Understanding Maternity Negligence and Clinical Negligence Claims
Medical negligence by healthcare professionals such as doctors, midwives, and other medical staff during pregnancy or childbirth can have devastating consequences for both mother and baby. Clinical negligence claims often arise when maternity services fail to provide the expected standard of care.
Negligence can occur if medical professionals fail to act quickly in an emergency situation, misinterpret ultrasound scans, or do not properly manage conditions such as pre-eclampsia or gestational diabetes. Staff shortages or inadequate training in maternity units can also lead to substandard care.
Some common examples of maternity negligence include:
- Mistakenly performed episiotomies or errors in suturing them
- Errors in the management of pre-eclampsia
- Excessive haemorrhage/postpartum haemorrhage
- Failure to deliver or retained placenta
- Bladder and bowel damage as a result of mismanaged labour
- Failures to detect or delays in detecting ectopic pregnancy or misdiagnosed miscarriage
- Failures in advice or management around caesarean section and vaginal deliveries
- Harm due to failure to admit to the maternity ward
- Birth defects and wrongful birth
- Stillbirth and neonatal death
- Fertility/IVF negligence
- Obstetric anal sphincter injuries (OASI)
We also assist families affected by birth injuries, including life-changing injuries such as cerebral palsy and brain damage caused by oxygen deprivation during childbirth.
The effects of maternity negligence can be severe and long-lasting. Physically, it can result in conditions such as bowel and bladder incontinence or uterine rupture. Psychologically, it can cause PTSD, anxiety, postnatal depression, or birth trauma. Failures in maternity services can also lead to devastating consequences for the baby, including brain injuries and severe brain damage.
