The birth of Sarah’s* baby should have been one of the happiest days of her life, but it was marred by medical negligence, the consequences of which resulted in her being unable to conceive or carry further pregnancies.
Sarah’s baby was breech but this was negligently not identified until 8cm dilation. The delivery was via emergency caesarean section at full dilation, during which Sarah suffered extensive tearing of her uterus. She was advised that this would not impact her ability to conceive or carry future pregnancies.
Around a year later, Sarah started trying for a second child. After failing to conceive, investigations identified uterine adhesions/Asherman’s Syndrome, plus damage to the fallopian tubes and endometrium.
Sarah underwent multiple hysteroscopies to remove the adhesions but remained unable to conceive. Even if conception had been achieved, the risks of carrying a pregnancy were greatly increased, including a significant risk of uterine scar rupture (tearing of the uterine wall). If this happened, both Sarah and her baby could have died.
Sarah came to Enable Law after she realised that the delivery of her first child would prevent her from having any more children without the help of a surrogate. Surrogacy agreements in the UK are not enforceable so Sarah had concerns about the UK system particularly the risk of the surrogate not giving up the child at birth.
We brought a claim on behalf of Sarah and successfully secured compensation to enable her to pay for commercial surrogacy overseas. This will enable Sarah to have the further children she wants in a country where surrogacy agreements are legally enforceable, without delay and via a surrogate of her choice.
The Enable Law team included Anna-Claire Marks (Consultant). Anna comments “I am delighted that we were able to secure compensation to enable Sarah to complete her family, I wish her the very best for the future.“
