Early admission of liability for 5-year-old injured during birth at Prince Charles Hospital, Methyr Tydfil, Wales
Helen Thompson secured an admission of liability for a 5-year-old girl who has severe cerebral palsy following mismanagement of her mother's labour and delivery.
Mrs A's BMI meant that when she became pregnant, she should have been under consultant-led care but midwives failed to make the referral. She was also told she could have her baby on the midwife-led unit – where there would not be continuous monitoring of the baby's heart rate.
Mrs A's pregnancy progressed uneventfully. When her contractions began, she attended the midwife-led unit at Prince Charles Hospital but was sent home. When she attended the hospital a second time she was admitted at around 1.00am. Once again, midwives failed to transfer her to obstetric-led care for her labour.
During her labour on the midwife-led unit, a student midwife was in charge of her monitoring and a senior midwife sat in the far corner of the room with very little involvement.
At 02.25am, it was identified that Mrs A was fully dilated and encouraged to start pushing. National and local guidelines stipulate that during the 'second stage' of labour, midwives should listen to the baby's heart rate after every contraction for at least one minute and at least every five minutes. The midwives failed to monitor the baby appropriately and instead only listened to the baby's heart rate at 15-minute intervals.
At around 02.45am, the baby's heart rate started to drop but the midwives did not pick up on this and no action was taken. It was the claimant's case that from this point the baby was deprived of oxygen due to cord compression and that from around 04.07am she suffered an almost total lack of oxygen to her brain.
Baby C was born at 04.25am in very poor condition. The umbilical cord was wrapped twice tightly around her neck. Resuscitation was performed and Baby C was transferred to the Special Care Baby Unit where cooling was undertaken. She was transferred to the neonatal unit at Singleton Hospital.
Around a week after birth, doctors considered that Baby C's brain injury was so severe it was unlikely she would survive. She was transferred to a hospice for end-of-life care. Against the odds, her condition remained stable and she later went home with her parents.
Baby C suffers from severe brain damage, quadriplegic cerebral palsy and global developmental delay. She requires gastrostomy feeding and has epilepsy. She will be dependent on others for around the clock care for the rest of her life.
The Cwm Taf Morgannwg Local University Health Board which governs the hospital made a full admission of liability after a Letter of Claim was sent, specifically that from 02.45am when the baby's heart rate dropped, midwives should have started continuous monitoring of her heart rate and transferred Mrs A to the labour ward. It was also admitted that if this had occurred, abnormalities in the baby's heart rate would have been seen and delivery would have been expedited with Baby C being born before any damage to her brain occurred.
An interim payment of damages has been secured for Baby C's immediate needs and the Court of Protection Team at Fieldfisher will help to administer the damages. The claim will now be quantified and hopefully a swift settlement reached with the Health Board.
Contact us
For further information about cerebral palsy claims and birth injury claims, please call Helen Thompson on 03304606765 or email helen.thompson@fieldfisher.com.
Alternatively
- You can speak to our medical negligence solicitors on freephone 0800 358 3848
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