Delay in delivery resulting in the death of a baby

The Claimant was admitted to hospital, in labour, just over 33 weeks into her third pregnancy. This was considered to be a high-risk pregnancy.

 She had been discharged only a few hours earlier having been admitted three days previously as her waters had broken. Monitoring of the baby’s heart had commenced very quickly following admission and less than 30 minutes later the heart trace indicated the baby was struggling. A decision to perform a caesarean wasn’t made until about 22 minutes later; it was a further 82 minutes before the baby was delivered. Sadly he was born in a very poor condition requiring nearly 15 minutes of resuscitation and significant intensive care. He passed away at only 10 months of age. He was struggling due to a serious infection which had developed in the placenta as a result of the premature breaking of the Claimant’s waters. Unfortunately, she hadn’t been given antibiotics, which may have avoided, or at least reduced the effects of, the infection.

The claim was eventually settled through mediation resulting in £40,000 compensation.

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