group of nerves caused by damage to the shoulder during a mismanaged difficult birth.
Other relatively common injuries to babies can be caused by:
- a failure to diagnose and treat a new born baby with low blood sugar or who is suffering from jaundice
- cases of stillbirth, neonatal death or the increasingly commonly, ‘wrongful birth’ the latter arising when a pregnancy and birth occurred due to a sterilisation or vasectomy that failed.
Birth injuries to mothers include;
- perineal tears
- shock due to a traumatic birth
- infections caused by the mother retaining tissues which should have been expelled as part of the birth process.
Avoidable injuries caused by medical negligence might occur to both baby and mother during the same birth.
Click here to read more about making a medical negligence claim
Click here to find out more about making Women’s Medical Negligence Claims
