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Medical Negligence

Birth Injury Claims Solicitors

If you, your baby or your partner has suffered from an injury at birth, we can help you seek justice through birth injury claims in this difficult time.

Birth injury claims solicitors
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Our solicitors will support you to get the compensation you deserve. Start your medical negligence claim today at absolutely no cost to you.

  • No win. No fee.
  • No hidden costs
  • 100% risk-free, only pay if you win
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How do birth injuries happen?

Birth injuries happen when occasionally, mistakes are made in antenatal care, during labour and delivery, or soon after birth. If a baby, its mother (or both) are injured because of such a mistake and it causes them physical and/or psychological injury leading to mental health conditions, they are said to have suffered a birth injury or trauma. A birth injury can have a life-changing impact on the whole family.

Not all birth injuries are preventable, or can be blamed on anybody in particular, but when birth injuries that lead to conditions such as cerebral palsy can be attributed to the direct fault of a doctor or medical staff - because they failed to notice or react to a situation such as a lack of oxygen in reasonable time, or that they were not competent to perform clinical tasks that led to a brain injury - grounds for birth injury compensation claims can arise.

Why do complex claims need specialist birth injury solicitors?

Our birth injury lawyers have the specialist knowledge and expertise to build a strong medical negligence claim for you and will help guide and support you when bringing a claim. Whilst we can't turn back the clock, the financial compensation achieved from a successful birth injury claim settlement can help ease the burden and cover the costs of immediate and future care or equipment for families who have been affected.

Some children are severely disabled from birth and require care for life. This means that they may have a physical or neurological injury of varying severity. Cerebral Palsy and Erb's Palsy caused by clinical negligence are some of the biggest cases that we handle. Settlements for a birth injuries case can help claimants pay for long term physical therapy, rehabilitation or modifications to the home required for your children as they grow up.

A mother who is injured during birth can suffer pain and ongoing problems, or may need surgery because of the damage caused by the negligence.

As accredited birth injury solicitors and clinical negligence specialists with the Law Society’s Clinical Negligence Accreditation Scheme and the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers, we understand all of the implications of birth injury claims in all circumstances. Together with carefully chosen medical professionals we can properly assess and support cases to achieve suitable compensation for your loved ones.

Questions about birth claims? Complete an online claim assessment

What is the birth injury claim process?

Our birth injury claim process is no different than claiming for other medical accidents. Once arrangements for funding your claim are finalised, which can include legal aid, your claim will be handled by one of our specialist solicitors, who will work with you throughout your case. They will meet with you to establish a detailed history of your medical treatment and the issues you or your loved one suffered.

We will then thoroughly investigate your birth injury claim and gather all information required – including your medical records – and have these assessed by an independent, experienced medical expert. If they believe there is sufficient evidence, your claim will proceed. In most instances we will be able to advise you on chances of success or possible outcomes during our initial consultations.

Even if we determine that it is not in your best interests to pursue a negligence claim, our investigations will often shed light on the nature or cause of your birth injury and why it happened, which may give you peace of mind regarding the incident.

A birth injury claim can often take 5 years or more to investigate and settle. However, if claims proceed to Trial, it may take several years to conclude. In these circumstances you may be entitled to interim compensation payouts to help you through a difficult time.

Specialist solicitors for birth injury claims

Trusted solicitors for birth injury claims cases

As qualified and specialised medical negligence solicitors with over 20 years experience, we are experts at handling birth injury claim cases.

Our credentials and established reputation mean that hospitals and trusts are willing to work with us, and often recommend us, to seek fair outcomes for claimants to receive the compensation they deserve.

Trust us with your compensation claim and contact us today to see how we can help you.

Pregnancy birth injury claim

Pregnancy birth injury claims arise when an injury occurs to you or your unborn child during pregnancy, prior to the birth.

Complications during pregnancy, such as placenta praevia, placenta abruption, anemia and preeclampsia, can limit the oxygen and nutrients supply to the foetus, which may then lead to birth defects or the death of the child prior to or following birth. Similar complications of varying severity can also negatively impact the short and long-term health and wellbeing of the mother.

If signs of these and similar types of complications are missed by medical professionals during appointments and check-ups, treatment is applied too late, or the condition is misdiagnosed and the wrong treatment is applied, this could form the basis of a pregnancy birth injury claim.

