Negligence in antenatal prenatal care

The mode of antenatal care is a matter of maternal choice and preference. In some rural areas, the mode of antenatal care depends on the availability of medical services and resources in those areas. Women may choose to have their antenatal care at the antenatal clinic or midwifery clinic of their local public hospital or to have antenatal care provided by their GP and their local public hospital’s antenatal clinic. Some women choose to be under the care of a specialist obstetrician for antenatal care. Adequate antenatal care includes monitoring of the mother’s wellbeing and development of the baby at regular intervals. Antenatal appointments usually become more frequent as the pregnancy progresses or if the woman develops complications during the pregnancy. Your midwife or doctor should regularly weigh you, measure your blood pressure and take measurements of the growth of your uterus. Usually, ultrasounds are also performed at various stages of the pregnancy including a morphology scan. Other tests may also be required depending on the progress of your pregnancy and your age.

Negligence during the antenatal period refers to a failure to diagnose and treat certain conditions that some women develop during pregnancy such as gestational diabetes and hypertension or pre-eclampsia. Negligence during the antenatal period also includes a failure to appreciate signs or observations that render a pregnancy a ‘high risk’ pregnancy and increase the risk of complications developing during labour and delivery. In some instances, natural delivery is not a safe option for the mother or child and a Caesarean section delivery is required to prevent severe complications and injury to the mother and child.

Some examples of negligence during the antenatal period include circumstances giving rise to injury to mother or child as a result of allowing the pregnancy to progress to natural labour and delivery in circumstances where a Caesarean section delivery is clinically warranted. Examples include an undetected and untreated infection that travels through the placenta to the baby and placental insufficiency where the baby is not receiving adequate blood supply and nutrients needed to continue to thrive and survive. Another example is a baby that is larger than average, and the size of the baby increases the risk of complications and injury to mother and child during labour and delivery. Usually, the mother is given the option of a Caesarean section to prevent complications and injury at birth.

Many of the abnormalities or conditions that develop during pregnancy require treatment and close monitoring of the pregnancy, the baby’s development and well-being so that action, such as delivery, can be taken as soon as it becomes necessary. If those conditions are not detected and left untreated, it could result in life-threatening complications and increase the risk of injury to, and death of, both mother and child. A woman could sustain serious obstetric and gynaecological injuries, which can be life-long. A child could also sustain profound and permanent injuries including premature birth, under-development, brain injury and Erb’s palsy.

It may be difficult to identify the signs that indicate that medical negligence may have occurred during the antenatal period. This information is sometimes provided to the family after labour and delivery if they, or their child, sustained a birth injury. This does not always occur. If you suspect that negligence in the provision of your antenatal care contributed to your injury or your child’s injury, 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 and your child. Your solicitor might be the first person to discover ‘signs’ of negligence.

If you or your child suffered an injury while giving birth and you suspect that the injury occurred as a result of a failure to provide you with adequate antenatal care, it is wise to seek legal advice from an experienced solicitor. Your solicitor will explore the level of care that was provided to you during your pregnancy and will provide you with advice on the viability of your claim.

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 or your child have sustained an injury, the injury is the fault of a heathcare provider, and the injury is worth suing over.