Medical Negligence Claims – Pregnancy & Birth

The birth of a child should be a precious and happy occasion, but unfortunately, there are sometimes complications which lead to an injury.

These injuries can occur before birth, during and following birth.

Pregnancy Injuries

During your pregnancy, you should be having regular checks by a doctor or midwife to monitor the health of both yourself and your unborn child. These checks should include monitoring the baby’s size, position and heartbeat, checking the mother’s blood pressure and testing for blood sugar problems or infections through urine testing. Blood tests will also need to be taken to check the mother’s blood group and their rhesus status.

These health checks must be done throughout the pregnancy so that any problems can be treated as early as possible.

Problems that are not picked up during antenatal care can result in longstanding medical issues for the mother or baby. Medical negligence during pregnancy care can include things such as a doctor that fails to spot foetal distress, an insufficient amount of antenatal health checks and a failure to identify a smaller than average foetus. Whilst there are many other examples these are just a few.

After Birth Injuries

After Birth injuries refers to the first 28 days following the birth. It is during this time that the baby should be properly monitored, and any unusual symptoms are both identified and treated by doctors to prevent it leading to something more serious or disabling.

A good example of this is hip dysplasia which all newborn babies should be checked for. Failure to identify this can lead to problems with walking.