No win, no fee birth injury compensation claims
You can be represented by a highly-experienced birth injury lawyer at no upfront cost to you. Under our No Win, No Fee agreement you only pay a pre-agreed percentage of the compensation awarded if your case is successful.
Birth injury compensation
Negligent care relating to the management of pregnancy, birth and delivery can have a lifelong impact on mothers, babies and their families.
As well as the physical suffering, birth injuries can have a huge psychological impact on all involved, often impacting on relationships, work, health and mental well-being for many years.
Our team of birth injury solicitors has supported hundreds of families affected, providing them with expert legal support to question and challenge the care they received, whilst securing damages to compensate for the impact it has on their lives.
Clients often praise the sympathetic and understanding approach of our team, alongside their determination to ensure we hold people to account and get the answers required.
Specialist birth injury solicitors
Our dedicated medical negligence solicitors and support team have vast experience, ensuring your case reflects the severity of the situation and the support you and your family need. They will:
- Provide a compassionate and understanding service tailored to your situation.
- Help you gain access to support services to help make the best possible recovery following a traumatic birth injury.
- Seek interim compensation payments where possible to pay for medical equipment, rehabilitation, surgery, accommodation or assisted care.
- Help you plan for any long-term care needs required for you or your child to support independent living.
Injuries causing brain and nerve damage
Our birth injury solicitors are highly-experienced in pursuing compensation– often into seven figures in value – in cases where babies suffer life-long brain damage or nerve damage at birth.
In many cases we secure significant interim compensation payments to cover the cost of any immediate needs such as equipment, accommodation, rehabilitation and therapeutic care and support.
We support many families whose children have Cerebral Palsy, a brain injury caused by a lack of oxygen during delivery, and Erb’s Palsy, a nerve injury that affects the movement of the shoulders, arms and hands.
Cerebral Palsy is most commonly caused by the failure to recognise a child’s vital signs becoming abnormal and subsequently failing to accelerate the birth, which may result in a child being born with serious neurological damage.
Shoulder dystocia leading to Erb’s Palsy occurs when inadequate plans for birth are made relating to the size of an unborn baby and the failure to carry out a caesarean section or an episiotomy.
If no action is taken, a baby’s shoulders can be stuck during vaginal delivery, which is extremely dangerous and can lead to death.
Sometimes a baby’s shoulders are freed, but the birth trauma sustained leads to nerve injury and the possibility of an arm or hand being paralysed.
Negligence causing harm to babies
Common types of medical negligence claims related to injuries caused to babies include compensation for lifelong conditions such as Cerebral palsy, Erb’s palsy or brachial plexus injuries (nerve damage).
We support many families whose babies suffer fractures to the skull, legs, arms, shoulders, or collarbones during birth, and in cases where errors lead to babies being stillborn, or passing away soon after birth.
Mistakes which can lead to babies being born harmed include;
- Failure to carry out appropriate tests during pregnancy.
- Misinterpretation of scans, leading to an incorrect diagnosis / treatment.
- Failure to act upon reduced baby movements during pregnancy.
- Failure to act when a mother’s blood pressure reaches dangerous levels.
- Failure to carry out caesarean births when signs point to potential harm.
- Errors during delivery causing injury, such as use of forceps or ventouse.
Negligence causing harm to mothers
Obstetric claims for mothers can range in severity and complexity and include vaginal tears, pelvic organ prolapse, haemorrhage after birth, uterine inversion or rupture and placental injuries.
Common mistakes which can lead to mothers suffering injury during pregnancy and birth include:
- Failure to appropriately manage pre-eclampsia.
- Sub-standard caesarean procedures, causing organ damage.
- Wrongly performed episiotomies (cuts in the area between the vagina and anus during childbirth).
- Errors in surgically suturing tears or an episiotomy.
- Errors causing perineal tears.
- Errors causing fissures (tears to anal canal).
- Swabs being left inside the body.
- Failure, error or delay in administering anaesthesia.
How to make a birth injury claim
Make a claim in six easy steps
Free Initial Advice
Call us, request a callback or complete our online claim form and we will assess whether we think you have a claim.
Funding
We will help you to decide how best to fund your claim. Usually, we will be able to offer you a No win, No fee agreement.
Obtain Medical Records & Medical Reports
We will request copies of your medical records and instruct appropriate medical experts to prepare reports confirming whether your care was negligent and how this caused you injury.
Letter Of Claim
We will send a letter to your healthcare provider with details of your claim, setting out why we think your case was negligent and how this caused you injury.
Prepare Claim Valuation
We will put together a schedule of loss setting out the losses you have incurred and the extent of the injuries you have sustained.
Negotiate Settlement
We will send all the evidence to your opponent inviting their settlement proposals. If we cannot agree a reasonable settlement, we will prepare court proceedings.
Start your claim today
Feel free to give us a call or begin your claim online
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FAQs
How can birth injuries be caused?
Birth trauma and injuries can arise as a result of errors made by health professionals which should not happen during pregnancy, labour, delivery and post-natal care.
Common mistakes include maternity staff failing to carry out tests quickly enough during pregnancy, misinterpreting scans leading to an incorrect diagnosis and inappropriate treatment, failure to act upon reduced foetal movements, and failure to take appropriate action when a mother’s blood pressure has been at dangerous levels, whether that was under NHS or private care.
