Can I Make A Birth Trauma Compensation Claim?

If you experienced emotional distress from a negligent birth, you may be wondering whether you could be eligible to make a birth trauma compensation claim. Birth trauma can amount to long-lasting psychological effects, stemming from emergency situations, a lack of support or a loss of control during childbirth. In all, you must be able to demonstrate that you experienced birth trauma due to a healthcare professional’s failure to meet the required standards of care. Birth trauma can take many different shapes and forms, often encompassing a fear for your baby’s life, feeling unsupported and invisible, experiencing flashbacks, nightmares and irritable behavoir. No two experiences are same, and therefore birth trauma compensation will be assessed uniquely, considering the severity of your trauma, the length of your suffering, and the overall impact on your quality of life. Fortunately, our team could help guide you through the claims process.

At Public Interest Lawyers, we understand that the thought of starting a medical negligence claim can be a daunting prospect. Thankfully, our team of advisors are available 24 hours, 7 days a week to answer your questions about birth trauma compensation claims. Through the free services that we offer, you could enjoy an initial case consultation to assess the strengths and weaknesses of your claim. Following this, you could be connected with one of our expert No Win No Fee solicitors. As experts in medical negligence claims, our solicitors are ready to protect your interests, secure the compensation you deserve and support you through this difficult time.

To start your birth trauma compensation claim today, please contact our friendly advisory team:

 

Frequently Asked Questions

  1. What Is Birth Trauma?
  2. How Is Birth Trauma Different To Birth Injury?
  3. Can I Make A Birth Trauma Compensation Claim?
  4. What Are Some Birth Trauma Claims Examples?
  5. How Much Compensation Can I Claim For Traumatic Birth?
  6. Is There A Time Limit To Make A Birth Trauma Claim?
  7. Why Claim For Traumatic Birth With Public Interest Lawyers?
  8. Learn More

What Is Birth Trauma?

Birth trauma is significant, long-lasting emotional distress resulting from a difficult birthing experience, often leaving mothers feeling scared, helpless and traumatised by the incident. Symptoms of birth trauma often include anxiety, nervousness, nightmares, a fear of intimacy, and bonding difficulties.

Birth trauma can result from a range of physical or emotional causes during the birthing experience; this can include emergency C-sections, pain from forcep deliveries, significant haemorrhages, and an intense fear for your own or your baby’s life. These specific, often unexpected events can cause trauma to develop, which can persist from a few months to years.

To discuss your birth trauma experience, please feel free to get in touch with one of our advisors today. They can assess whether you could be eligible to seek compensation.

A woman in a hospital bed suffers from PTSD after a negligent birth.

How Is Birth Trauma Different To Birth Injury?

Birth trauma is inherently different to a birth injury as it’s primarily concerned with the psychological and emotional distress following a difficult birthing experience. On the other hand, birthing injuries relate to physical harm or impairment sustained by a baby or a mother during a delivery.

Whilst physical birth injuries can give rise to psychological effects, trauma can exist without physical harm. As such, birth trauma can be wholly independent of physical harm, and may arise due to poor care, fear for your life and a complete lack of control.

To learn how you could make a birth injury compensation claim, please get in touch with our team today.

Can I Make A Birth Trauma Compensation Claim?

Yes, you could make a birth trauma compensation claim if you can demonstrate that you experienced birth trauma due to negligent medical care. As such, you’ll need to satisfy the following eligibility requirements:

  1. You Were Owed a Duty of Care

Doctors, nurses, midwifes and surgeons will owe you an automatic legal duty of care when providing treatment. In doing this, healthcare professionals must meet the minimum expected standards of care and must keep patients safe. Examples of this may include performing urine tests to detect pre-eclampsia, monitoring blood pressure close to a birth and measuring foetal growth.

  1. That Duty of Care Was Breached

You must be able to demonstrate that the duty of care was breached. This happens when a healthcare professional makes a mistake that falls below the expected standard of care. For example, a healthcare professional could fail to perform a timely C-section, use excessive force with forceps during a delivery or administer an improper dosage of an epidural.

