Wrongful birth case: Interim payment and liability agreed for child with spina bifida
Wrongful birth cases are particularly distressing for families who must tell the court that their child would not have been born without negligent treatment. This type of claim, brought by the parents, often involves psychiatric injury plus the additional cost of providing for a disabled child, over and above that which a parent would provide for a child without disability.
In this case, Jenny obtained evidence that the 20 week anomaly scan performed at Liverpool Women’s NHS Foundation Trust during the mother’s pregnancy was incorrectly reported. It should have been reported showing a large lesion on the spine, which would have led to the mother being offered an amniocentesis. The mother would have undergone this procedure which would have confirmed a diagnosis of both spina bifida and a congenital chromosome disorder. She would have been offered a termination. As it was, their child was born and subsequently diagnosed with both conditions.
The defendants admitted that the scan had been reported negligently but continued to argue that the parents would not have terminated the pregnancy even had the diagnosis been made ante-natally. Only after negotiations at a meeting shortly before trial was an agreement reached and the claim will now continue to value the compensation due. It will likely be a multi-million pound settlement.
Jenny specialises in wrongful birth cases and is currently representing several families of children born with severe disability in such cases. She recently secured £7m settlement following the birth of a child with severe congenital brain abnormalities and £6.4m for the family of a child with Down’s Syndrome.
Contact us
For further information about wrongful birth claims, please call Jenny Urwin on 03304606776 or email jenny.urwin@fieldfisher.com.
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