This guide examines who might be eligible to claim birth injury compensation. We cover important topics such as what constitutes medical negligence, the eligibility criteria to begin a claim and how birth injuries can be caused by negligent medical staff.
We have also provided information on the time limits in medical negligence claims as well as explained how compensation awards are calculated under the two differents heads of loss. Proving the action or inaction of medical staff caused the injuries to either yourself or your child will form a key part of your claim, you’ll see information on the types of evidence you can collect as well how our solicitors can help you when gathering this.
At the bottom of the guide, you’ll see information on our expert medical negligence solicitors can help you claim compensation under the specific type of No Win No Fee contract that they offer.
You can find out if you’re eligible to claim today by speaking to our advisors. Reach our team at any time using the contact information given here:
- Complete our “claim online” form, and a member of the team will call you back.
Browse Our Guide
- What Is A Birth Injury Claim?
- How Can Birth Injuries Be Caused By Negligence?
- How Much Birth Injury Compensation Could I Receive?
- Can I Claim For Long Term Medical Treatment And Rehabilitation?
- How Long Do I Have To Claim For Birth Injuries?
- Can I Claim For My Child’s Birth Injury?
- How Often Are Birth Injury Claims Made?
- How Do I Prove That Birth Trauma Was Caused By Negligence?
- Can I Claim Birth Injury Compensation Using A No Win No Fee Solicitor?
- Learn More About Medical Negligence Compensation Claims
What Is A Birth Injury Claim?
A birth injury claim is a type of medical negligence claim made after a mishandled birth that has resulted in harm befalling either the mother or the child. Medical professionals are expected to provide care that meets the correct standard. This applies to both public and private medical practice.
In order to claim birth injury compensation, the following criteria will need to be satisfied:
- You were owed a duty of care by a medical professional.
- That professional breached this duty by failing to provide the correct standard of care.
- This failure resulted in you, your child or both experiencing avoidable harm.
By “avoidable harm,” we mean any harm that would have been sustained had the correct standard of care been given. We’ll examine this in more detail in a later section. To find out more about making a medical negligence claim or for a free assessment of your eligiblity, contact our advisory team today.
How Can Birth Injuries Be Caused By Negligence?
Childbirth is an intensive process, often lasting for several hours. Both the mother and baby (or babies) can be at risk during the birth, so the medical staff need to be vigilant for potential problems. If warning signs are missed, or not responded to quickly enough, both the baby and the mother can be in danger of serious injuries.
In the section below. We have examined some possible harm that could befall both mother and child during childbirth.
What Birth Injuries Can Be Caused To A Mother?
- Perineal injuries: skin tears in the perineum or labia, or in more serious cases, damage to muscles controlling the anus or the anus lining itself.
- Pelvic muscle damage: you could experience muscle damage to the pelvic floor.
- Prolapse of pelvic organs: where the pelvic muscles have been weakened and organs such as the bowels and bladder drop towards the vagina.
If you have suffered a birth injury and would like to know if you’re eligible to claim compensation, contact our advisors today.
What Birth Injuries Can Be Caused To A Baby?
- Cerebral palsy: Cerebral palsy is the name for a number of conditions that affect motor control and coordination. They’re caused by issues with the brain before, during, or just after birth. Symptoms can include development delays, jerking, fidgeting, or clumsy movements, learning difficulties, and sensory issues. These conditions can vary greatly in severity.
- Erb’s palsy: Erb’s palsy occurs when a baby’s head or arm is pulled during childbirth, causing damage to one or all 5 nerves in the brachial plexus.
- Fractures: Difficulties coming through the birth canal can result in fractures of the upper arms or clavicle.
To get further advice on the types of harm you could claim birth injury compensation for, contact our advisors using the details given above.
How Much Birth Injury Compensation Could I Receive?
Birth injury compensation following a successful medical negligence claim can be awarded under two different heads of loss.
- General Damages: awards for the physical and psychological harm caused by the birth injury.
- Special Damages: compensation for the financial losses stemming from that harm. We’ll examine this in the sections below.