  1. You Suffered From Birth Trauma As A Result

You must be able to show that the error led to your birth trauma, whether it be from a birth injury or due to the negligent experience as a whole. Birth trauma can encompass many different forms, including Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), post-natal depression, avoidant behaviours, nightmares and intense flashbacks.

Traumatic Birth Claims For Secondary Victims

Traumatic birth claims can be made for secondary victims who may have suffered psychological harm from witnessing a loved one’s negligent birth. To make a claim as a secondary victim, claimants must be able to prove the following:

  • A close relationship between themselves and the primary victim, such as a spouse, partner or parent.
  • They must have had a direct perception of the incident, meaning that it was witnessed in person or its immediate aftermath was seen.
  • The trauma experienced must have developed due to a shocking event, rather than a gradual decline. This can include catastrophic bleeding or sudden baby death.
  • The secondary victim must have suffered a recognised psychiatric injury, including anxiety, depression or PTSD.

To learn more about how you could make a birth trauma compensation claim as a secondary victim, please get in touch with our team today.

Birth injury solicitors filling in a contract for a birth trauma victim at a desk with a laptop, parcels and gavel.

What Are Some Birth Trauma Claims Examples?

Birth trauma claims examples can include the development of psychological conditions due to medical negligence during labour, pregnancy, or delivery. Please see the following examples and how a birth trauma compensation claim could arise as a result:

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

During labour, a midwife could fail to use forceps correctly, causing the foetus to suffer a fractured clavicle from excessive force. Upon discovering this, the mother could fear for her baby’s life, resulting in serious mental distress. For months afterwards, the mother could experience symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder such as flashbacks, nightmares and irritability.

Anxiety

An obstetrician could unnecessarily delay a C-section, despite clear signs of foetal distress. The mother could experience severe and immediate levels of anxiety due to the worry of oxygen deprivation to her baby. For 6 months after the birth, the mother could suffer with panic attacks due to high levels of anxiety, fear and paranoia. This could also create a sense of mistrust in the healthcare system, as well as a fear of having children in the future.

Postnatal Depression

Nurses on a maternity ward could fail to manage a patient who suffered with 4th degree perineal tears, such as failing to clean the wound or provide painkillers. The patient could develop sepsis due to an infection, resulting in organ damage and serious mental distress. Due to the negligent experience, the patient could develop postnatal depression and experience persistent sadness and a low mood.

Grief

Leading up to a delivery, a doctor could fail to monitor a baby’s heart rate, failing to notice that it was slowing for two hours. Unfortunately, this resulted in the infant’s death, causing serious psychological harm to the mother. For a prolonged period of time, the mother could experience a complete loss of interest in the world, insomnia, confusion, anger and intense grief.

Our advisors are here to help you through these challenging times. Please feel free to contact our team at any time to discuss your negligent birth experience today. Our friendly, knowledgeable, and sensitive advisors could help assess whether you could seek compensation for the harm you suffered.

How Much Compensation Can I Claim For Traumatic Birth?

The amount of compensation you could claim for a traumatic birth will depend on the severity of your trauma, the length of your suffering, and the overall impact on your life and daily activities.

In a successful birth trauma compensation claim, you will be awarded with general damages for any mental and physical pain and suffering. General damages will be assessed by a solicitor using a copy of the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG) and your medical evidence. The JCG publication is common amongst legal professionals for providing compensation guidelines for many different forms of harm.

All entries in the table below, apart from the top figure, have been taken from the JCG. Please be aware that they are merely guidelines and do not guarantee how much you could be awarded.

