£17m birth injury settlement against Airedale NHS Foundation Trust
Jane Weakley has secured a £17 million settlement on behalf of a child seriously injured at birth when her mother's uterus ruptured.
The Airedale NHS Foundation Trust admitted liability for a series of failures in the care of the mother and child. Birth was induced at 39 weeks and 5 days, despite the mother experiencing serious pain around the scar from a previous c-section. There was no discussion or expert consultation about the appropriateness of induction.
Following induction, the woman's pain worsened and after significant delays in assessing the baby's heartbeat, an emergency c-section was performed. The mother's uterus had ruptured, and the baby was lying her in abdomen. She suffered from severe fetal bradycardia (slow heart rate) for six minutes before delivery and was born without a heartbeat.
After resuscitation, she was transferred for brain cooling but was diagnosed with severe brain damage (HIE Grade 3). Now five years old, the child has a permanent and irreversible brain injury resulting in four-limb, dyskinetic cerebral palsy.
She is fed by gastrostomy and requires around the clock care, which is provided by her parents and some professional assistance which will need to increase when she gets older, she will need professional assistance. The family, including the child's older siblings, live in a four-bedroom bungalow to which partial adaptations have been made. An interim payment secured by Jane has allowed them to consider a new property more suited to the girl's long-term needs.
The Trust admitted to delays in both delivery and restoring the baby's heart rate, which resulted in a 24-minute period of hypoxic-ischemic injury. It accepted that if the mother had given birth by elective c-section, the baby would have avoided injury.
Jane represented both the mother and child in medical negligence claims against the Trust. A significant settlement for the young girl has now been approved by His Honour Justice Shetty at the Royal Courts of Justice. She will receive a lump sum of £6 million and annual payments for life amounting to a capitalised sum of just under £17million.
This settlement will help fund ongoing care, therapies, and equipment for the child to support her to live the best life possible.
The case was reviewed by the Healthcare Safety and Investigation Branch (HSIB), which made safety recommendations to include ensuring mothers are given full and documented information about labour induction and that guidance is followed when English is not the first language.
The child's father said: "My experience has been absolutely amazing. Fieldfisher, especially Jane Weakley, did not disappoint. The outcome of the case was very helpful for our daughter. The team took care of every aspect. Great firm, Great people, Great Service."
Contact us
For further information about birth injury claims and medical negligence claims, please call Jane Weakley on 0330 460 6773 or email jane.weakley@fieldfisher.com.
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- You can speak to our medical negligence solicitors on freephone 0800 358 3848
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