Birth injury claims

Giving birth for many women is a scary and also exciting prospect, women are likely to have been given large amounts of information from many people and understandably want their birth to go without any hitch, 700,000 births occur within the UK every year. Whilst the majority of these do go to plan and successfully, some unfortunately do not, sometimes down to unexpected problems, but also sometimes unfortunately due to medical negligence. When a problem does occur it quite clearly impacts greatly upon everybody involved, especially the mother who has already gone through nine months of pregnancy and a birth. Where medical negligence or doctor incompetency has occurred, there is a case for a compensation claim to be made. There are many claims each year, these claims often paid by the NHS due to the problems caused; the amount of money paid often depends on the seriousness of each case. Extreme mistakes which can result in life long injury, for example brain damage can result in payments worth millions of pounds being paid in compensation.
Some of the injuries which compensation claims can be made for will now be outlined, these claims include injury to the baby or mother, or both. Claims can include treatment leading up to the birth, during or after the delivery of the baby, this may be due to inadequate or insufficient members of staff being present, and this is negligence on behalf of the responsible hospital. Injuries to a babys mother can include avoidable vaginal tears, improper use of forceps and also incorrect treatment following an episiotomy and infections.
Injuries to babys caused due to delivery can often be very serious, potentially life threatening or even life long injuries. These injuries can include cerebral palsy, brachial plexus injury, facial palsy, umbilical cord complications, ruptured placenta, arm fractures, skin irritations, eye infections, ear infections, brain damage and spinal cord injuries. Quite clearly some of these injuries are much more serious than others, for example an eye infection may not be serious and may be treatable. Although issues such as brain damage resulting from the failing of a hospital is an extremely dangerous and sensitive issue. If this does sadly happen to anybody, it will impact upon their live forever and it is therefore important the involved party gets the correct support and compensation to help them raise their child.
When wishing to make a claim it is important for any party involved to contact a professional solicitor or claims organisation. Medical claims are renowned for being difficult to make and therefore professional advice is often very important. To make a medical claim, large amounts of evidence is often required to prove the case. Any form of medical negligence which sees the responsible party breaking their duty of care leaves the potential to make a compensation claim; this money is often required in serious cases to help bring up a child who may have had their life impacted upon greatly due to this negligence.