Mother lodges birth injury compensation claim against NHS
26 Aug 2010
A young mother has lodged a
birth injury compensation claim after her daughter suffered
brain damage because of complications surrounding her
delivery.
Sara Haran, 23, was six days overdue in November 2008 and was
concerned she had not felt her baby move, the Whitby Gazette
reports.
She went to Whitby Hospital but was transferred to Scarborough
after a drop in the unborn child's heartbeat was detected.
Although medics there expressed concern about the baby being
distressed, nothing was done for almost two hours, when Ms Haran
was finally given an emergency Caesarean section.
By then, little Sienna had already suffered a brain injury because
her heart had stopped beating for 20 minutes.
Although it was feared she could die, the child surprised doctors
by pulling through, but her parents are concerned she may still be
diagnosed with cerebral palsy.
Ms Haran is now seeking compensation from Scarborough and North
East Yorkshire Healthcare NHS Trust, as she believes the standard
of treatment she received fell below that which could reasonably be
expected.
"I feel abandoned by the NHS. There's just not the care there," she
commented.
According to Action Medical Research, around 850,000 of the world's
under-fives die every year because of birth asphyxia, while 20 to
40 per cent of those who survive develop serious problems such as
cerebral palsy, epilepsy and learning problems.
Anyone affected should seek the advice of a solicitor to discuss a
possible birth injury compensation claim.
Nina Ali, a specialist clinical negligence solicitor at Hodge
Jones & Allen LLP comments:
Sadly, it seems that despite the considerably advanced state of
obstretric medicine, there continue to be totally indefensible
errors occurring where foetal distress is either not picked up
quickly enough or not treated quickly enough. That a normal child
is now brain damaged because of an easily avoidable error is a
tragedy. At Hodge Jones & Allen, our trained solicitors have
assisted many clients in birth injury compensation claims."
