Stillbirth Claims For Compensation

Stillbirth negligence refer to the death of a child either before or during birth in circumstances where the death is avoidable. In other words, the death of the child was caused by a failure to manage the mother’s pregnancy, or labour and delivery, with reasonable care.

Some of the causes of stillbirth negligence include inadequate antenatal care, inadequate monitoring of the fetal heart rate during labour and delivery, the unidentified wrapping of the umbilical cord around the baby’s neck, oxygen deprivation, cardiac arrest in utero and, prolonged labour and delayed delivery.

If you have suffered an injury while giving birth to your child and the injury has persisted and you suspect that the injury was avoidable, it is wise to seek legal advice from an experienced specialist birth injury solicitor. Your solicitor will investigate the level of care that was provided to you during your pregnancy, labour and delivery, and will provide you with advice on the viability of your claim.

It must be acknowledged that not all stillbirths can be prevented. Sometimes, a baby passes away well before labour and delivery and the death cannot be foreseen or prevented. To minimise the risk of stillbirth, ensure that you have access to a good antenatal care program so that you receive adequate care and monitoring during the pregnancy, which makes it easier to identify any abnormalities or conditions that may put you or your baby at an increased risk of injury during labour and delivery. If complications are anticipated during labour and delivery, ensure that your obstetric team has a treatment plan to minimise the risk of injury to you and your baby. Discuss your delivery options with your doctors, including the option of a Caesarean section delivery. Monitoring of your wellbeing and your child’s heart rate play a crucial role in minimising the risk of injury to you and your baby and help your team identify signs that may place your baby’s life at risk. If those signs are identified in a timely manner, appropriate intervention may well prevent stillbirth.

It may be difficult to identify the signs that indicate that medical negligence may have contributed to the death of a child during birth. If you enjoyed an uneventful pregnancy and your baby developed normally and was assessed as being alive and well right until delivery, this may be a sign that negligence may have caused the loss of the baby. Women often notice chaos or a sense of panic amongst the midwifery or obstetric teams that are managing the birth. Sometimes, a medical emergency is called and doctors from other specialties are called into the delivery room, including paediatricians or neonatologists. Sadly, sometimes, there is no warning, and a child is discovered to be deceased at birth. If you suspect that negligence contributed to the loss of your child, contacting an experienced solicitor is essential as your solicitor will obtain a copy of the relevant medical records and explore all aspects of the care that was provided to you. Your solicitor might be the first person to discover ‘signs’ of negligence.

If you have given birth to a stillborn child and have developed psychological symptoms as a result of witnessing injury to your child, you may be entitled to compensation for pure psychiatric harm. This type of claim is also known as a nervous shock claim. Your psychological symptoms must amount to a diagnosis of a recognised psychiatric disorder for you to meet the applicable legal criteria to have a nervous shock claim.

If you have developed a recognised disorder as a result of the loss of your child and you suspect that the loss of your child was avoidable, it is wise to seek legal advice from an experienced specialist birth injury solicitor. Your solicitor will investigate the level of care that was provided to you during your pregnancy, labour and delivery, and will provide you with advice on the viability of your claim.

If you are successful in proving that there was a failure to manage the birth of your child with reasonable care and that failure resulted in the wrongful death of your child and you have suffered a recognised psychiatric injury as a result of this failure, you will be entitled to compensation. Compensation may include pain and suffering, past and future treatment expenses, and any lost earnings.

Ordinarily, you must commence formal legal proceedings within three years of the time at which the alleged negligence occurred. This is subject to the time that you discovered, or ought to have discovered, that you have sustained an injury, the injury is the fault of a heathcare provider, and the injury is worth suing over.

A solicitor will usually take your statement and request a copy of your obstetric medical records. A solicitor will then review your medical records in order to determine if the loss of the baby was avoidable. A solicitor will be able to identify the nature of expert medical evidence required for your claim to be successful. A solicitor will also provide you with advice as to the timeframe of commencing formal legal proceedings and your entitlements to compensation.