Midwife negligence claims

Midwife negligence is negligence on the part of a midwife or midwifery team in the course of management of a woman’s pregnancy, labour and delivery. Midwife negligence can occur at any time from the early antenatal period until birth of a child and can occur in birthing units and delivery suites.

Common examples of midwife negligence include a failure to monitor the heart rate of the baby adequately and regularly before birth, failure to accurately interpret a CTG trace and failure to identify medical situations that require urgent obstetric intervention.

Midwife negligence can result in serious injuries to both mother and baby. Women can sustain internal injuries such as lacerations and and may lose a significant volume of blood, which could be life-threating and even fatal in some instances. Babies can also sustain lacerations and physical injuries as well as profound injuries such as brain damage that results in lifelong disability and even death.

If you or your child sustained injuries during birth that was predominantly or exclusively managed by midwives, it is wise to seek legal advice from an experienced solicitor. Your solicitor will investigate the level of care that was provided to you by the midwifery team during 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 by the midwifery team to manage the birth of your child with reasonable care, and you or your child have suffered an injury as a result of this failure, you will be entitled to compensation. Compensation may include pain and suffering, past and future treatment expenses, costs of personal care and assistance 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 or your child have sustained an injury, the injury is the fault of the midwifery team, and the injury is worth suing over.

You are required to prove that there was a failure by the midwifery team to provide you with reasonable care, which caused injury to you and/or your child. Expert evidence is often required from a midwife and an obstetrician to prove negligence.

Expert opinion from a midwife is required in support of the allegations of negligence that the midwife failed to provide you or your child with reasonable care. It would be difficult to prove that there was midwife negligence in the absence of such evidence.