Liability admitted for brain-injured girl born at Queen's Hospital, Romford
Jane Weakley secured a full admission of liability for Baby A against Barking Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust following negligent errors during her mother's labour at Queen's Hospital, Romford.
Baby A's mother was admitted to Queen's Hospital with strong painful contractions and experienced a long labour over two days. Seven vaginal examinations were performed throughout. When Baby A was delivered, she was blue and floppy, had a low heart rate and required resuscitation. She was transferred to the NICU for cooling. She was given antibiotics for suspected sepsis and streptococcus group B.
Baby A was then transferred to another hospital where she was diagnosed and treated for hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy. As a result of the brain injury sustained during her birth, Baby A now experiences severe disabilities, including epilepsy, hemiparesis, delayed language development and impaired cognitive function. She will require therapy intervention, educational support and is likely to develop significant care needs in the future.
Once instructed, Jane obtained reports from experts in obstetrics and gynaecology, midwifery, neonatology, microbiology, neuroradiology and paediatric neurology.
The defendant Trust conducted an internal investigation, and an independent investigation was carried out by The Health and Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB). Both investigations revealed several failures in Baby A's care but the Trust failed to make any concessions regarding causation at this time.
Jane wrote a formal Letter of Claim to the Trust and received back a full admission of liability that there was failure to adequately monitor Baby A's heart rate, escalate and seek obstetric input during the early stages of labour, and that there were an excessive number of vaginal examinations carried out during labour, which put Baby A and her mother at a greater risk of infection.
The Trust admitted that these failures led to a delay in delivery of Baby A, who suffered severe hypoxia-ischaemia and a brain injury as a result. The Trust concluded that, but for their negligence, Baby A would have been born in good condition.
After liability was settled, Baby A's mother said:
'I am truly grateful for all the hard work Jane and her team have done to get us to this point. I am relieved that this admission means my daughter will now have access to the therapies that she truly needs.
'I cannot thank Jane enough for her patience and determination with manging our case, as well as her support during times when I had felt anxious going through this litigation process. Jane is an excellent lawyer who I am delighted handled our case and I would highly recommend.'
Contact us
For further information about birth injury claims, please call Jane Weakley on 0330 460 6773 or email jane.weakley@fieldfisher.com.
Alternatively
- You can speak to our medical negligence solicitors on freephone 0800 358 3848
- email us: personalinjury@fieldfisher.com
- Complete the short online enquiry form
All enquiries are completely free of charge and we will investigate all funding options for you including no win, no fee. Find out more about no win no fee claims.