Fieldfisher joins BLISS on World Prematurity Day to support parents coping with pre-term babies
The focus of this year's World Prematurity Day on 17th November is on the challenge for parents coping with and caring for babies born prematurely and those who lose a baby born early.
BLISS does vital work to support families and the 90,000 babies born in neonatal care in the UK every year. Fieldfisher gets involved with families when sadly neonatal care falls below standard resulting in serious injury of a baby and when medical negligence causes the death of a baby born prematurely.
@Blisscharity highlights the impact that having a baby receiving neonatal care has on parents’ mental health and wellbeing, with emotions often ranging from guilt to fear, frustration to anger and hope to resilience. This element of the neonatal experience often goes unspoken, leaving parents feeling even more isolated.
Our medical negligence lawyers are running birth injury claims on behalf of clients whose babies were cared for by neonatal units in NHS hospitals.
Jane Weakley is currently investigating a claim after twins were delivered at 27+ 4 weeks gestation. One twin developed cerebral palsy. The hospital Trust has admitted that antenatal steroids should have been given to the mother five days before delivery.
Our case is that this would have prevented complications of prematurity and the need for mechanical ventilation which caused a brain injury. Liability is in dispute with the hospital and Jane continues to refer to expert evidence provided by medical practitioners.
Samantha Critchley settled a claim on behalf of parents of triplets born at 24 weeks. One of the babies developed neonatal sepsis at 28 weeks. The claim focused on a failure to treat a bacterial infection with timely antibiotic therapy, and then fluid and drugs to support the baby's circulation. We alleged these failures caused or at least contributed materially to the injury to the baby's brain. The baby was later diagnosed with cerebral palsy and autism.
Read more about the case.
Caron Heyes and Louise Astill are representing the mother of two babies who both died at Stoke Mandeville hospital two years apart because of negligent care. The first baby was born at 34 + 6 weeks. She was belatedly diagnosed with Group B Strep bacterial sepsis and died at 10 days old.
The second baby was delivered by emergency caesarean at 27+2 weeks following ruptured membranes and a antepartum bleed, with a suspected placenta abruption. There was a delay in delivery and the baby was born in poor condition and transferred to the neonatal unit.
The severity of his condition was not recognised nor escalated to a consultant Paediatrician. The care he received was substandard, with insufficient monitoring and care and critically a leaking ventilator. Tragically, the parents' second baby also died. Caron and Louise continue to investigate what happened.
This September, our medical negligence solicitors took part in a half marathon walk to raise funds for BLISS. We will continue to support their work in any way we can, at the very least by raising awareness of what they can offer parents of neonatal babies.