Medical Negligence - Birth Injury

James Bell settles primary victim claim for mother whose baby sustained an injury during birth | Case Studies | We Case Studies James Bell settles primary victim claim for mother whose baby sustained an injury during birth James Bell acted for the mother of a baby who sustained an injury at birth. A separate claim is ongoing for the child and liability has been admitted. The mother’s claim was brought as a primary victim for a psychiatric injury caused by the trauma of her daughter’s birth, where delivery was delayed due to negligence, and the injury her baby suffered. At birth her daughter was in poor condition and required immediate resuscitation followed by brain cooling. Our client was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder following the shock of the birth. After counselling was undertaken by the mother, we obtained an expert psychiatric report. Her claim included lost earnings associated with this, the cost of future therapy as well as a sum for her pain and suffering. The Claim settled despite ground-breaking ruling in Paul & Anor v Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust [2024] UKSC 1 which greatly limited claims for secondary victims in clinical negligence settings. we argued that the Claimant’s case was distinct to that case law and relied upon RE v Calderdale & Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust [2017] EWHC 824 (QB) . As the negligent acts took place before the birth of the Claimant’s daughter our case was that mother and baby were, as stated in Calderdale , “ not a separate legal entity…and in law, they are to be treated as one.” The facts of Calderdale and the we case were similar in that, as in Calderdale ; “The delayed delivery triggered the commencement of the hypoxic event whilst she was still in utero….The extent of the injury was dependent upon the totality of the insult which began at the time that the Second Claimant [i.e.