Further Support For Mothers With Mental Health Issues Caused By Child’s Birth Injury
2 Min Read
An important decision has been made this week in the Royal Courts of Justice in the case of YAH v Medway NHS Foundation Trust [2018].
The case supports mothers bringing a claim for mental health problems resulting from their child being born with a negligent birth injury and having disabilities as a result. This is because the law says mother and baby “are one” until the baby is born.
In this case, the mother had a psychiatric injury which was caused by:
A) A difficult labour,
B) The worry about whether her daughter would survive and;
C) Diagnosis of cerebral palsy and the burden of looking after her disabled child.
The Defendant tried to argue that because the strain of looking after her disabled daughter was the main factor in the mother’s injury, this was too far away from her daughter’s birth to be able to claim. The judge rejected that argument and said that there were a number of causes of the mother’s injury. Over time all of them had contributed and could not be separated, so the mother could bring a claim.
As a result, the mother was awarded just over £76,000 for her mental health injuries.
Our expert birth injury lawyers have helped many families with the legal issues which follow birth trauma, including claims for secondary victims. We have also been successful in settling claims for mothers who have suffered a mental health problem as the result of a stillbirth. To find out if our specialist team can help you, please click here.
