Jessica, 12

Appalling mistakes were made by maternity staff during Jessica’s birth, and she suffered catastrophic brain damage as a result. Jessica was later diagnosed with cerebral palsy and although she can walk, she has severe learning difficulties and behavioural issues that mean she will never be able to live independently, have her own family or work for a living. 

Absolutely nothing could make up for this, however Jessica has access to the lifelong specialist care she requires after Angharad Hughes, a partner specialising in cerebral palsy claims at JMW, secured the compensation she needs. 

Induction drug wrongly increased 

Jessica was her mother Pamela’s first child and when Pamela developed severe itching during her pregnancy she was diagnosed with obstetric cholestasis. Obstetric cholestasis is a liver condition that develops in some women during pregnancy and causes a build-up of bile acid that can be harmful to the woman. The condition also causes an increased risk of stillbirth for the baby, and for that reason doctors recommend that an induction is carried out from 35 weeks of pregnancy onwards, to ensure that the baby is delivered safely. In Pamela’s case this was arranged for the 38 week mark, but tragically a catalogue of errors were made by midwives and a doctor which caused the induction to go horribly wrong.

Initially the induction progressed extremely slowly, and following the insertion of pessaries, it took nearly a week, and the breaking of Pamela’s waters by maternity staff, for labour to be established. 

Not long after regular contractions had been started, a decision was made to attach Pamela to a Syntocinon drip, with the aim of speeding up the labour. When used responsibly the drug Syntocinon can help to progress labour, however it can also cause the baby to become distressed by restricting their oxygen supply due to the frequency of the contractions. For this reason care needs to be taken not to use it inappropriately, and careful monitoring should be done so that maternity staff can take action if there any negative effects on the baby. 

In Pamela’s case there was both inappropriate use of Syntocinon and a failure to respond when there were signs baby Jessica was in distress, The amount given was doubled at regular intervals, until it was at a high level and her contractions were coming every two minutes. Despite there being no need for an even higher dose of Syntocinon to be given, the amount was increased once again. This higher dose was continued for the next few hours. 

By 11pm that night, the monitor that was tracking Jessica’s heart rate was showing abnormalities that suggested there was a problem with her oxygen supply. Despite this, the midwife responsible for the birth did not reduce the dose of Syntocinon as she ought to have done. 

The abnormalities on the heart rate monitor continued for the next 30 minutes and the midwife should have stopped the Syntocinon and called for a doctor but did not until an hour later. 

When the doctor arrived they still did not request that the Syntocinon was stopped, despite the clear impact it was having on Jessica. Pamela was then transferred to theatre so that the doctor could try to deliver Jessica using forceps and at this point the doctor actually increased the dose as they wrongly believed this would help Jessica be delivered more quickly, when in fact it just risked causing her more harm. The doctor was unable to deliver Jessica using forceps so performed a caesarean section, which took place in the early hours of the following morning. 

Jessica was born in a very poor condition and was later diagnosed with cerebral palsy which had been caused by oxygen deprivation during her birth. 

JMW’s investigation

After Pamela and her family contacted the cerebral palsy specialist solicitors at JMW for advice, their case was taken progressed by one of our partners Angharad Hughes.

Angharad suspected Pamela and Jessica’s care had been negligent and that the devastating brain injury could have been avoided. In order to progress things further Angharad instructed leading experts specialising in midwifery and obstetric care to provide their opinion. 

The experts carefully analysed the way Syntocinon was used in this case and considered the failings in the care provided. They also reviewed the further failings with Jessica’s delayed delivery when the signs of distress were finally recognised. 

A strong case was built and this led to a full admission from the hospital trust that mistakes had been made and that they were the cause of Jessica’s brain damage. 

Angharad was then able to negotiate a lifetime compensation settlement totalling £17 million to cover the cost of the 24-hour care, specialist housing and financial security Jessica requires.