The calculation of a potential compensation figure is one of the many things our solicitors can assist you with. Those assigned the task of reaching a provisional general damages figure can refer to your medical documents alongside the guidelines from the Judicial College.
Referred to as the JCG, this detailed publication contains guideline compensation figures for various types of harm. We have taken a relevant selection of these guidelines for use in the table below. The top entry was not taken from the JCG, this a potential total compensation figure with regard to both heads of loss.
Compensation Table
It is important we emphasise that the information given in this table is for guidance purposes only.
| Type of Harm | Severity | Guideline Compensation Value | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Multiple Instances of Very Severe Harm Alongside Significant Special Damages | Very Severe | Up to £20,000,000 + | Very severe harm as well significant financial losses including, lost pay, care needs and home modification |
| Brain Damage | Very Severe (a) | £344,150 to £493,000 | Very little environmental response and language function with double incontinence requiring around the clock professional care. |
| Moderately Severe (b) | £267,340 to £344,150 | Cases where the injured person is very serious disabled with a substantial dependence on others. This bracket includes both physical and cognitive disability. | |
| Moderate (c)(i) | £183,190 to £267,340 | Moderate to severe deficit in intellect, personality and the senses. Zero employment prospect. | |
| Female Reproductive System | Infertility with Severe Psychiatric Harm (a) | £140,210 to £207,260 | Infertility as well as sexual dysfunction, severe psychiatric injury as well as pain and physical scarring. |
| Permanent Sexual Dysfunction (b) | £52,490 to £124,620 | Permanent sexual dysfunction in a person who already had children or would never have had them. | |
| Infertility with No Aggravating Features (c) | £68,440 to £87,070 | Infertility with no additional complication in a young person without children. | |
| Bowel Injuries | Total Loss of Function (b) | Up to £183,190 | A complete loss of natural bowel function and dependence on colostomy. |
| Severe Abdominal Injury (d) | £54,420 to £85,100 | Functional impairment, often restricting diet and employment. | |
| Bladder | Long Term Interference (d) | £28,570 to £38,210 | An almost complete recovery but fairly long term functional interference. |
Special Damages
Monetary losses that you incur as a result of the harm sustained during the mishandled birth can be reimbursed under special damages. We have provided some possible examples of costs here:
- Lost earnings due to time taken off work to recover from your injuries.
- Child care if you are unable to look after your baby and other children.
- Care needs, such as assistance with cleaning, meal preparation or tending outside space if you cannot carry these tasks out safely by yourself.
- Travel expenses, if you’ve been medically advised to not drive.
- Counselling, talking therapy or other mental health treatment.
Claiming special damages payments will require you to submit some supporting evidence. Make sure you hold onto copies of your payslips, care invoices, travel tickets and other documents as proof you incurred these losses.
This section is intended to provide guidance on how medical negligence compensation amounts are calculated. For a more personalised idea of what your birth injury compensation claim could be worth, talk to our advisors today.
Can I Claim For Long Term Medical Treatment And Rehabilitation?
Yes you can. While we discussed special damages above, in this section, we want to talk more about the long term impacts of a mishandled birth and how birth injury compensation can be awarded under special damages for long term treatment and rehabilitation.
Special damages are not just for immediate costs. The nature of cerebral palsy and other birth injuries means these costs will be ongoing for the child’s entire lifetime. Depending on the severity, the child may require around-the-clock care, specialised furniture and medical equipment and regular physiotherapy or other treatments.
Since these costs could very well be incurred for decades, and considering the severity of the brain damage, compensation paid out under special damages will be considerably higher than that awarded under general damages for the injuries themselves.
How Long Do I Have To Claim For Birth Injuries?
Typically, you will 3 years to claim birth injury compensation as per the Limitation Act 1980. However, this time period can be counted from two different dates:
- The date of incidence: where the birth injury actually took place.
- The date of knowledge: where you would have been reasonably first expected to connect the harm you sustained with the medical professional’s actions.
