The cost of birth trauma where there is medical negligence

We’re so proud to support the Birth Trauma Association’s Birth Trauma Awareness Week, which is an instrumental tool in increasing understanding and awareness of birth trauma among the public, health professionals and policy makers. This year’s theme, the cost of birth trauma, chimes with me on so many levels. At BBK, we see mothers and their wider families who have sadly paid a huge price due to their experience of birth trauma. And this isn’t just a financial cost, although that can be significant, but it’s also the cost birth trauma has on mental and physical health, relationships and their potential future family, which may not grow after a traumatic birth.

Amy’s Story

My client Amy had an induction of labour which failed, and she then asked for a C-section. This request was denied, and Amy was booked for a further induction. Tragically, during the intervening period Amy wasn’t monitored appropriately and by the time she was reviewed, her baby was noted to be in distress with a very low heart rate. She was rushed to theatre for an emergency C-section, but her baby was born in a very bad way. He was resuscitated and taken to the NICU, but his brain injury was so severe from lack of oxygen before birth that he died a few days later. Had Amy’s request for a C-section been listened to and followed, her baby would have been born healthy.

The impact of losing a baby is incomprehensible. Amy worked in the NHS before her maternity leave, and her maternity care caused her to lose all trust in her employer. She was unable to return to her much-loved career and suffered significant psychiatric injury, including PTSD and depression.

Amy brought a medical negligence claim, and as part of the claim, I helped her to consider the losses she could seek to recover from the Defendant NHS Trust. This included the cost of the psychiatric injury she suffered, her pain and suffering. It also included the significant loss of earnings she had suffered and would continue to suffer, as she was unable to continue her career in the NHS.

Marie’s Story

Marie was thrilled to be expecting her first baby and went in for a planned induction. After days of slow progress and an epidural, her baby began showing signs of distress. The doctor carried out a forceps delivery without her consent, but her daughter was born healthy. Marie was examined afterwards, was diagnosed with a perineal tear, and given stitches.

Like many first-time mums, she didn’t know how to care for her stitches, and no midwife explained what to expect during recovery. She was discharged the next day. At home, her stitches came apart, and she developed faecal incontinence. After returning to the hospital and pushing for answers, she was finally diagnosed with a missed 3rd-degree tear, a severe injury involving the anal sphincter, more common with forceps deliveries.

For Marie, the delay in recognising and repairing the tear meant she needed to have a colostomy sited to allow the tissue around her tear a chance to heal before it could be repaired. She was blighted by a series of unsuccessful repair attempts in surgery, and eventually she accepted that she would need a colostomy permanently.

Marie came to BBK for help investigating a medical negligence claim. After receiving expert opinion and liaising with the hospital Trust, they admitted that the extent of Marie’s tear was not recognised at birth and was inadequately repaired. As a result of these failures, Marie’s tear could not heal, and she had a much worse outcome. The hospital trust accepted that if she had

been treated properly, she would have had a much more substantial initial repair to the 3rd degree tear, which would have healed well. She would not have suffered faecal incontinence nor needed a stoma.

Marie’s injuries changed every part of her life. She needed home adaptations, mobility support, and significant care. She was unable to return to her full-time job despite adjustments. She endured years of pain, repeated surgeries, and severe depression. Her injuries also meant she and her husband decided not to have more children, which was devastating for her. Managing her stoma also affected her religious practices, adding to the emotional toll.

We assessed her long-term needs and secured a seven-figure settlement to help her regain her quality of life and put her as close as possible to the position she would have been in had the negligence not occurred.

I will forever find it frustrating to see the sums spent by the NHS on maternity negligence claims. I have been working in maternity claims for over 10 years, and sadly, in that time, the types of claims have not changed. I see the same stories from women and families, and the cost to the families, and to society as a whole, cannot be understated.

This is why we are so proud to passionately support BTA, the fantastic work they do, and add our voices to the BTA Awareness Week. Birth trauma has a far-reaching cost – and a light needs to be shone on this issue.