Communication issues can often be a contributing factor to things going wrong, where mothers and their partners feel their concerns have not been listened to early enough, or that they have been ignored completely.
Should I make a birth injury claim?
No amount of money can truly compensate people in many cases relating to birth traumas, especially those where lives are lost or left with life-changing injuries. Compensation can provide crucial financial support and access to additional ongoing care, therapy, and special equipment required.
Damages can be secured to ensure immediate steps can be taken to maximise a child’s potential if they have suffered injuries at birth that will affect them long term.
We are passionate about making a positive impact on the lives of our clients, and our work often leads to changes being made and extra training being provided on maternity wards, meaning your case could help prevent a similar tragedy from happening to another family in the future.
If you, or your child, have been affected adversely during pregnancy, childbirth, or in the immediate aftercare period, our team of expert birth injury lawyers and solicitors are able to support you in relation to this.
What is the average amount of birth injury compensation?
Compensation for birth injury can vary vastly dependent upon the severity of injury and loss suffered. Traumatic birth compensation or compensation for a birth injury to a mother may vary greatly when compared to birth injury compensation claims where a child faces long-term effects.
For life-long injuries, such as Cerebral palsy or Erb’s palsy, damages can be awarded into many millions of pounds, as this money is required to cover the cost of round-the-clock care and home adaptations.
Damages are awarded to help families through difficult times without the added worry from the financial implications of additional medical care or other costs. These can include:
- Damages for the pain and suffering caused to the mother or child due to a doctor or medical staff member’s negligence.
- Funding for required care, equipment or household adjustments.
- Medical expenses incurred by seeking specialist healthcare to deal with the injuries or afflictions following a birth injury.
- Loss of earnings for you or a loved one acting as a carer due to the injuries sustained.
- Funeral expenses in the event of a patient dying due to birth negligence, whether this is the mother or child.
What are the time limits for making a medical negligence claim?
If aged 18 and over, you will typically have three years from the date that the negligence occurred, or from the date that you became aware of negligent treatment.
For under-18s, there is no time limit. However, once a child reaches 18, the standard 3 year claim period comes into effect.
If a person lacks the capacity to make a claim themselves, there’s no time limit for making a claim.
How will Hudgell Solicitors help my birth injury claim?
Our expert childbirth injury solicitors will:
- Carry out initial fact-finding by discussing with you what happened, what went wrong and the impact it has had on your life.
- Inform the healthcare provider of our investigation into the care they provided, requesting relevant medical records and details of examinations and treatment.
- Analyse medical records, work out what went wrong, and what could have been done to prevent any injuries and conditions from occurring.
- Seek independent medical opinion to determine whether a mother or child’s injuries could and should have been prevented, with proper care and treatment.
- Make a decision, based on the evidence gathered, as to whether we are in a position to make an official claim for damages to compensate for the suffering and hardship caused.
- Should admissions of negligence be secured, consider an application for interim payments to cover the cost of any immediate needs for a child and family.
- Seek to negotiate a birth injury settlement out of court which reflects the injury and loss caused, including damages to cover any future care and assistance required.
Why should I choose Hudgell Solicitors for a birth injury claim?
Our experienced legal team is supported by in-house medical experts – including a registered midwife – meaning we are able to fully assess birth trauma and injury cases, and the standard of treatment provided.
We listen to your questions and provide free, expert advice to help you decide if you want to start a birth negligence claim. There is no commitment at this stage, but it will enable our lawyers to assess whether your case can be taken forward and inform you what the next steps will be.
Should we feel we can pursue a compensation claim on your behalf, a specialist medical negligence lawyer will be assigned and dedicated to supporting you through your case. They will explain, in plain, non-legal language, what is likely to be needed from you at each stage of the process, including what evidence and information will need to be obtained.
How much will my claim cost?
Birth injury cases are handled on a no win no fee basis. This means you will not have to pay any money upfront and there will be no financial risk if your case is unsuccessful. If your case is successful, you will only be expected to pay a contribution to your solicitor’s fees once the case has been resolved.
We also offer Legal Aid funding for certain types of birth injury compensation claims. This is usually for claims involving children who have a neurological injury that has resulted in severe disability, which has been sustained either through pregnancy, during the birth or the first eight weeks of the child’s life. Get in touch to discuss how Legal Aid can help you fund your claim.
Only accredited specialists in birth injury claims have a legal aid franchise that allows them to represent families when a child suffers a neurological injury before, during or no later than eight weeks from birth.
Hudgell Solicitors is proud to be one of only a small number of firms to offer this service so we can ensure families are not left out of pocket when seeking the compensation and support they will require, often for the rest of their child’s life.
Every birth injury case involving a child will be assessed for public funding eligibility.
Will there be a Serious Investigation Report?
The process of getting answers can be daunting for parents who often feel overwhelmed by the number of reviews and investigations that can be launched following the death of a baby. Read more here: Read more on Serious Incident Reports following baby loss.
Call me back
Meet our birth injury solicitors
Local lawyers at the heart of your community
Chris Moore
Vince Shore
Maria Repanos
Helena Wood
Advice
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