Traumatic birth injury

While most births are delivered with minimal or no injuries, it is believed that around 30,000 women in the UK experience birth trauma each year. Factors that make traumatic birth injuries more likely to lead to a birth injury claim include:

  • A lengthy or particularly painful experience in labour
  • Mothers not receiving the correct amount of pain relief
  • Cuts, bruises and fractures suffered by mother or baby during the delivery
  • Emergency Caesarean sections, potentially caused by the baby suffering from oxygen deprivation or a fall in heart rate
  • The unforeseen use of instruments like forceps to assist the birth
  • Poor or impersonal care given to the mother before, during and after the birth

A traumatic birth injury may not only have physical consequences to the mother and/or children, but may also result in the mother suffering from postnatal post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which may damage their psychological wellbeing long after the birth. This can then result in mothers struggling day-to-day, which can directly relate to a loss of financial earnings, as well as the need for future counselling or psychiatric care.

If birth trauma was due to the inattentive or inappropriate care of the medical professionals supporting the birth, this can result in a birth injury claim.

Can you make a claim for perineal tears?

Yes you can make a claim for a perineal tear if the injury sustained was caused or affected by negligence or misdiagnosis by a doctor, midwife or medical professional.

While up to 90% of first-time mothers will experience some sort of tear or graze through vaginal birth, there are some instances where poor care has led to preventable or more severe damage. For example, if high-risk factors weren’t taken into account prior to birth, taking too long to diagnose a tear, not identifying or treating a perineal tear after delivery, or not diagnosing/acting upon signs of infection.

If you believe a tear during childbirth could have been prevented, speak to us about your options.

Want to talk about birth injury claims? Request a call back with our expert qualified solicitors

What is birth injury claim compensation?

If your birth injury claim is successful, you will receive compensation for the injury inflicted. The amount of compensation you receive as a settlement will depend on the severity of the injury and the financial losses this caused or will cause in the future.

Future financial losses commonly include loss of earnings and costs of care. For instance, if as a result of a preventable birth injury your child will require ongoing care and specialist treatment for the remainder of their life, the cost of this will be calculated and factored into the compensation awarded.

Birth injury compensation can also take into account increased insurance costs, cancellation fees for cancelled holidays, cost of aid, equipment and travel to appointments. When bringing a claim, we will discuss all these details with you to ensure that all potential financial aspects are included.

How compensation for a birth injury claim depends on a number of factors - statistics and infographics

Because we are specialist medical negligence solicitors in birth injury claims, we consider ourselves to be the best law firm to build a stronger case than solicitors with less experience, especially in complex claims such as cerebral palsy and erbs palsy that may affect lives for years to come. This particular expertise helps us set out the value of a claim and negotiate a settlement. We will also go all the way to Trial if we feel it is necessary, and all of the claims we accept and handle are prepared for court proceedings on that basis. Contact us today for a free initial consultation to see if you have a valid case.

Is there a time limit for birth injury claims?

As with other negligence claims, there is a time limit for birth injury claims - which must be made within three years of the injury being realised.

Timescales of birth injury claims statistics and infographic of how long you have to make a claim

As outlined above, if the birth injury is suffered by a child, they have until their 21st birthday to make a claim. This allows three years from the date of their 18th birthday, when they legally become an adult in order to make a claim in their own right. There is also no time limit for anyone who does not have the mental capacity to act on their own behalf as a result of an injury.

If a potential claimant dies within the initial three-year period, the qualifying time starts again from the date of their death.

In certain circumstances, the Courts may allow claims from outside this time limit. If your birth injury happened longer than three years ago, we can advise on whether your claim is likely to be considered.

Types of birth injury

There are numerous types of birth injury that fall under a wide range of classifications. These birth injuries and how they occur under specific circumstances can form the basis of a successful birth injury claim. Birth injuries can affect both the mother, be it a traumatic birth injury, perineal injuries, or poor treatment across their stay in hospital, or the baby, whether this is poor antenatal care, injuries suffered during birth, or oxygen deprivation leading to brain damage.

Below we have included links to pages that go into further detail on prominent types of birth injury claims.

Contact our experts about Birth Injury Claims

If you or a loved one have experienced an injury at birth and would like to speak to someone about your options, our team is here to listen and advise you on your next steps.

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