Appalling maternity care leads to baby suffering brain damage - £15.2 million
Henry, 11
Henry and his mother Alison suffered an appalling standard of care in the delivery suite of their local maternity hospital and Henry sustained catastrophic brain damage as a result. Signs that Henry was in distress were not acted on and he was born not breathing and in need of resuscitation. There was very little communication with Henry’s family about what had gone wrong. Even when he was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at about six months old no explanation was given. Now 11, Henry cannot walk or speak, has a learning disability and requires 24-hour care. After his case was taken on by Sally Leonards, a partner in JMW’s medical negligence team specialising in cerebral palsy cases, his family obtained the answers they were seeking and Henry was awarded £15.2 million in compensation.
Induction
Alison’s pregnancy progressed normally until the very end when she developed high blood pressure and was admitted to the maternity hospital. The following morning, Alison was told her labour needed to be induced and the process was started by a pessary being inserted into her vagina.
There was no progress for many hours and Alison’s contractions did not really start until later that night. By 1am, Alison was in significant pain from the contractions and a monitor was attached to her abdomen to monitor the baby’s heart rate. A midwife commented that the heart rate was dropping with each contraction and Alison might need a caesarean. The midwife asked Alison to lie on her left-hand side. A doctor carried out a vaginal examination and then broke Alison’s waters.
Emergency buzzer
By 7am the next morning Alison was in increasing pain and was given gas and air. The baby’s heart rate was checked from time-to-time but Alison was not made aware of any problems.
A consultant came to see Alison at 9am and started her on a Syntocinon drip to speed up her contractions. There were still no signs of the baby being born and Alison was in very severe pain. At about 1pm Alison agreed to have an epidural to cope with this and slept on and off for the next couple of hours, before waking at 3pm with an urge to push. A new midwife came into the room and pushed the emergency buzzer. By the time the doctors arrived, Alison had given birth to Henry. He was not breathing and did not make any noise. It took about five minutes of the team working on Henry before he took a breath. Henry was taken to the special care baby unit where he began having fits. Lots of medical tests were done on Henry, but his parents were not told why these were needed. Henry was discharged from hospital after two weeks but was not given a diagnosis. Alison was told that he may continue to have fits and that he would need to see a paediatrician every three months but nothing more.
When he was a few months old, Henry had a severe fit and was taken to hospital. Lots of tests were done, including an MRI scan of his brain, and he was diagnosed with epilepsy and cerebral palsy. Again, Alison was given no information about what this would mean for Henry.
JMW’s investigation
Henry’s family contacted the JMW clinical negligence team for advice and their case was assigned to partner Sally Leonards, who has dealt with numerous similar cases, on a no win, no fee agreement. Sally suspected that with such a long and painful labour, and Henry being born in such a poor condition, that there were missed opportunities to deliver him before he suffered brain damage,
Sally conducted an extensive investigation, which included a comprehensive review of Alison and Henry’s medical records and instructing the best independent medical experts to give their opinion on the care provided and the likely cause of Henry’s brain injury.
The experts agreed that there had been signs on the heart rate monitor that Henry was in distress, and he should have been delivered by caesarean section much earlier than he was.
A strong case was built against the hospital trust, which resulted in a full admission of negligence being made at an early stage and an apology for Henry and his parents.
Nothing could turn back the clock, but Sally was successful in negotiating compensation totalling £15.2 million over the course of Henry’s lifetime to provide the care, accommodation, therapy, equipment and financial security he requires.
This was another case where there were clear signs that the labour had been mismanaged which led to Henry sustaining brain damage. The situation was made worse by hospital’s failure to be open and honest with his family about what had happened. His life and the lives of his family members have been completely devastated by the failures that occurred and no amount of money will ever make up for that but I am pleased that he will have access to the best possible care and all his needs will be catered for throughout the remainder of his life. It is also vital that lessons are learned by the NHS to prevent the same thing happening to other babies.
Get in touch
JMW Solicitors LLP is a leading Manchester law firm and offers a broad range of legal services to both commercial and private clients. JMW’s Clinical Negligence team is headed up by leading lawyer, Eddie Jones.
For more information please contact the team on 0345 872 6666.
