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If you or your baby have experienced a traumatic birth and are looking for compensation, you could be entitled to make a birth injury claim with Blackwater Law.
During pregnancy, you will rely heavily on a range of medical professionals for advice and guidance. This will include your GP, midwife, nurses, and hospital doctors. If the advice or care you receive at any stage during your pregnancy or labour falls below what should be reasonably expected, you may be entitled to make a traumatic birth compensation claim.
A birth injury is any physical injury that can occur before, during or after childbirth. Birth injuries can affect both the mother and the baby. They happen when something goes wrong during the natural process of childbirth, or can occur as a result of negligence on the part of the medical professionals.
You can read more about what causes birth injuries in this article.
Birth injuries can occur to both babies and to the mother. In some cases, they can arise because of negligent care by the hospital, or medical professional.
Any situation where the actions or inactions of your midwife during pregnancy, labour or post-birth, results in unnecessary harm or distress to the mother or baby, you could claim for midwife negligence compensation.
Blackwater Law successfully represented the family of baby Blake in making a midwife negligence claim after the community midwife failed to notice a severe medical abnormality.
As with most medical negligence cases, it’s difficult to give a timeframe for how long your claim could take. Every case is different and will involve varying levels of evidence, discussions and investigations which all influence how long a claim could take.
Some more complex birth injury cases such as those involving cerebral palsy, can take many years for the claim to be resolved due to the amount of investigation and negotiation that is needed.
With each stage of a birth injury claim potentially requiring years to conclude, it is not unreasonable to expect a timeline of around five years from the point of submitting your claim. You can read more in our article below.
Birth Injury Claims – What is the process and how long does it take?
Establishing how much compensation you could receive in a birth injury claim is often difficult. Each claim is different and each family that is affected will be in different circumstances and require varying degrees of future assistance. All of this will be factored in when it comes to calculating the compensation awarded in your claim.
The level of compensation will be greatly affected by the severity of the injury, the effect it has on your life currently, and the effect that it will continue to have in the future. For example, a child who develops cerebral palsy due to negligence will likely receive significant compensation, sometimes in the millions of pounds.
This is due to the fact that the ongoing cost of care for the rest of the child’s life will be expensive, and therefore have to be factored into the compensation that is awarded.
Like all other cases of medical negligence, in most circumstances, you will have three years from the date of the incident to bring forward a birth injury claim. If you were not aware that any negligent act had occurred until a later date, the three-year time limit begins once you have become aware of negligence. Trying to bring a claim forward after the limitation period has been reached will be extremely difficult.
There are some exceptions to the limitation period which can apply in cases of birth injury. If the injury is to a baby, then you will have until the child’s 18th birthday to start a claim. Once the child turns 18 the three-year limitation period begins.
There is another exception where if the person concerned does not have what is called ‘mental capacity’ then there is no limitation period to bring a claim unless they regain capacity at a later stage.
Limitation periods can be difficult to establish in cases, so if you’re unsure speak to one of our team today who can help you with your claim.
When you call us and receive free initial advice, if we believe you or your baby may be entitled to compensation, we will agree to represent you in your claim on a no-win, no-fee basis.
This means that there is no risk to you. If your claim is unsuccessful, you will not have to pay any legal fees. Blackwater Law undertakes all medical negligence claims on a no-win, no-fee basis.
It seemed like we were the only case that Jason was working on, and that can’t be true, but that’s how he made us feel.
Blackwater Law medical negligence solicitors are experienced in advising clients in relation to claiming compensation for injuries and ailments sustained during birth. This includes injuries to the mother or baby or negligence caused by a midwife.
The experience and reputation of the team at Blackwater Law mean they are approached for advice by families across the country. Our team is accredited by the Legal 500. It is recognised as one of the leading teams of medical negligence lawyers in the South East.