Hudgell Solicitors’ specialist medical negligence lawyers have secured £28,000 for a young woman who was not told she was pregnant even though doctors had results confirming she was.
Our client, who was in her early 20s at the time, had attended a routine contraceptive pill review at a local GP surgery in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, where she underwent tests with a nurse.
Various tests were done, including one on her urine, but at no point during or after her appointment was she told to call for her results.
When the test results did come back to the GP, they confirmed that our client was in fact pregnant. The doctor logged this in our client’s file, but she was not contacted or informed about the results of her pregnancy.
Our client should have been contacted and informed of these results. It was only four months later when she attended the GP surgery again that she was told she was with child.
At this point, given that she was more than 20 weeks pregnant when she was told, she felt her decision of whether or not to continue with the pregnancy had been taken from her and she had to see it through.
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Such avoidable mistakes can be life-changing
Medical negligence solicitor Sam Darwin has experience of working on many types of clinical cases and was able to help our client throughout and agree on a settlement that will bring some security for the woman and her young daughter. Ms Darwin said:
This is a clearly life-changing error for our client, and whilst there are many wonderful moments a newborn baby coming into the world can bring, an unexpected pregnancy can turn your life upside down.
The lack of communication from the GP surgery took away the power for our client to be able to make such an important decision.“It was vital that a wrongful birth error like this was challenged so people can learn from mistakes and other young women like my client do not have to have this experience.
After an initial denial of liability from the defendant, we continued to fight to support our client and to ensure that lessons were learnt.
There are huge potential implications for people’s lives when routine test results are not communicated.
Medical negligence claim – the legal case
Both the GP and the nurse defendants involved had initially denied liability. Ms Darwin worked to obtain a report from medical experts to support the case that she set out for her client at an early stage.
After some negotiations took place, a settlement of £28,000 was agreed with the two defendants. The case was settled out of court.