In certain circumstances, exceptions to the standard limitation can apply and the court may grant an extension. For example:
- Minors: Your child cannot claim on their own behalf until they reach maturity. Therefore, the three years are counted from the day they turn 18.
- Those lacking sufficient mental capacity: Individuals who lack the mental capacity to claim on their own behalf will have the time limit frozen altogether.
To learn more about the time limits in medical negligence claims, contact our advisory team today.
Can I Claim For My Child’s Birth Injury?
If you wish to claim on behalf of your child, you or another suitable adult must apply to be the child’s litigation friend. This means the court will appoint an adult to act on the child’s behalf so the claim can be started sooner.
If the claim is successful, compensation will be made available to the child when they turn 18. Interim payments may be issued for medical costs, physiotherapy and other such expenses.
You can find out more about claiming on behalf of a minor by speaking to our advisors. The team can also assess your eligibility to claim birth injury compensation free of charge. Get in touch today using the contact details given below.
How Often Are Birth Injury Claims Made?
According to NHS Resolution, 1,392 claims were made against the obstetrics department across the NHS in 2022/23, out of a total of 13,511 claims made across all departments. Birth injury claims, therefore represent just over 10% of the total claims made through NHS Resolution in the 2022/23 year.
How Do I Prove That Birth Trauma Was Caused By Negligence?
When a birth injury compensation claim, you will need to provide supporting evidence. This will be used to show not only that the care you received was not of the correct standard but also the impact of the harm caused to yourself or your child.
Possible examples include:
- Medical documents: getting proper medical treatment for yourself or your child is of great importance. While the health of both mother and child is paramount, the medical records from your treatment will be useful evidence in the claim, for showing both the substandard care and any subsequent treatment to correct or mitigate those effects.
- Witness statements: Anyone who attended the birth, friends, family or other medical staff could provide a witness statement. Be sure you have their contact details so their statement can be taken during the claims process.
- Proof of special damages: receipts, invoices, your payslips and other such documents.
- Any findings from the Bolam test, if used.
Will The Bolam Test Be Used In My Birth Injury Compensation Claim?
The Bolam test is applied in some but not all medical negligence cases. A panel of relevantly trained experts will assess the level of care you received and decide whether or not it met the correct standard.
This isn’t something you need to worry about organising yourself. However, if used, the findings from the rest will be useful evidence for your claim. To learn more about the types of evidence you could collect for your medical negligence claim, contact our advisors today.
Can I Claim Birth Injury Compensation Using A No Win No Fee Solicitor?
Our expert medical negligence solicitors can support you throughout the birth injury compensation claims process. You’ll benefit considerably from their years of knowledge and experience, and they can assist you with a variety of tasks including gathering evidence, communicating with the defendants and ensuring all court deadlines and instructions are complied with.
Our solicitors offer their services on a No Win No Fee basis under a particular type of contract called a Conditional Fee Agreement or “CFA.” Instructing a legal representative under a CFA means you’ll enjoy a number of distinct advantages, including:
- No fees payable to the solicitor to commence work on your case.
- Not paying any fees for this work during the claims process.
- Finally, if the claim fails, you will not pay any solicitors fees.
Should the claim succeed, you will receive a medical negligence compensation award. The solicitor will take a percentage of this award as their success fee. Since success fees are subject to a legally binding cap, this means you will keep most of any compensation awarded to you.
You can find out if you’re eligible to claim today by speaking to our advisors. Reach our team at any time using the contact information given here:
- Complete our “claim online” form, and a member of the team will call you back.
Learn More About Medical Negligence Compensation Claims
We have included some links to external pages with additional information you may find useful:
- NHS Resolution has published this report on learning from avoidable brain injuries at birth, which you can read on their website.
- Learn more about the standards of good medical practice for doctors with this General Medical Council resource.
- Learn more about the work of children’s neurodisability charity Pace on their website.
Thank you for reading our guide to claiming birth injury compensation. To find out more or for a free assessment of your eligibility, contact our advisory team using the details given above today.