HarmNotesCompensation Pay-out
Multiple severe forms of harm with financial lossesMore than one instance of harm with special damages including lost earnings, medical expenses and care costs.Up to £500,000+
Severe Psychiatric DamageThe effect on the injured person's relationships with family and the prognosis will be taken into account.£66,920 to £141,240
Moderately Severe Psychiatric DamageSignificant problems affecting various aspects of the person's life, such as family relationships, but with a more optimistic prognosis than in severe cases. £23,270 to £66,920
Moderate Psychiatric DamageThe prognosis will be good, with an improvement by trial. £7,150 to £23,270
Less Severe Psychiatric DamageThe award will consider the period of disability and how activities were affected.£1,880 to £7,150
Severe PTSDInvolving permanent effects that prevent the injured person from functioning at anything near the pre-trauma level. £73,050 to £122,850
Moderately Severe PTSDThe affects will most likely involve a significant disability for the foreseeable future, but there will be a better prognosis than above.£28,250 to £73,050
Moderate PTSDThe person will have largely recovered and affects will not be grossly disabling.£9,980 to £28,250
Less Severe PTSDA full recovery will have been made within one to two years, and only minor symptoms may persist£4,820 to £9,980

Can I Claim For Anything Else As Part Of A Traumatic Birth Claim?

Yes, you could also claim for special damages as part of a traumatic birth claim. In all, the award of special damages will compensate you for financial losses suffered as a result of your birth trauma.

Examples of special damages can include the following:

  • Loss of earnings, including loss of a promotion, bonuses, overtime pay, current and future income.
  • Medical expenses, such as private counselling sessions, cognitive behavioural therapy, complicated grief therapy and group therapy sessions.
  • Prescription costs for anti-depressants and beta blockers to deal with ongoing trauma.
  • Professional or family care costs for help with cooking, cleaning, nursing and dressing if your birth trauma left you unable to do so.
  • Travel expenses from commuting to medical appointments. This can include fuel costs, public transport expenses and taxi fares.

Special damages must also be supported with evidence, often including:

  • Payslips
  • Invoices
  • Receipts
  • Bank statements

To learn more about special damages, please contact one of our friendly advisors today. They can assess what costs you might be able to recover in your specific circumstances.

 

Is There A Time Limit To Make A Birth Trauma Claim?

Yes, you will generally have 3 years to start your birth trauma compensation claim as per the Limitation Act 1980. The time limit will run from:

  • The date of negligence, or;
  • The date you came to the realisation that the trauma you’re suffering with resulted from substandard medical care.

However, please note that if the claimant is lacking in mental capacity, the time limit will be paused for an indefinite period. If the claimant’s mental capacity is regained, the 3-year time limit will run from this date. This time limit is also paused for those under the age of 18. A litigation friend could be appointed to act on behalf of parties who are unable to claim for themselves.

For more information about claiming on behalf of a loved one as a litigation friend, please contact our friendly team today.

A pregnant woman is monitored by a midwife.

Why Claim For Traumatic Birth With Public Interest Lawyers?

You should claim for traumatic birth injuries with Public Interest Lawyers due to the dedication of our expert solicitors. With their decades of combined experience, our understanding birth injury solicitors at Public Interest Lawyers can fully assess the long-term impacts of your trauma. If you’re connected to a member of our team, you could also enjoy the following benefits:

  • Arranging early access to counselling sessions where possible.
  • Managing your birth trauma compensation claim efficiently while you focus on your recovery.
  • Providing expert assistance with birth trauma claims, ensuring details such as a lack of monitoring and poor aftercare are not overlooked.
  • Helping you to gather evidence to ensure a stress-free process, including your medical records and your maternity notes.
  • Regular case updates so you’re never left wondering where your birth trauma compensation claim stands.

Our specialist No Win No Fee solicitors operate under a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA), which also provides the following advantages:

  • No solicitor service fees at the beginning of your claim, as it progresses or in the event that it’s unsuccessful.
  • If your birth trauma compensation claim is successful, you will pay a success fee to your solicitor. Please note that this fee will be taken from your compensation as a percentage and is capped by law. This ensures that you get to keep the majority of your compensation. Your solicitor will also discuss this with you prior to starting work on your claim.

A solicitor makes a birth trauma compensation claim against a private healthcare provider.

Contact Our Team To Begin A Claim

To learn more about the birth trauma compensation claims process, please get in touch with our advisory team:

Learn More

For more information about medical negligence claims, please see some of our other helpful guides:

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Thank you for reading our useful guide about making a birth trauma compensation claim.