Pregnancy & Maternity Negligence Claims

During pregnancy, expectant mothers rely heavily on their maternity team to ensure they are safe and healthy. When care standards fall, and avoidable harm is caused, this constitutes maternity negligence.

Our guide examines all aspects of making a claim for harm caused during pregnancy, explaining the when, why and how of seeking compensation for gynaecology negligence.

Key Takeaways

• Maternity negligence refers to avoidable harm caused to the mother during the pregnancy.
• This is distinct from a birth injury to the mother, as birth injuries are caused during the actual delivery, not the period of pregnancy.
• Such harm can include infections, miscarriages, life threatening bleeding and other physical trauma.
• Compensation payouts can be significant as maternity injuries can have long-term consequences for both the mother and child.
• We offer a 24/7 advisory service meaning if you have questions, want to find out if you could claim or have any other concerns, an advisor can be with you in as little as a few minutes.

Get in touch with our advisors today to find out if you could make a maternity or pregnancy negligence claim or to ask any questions. You can talk to us via the contact information given here:

• Call us on 0800 073 8804.
• Contact us by completing a callback form
• Use our live chat feature by clicking the button at the bottom of your screen.

Can I Claim Compensation For Maternity Negligence?

Yes, you could seek compensation for maternity negligence if you suffered harm during your pregnancy due to the correct standard of care not being provided. All medical professionals, regardless of their specialism or level of experience, are legally obligated to provide their patients with the correct standard of care.

If this duty of care is not met, and avoidable harm is caused as a result of this, medical negligence is said to have occurred. We have summarised the eligibility requirements for you here:

1. A medical professional owed you a duty of care during your pregnancy.
2. There was a breach of this duty when the correct standard of care was not provided to you.
3. Consequently, you suffered avoidable harm.

What we mean by the harm being avoidable is that it would not have occurred if the correct standards had been met during your medical care.

Can I Claim If Harm Was Caused To My Unborn Child?

You could also claim on behalf of your child if they were harmed in utero. It is entirely possible that errors during your pregnancy could result in foetal abnormalities or other injuries. A suitable adult would need to act as the baby’s litigation friend for compensation to be sought. We’ll examine this in greater detail in the time limits section.

You can get a free eligibility consultation, as well as ask your questions or voice any concerns you have about claiming by speaking to a member of our medical negligence team. Contact us today via the details given at the bottom of this page. 

What Are Some Maternity Negligence Examples?

Examples of maternity negligence can include poor ward hygiene leading to infection, or poor monitoring leading to internal injury to the mother. We have given a few instances of where substandard care results in avoidable harm during pregnancy here:

• A lack of maternity ward hygiene results in you contracting a hospital-acquired infection.
• Doctors failed to identify clear signs of intrahepatic cholestasis during your pregnancy. This misdiagnosis meant the condition went untreated, resulting in intense pain. 
• Improperly performed physical examination failed to detect that the placenta was starting to come away from the uterine wall. You therefore suffered substantial internal bleeding and had to undergo an emergency C-section.
• Despite showing signs of deep vein thrombosis, you were not sent for an ultrasound scan by your maternity team. The blood clot, therefore, entered your lung and caused a pulmonary embolism. 

Other situations could also give rise to hospital negligence in the maternity ward, aside from the examples we’ve covered above. If you would like to learn more about making a claim in your particular circumstances, get in touch with our team today using the contact information given above.

How Much Compensation Can Be Awarded For Negligent Maternity Care?

Significant compensation could be awarded for negligent maternity care, potentially hundreds of thousands of pounds, if not even more. This is due to the fact that there’s a serious risk of lifelong harm being caused to the mother as well as the baby, potentially requiring decades of care.

There are two heads of claim under which this compensation may be paid out. These are:

• General damages: for physical harm and psychological injury.
• Special damages: for the financial losses. We’ll look at this in more detail in the next section.

In order to determine a potential general damages figure, reference can be made to your medical evidence, in conjunction with the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG). This publication contains guideline compensation brackets for various types of harm. Some of these brackets have been used to create our compensation table. We should point out that the top entry was not taken from the JCG. 

Compensation Table

Please note that the information provided here is for guidance purposes only.

How Is Maternity Negligence Compensation Calculated?

Maternity negligence compensation is calculated not only by valuing the physical and psychological harm caused, but also any financial losses incurred. These losses are compensated under the second of the two heads of claim, special damages.

Special damages can account for both past and future losses. This means that any special damages payout is often much higher than the corresponding general damages. Examples include:

• Loss of earnings due to any time taken off work, or if you need reduced hours when you return to employment.
• The cost of any medical treatments, prescriptions, counselling or therapy sessions.
• Care for you or your child if the harm caused has an impact on your daily activities. This can include assistance with cooking, cleaning, DIY tasks, and other household chores if you can no longer perform these tasks safely on your own. 
• The cost of any home adaptations, including access ramps, bathroom modifications or a stairlift.
• Specialised aid equipment, such as an adapted car or kitchen appliances. 
• Travel costs if you have been medically advised not to, or have been medically banned from driving.

Make sure that any costs you are seeking compensation for can be proven. Hold onto your payslips, travel tickets, care bills and purchase receipts as part of your supporting evidence. 

We hope this section has given you a good idea of how maternity negligence compensation is calculated but we have to emphasise that it is intended as guidance only. To get a more personalised idea of what your potential claim could be worth, talk to an advisor today. 

What Are The Implications Of Maternity Negligence?

The implications of maternity negligence can be quite serious. When pregnant, you are at risk of blood clots, vitamin deficiencies and infections, all of which can have significant long-term impacts. Any harm to the pregnant person can also impact the unborn child and can likewise have long-term consequences for their day-to-day life. 

The obvious example is if the foetus experiences brain damage, either from physical trauma or a restricted blood supply. This can lead to developmental disorders and a need for lifelong care and support. These are all things medical professionals should be aware of, and careful monitoring for any signs of potential harm should be undertaken.

If you believe that you did not receive the correct standard of care during your pregnancy and that you or your child suffered avoidable harm as a result of this, then get in touch with us today for a free eligibility assessment. 

How Can I Make A Maternity Negligence Compensation Claim?

You can make a maternity medical negligence compensation claim by gathering the right evidence and ensuring your claim is started within the relevant time limit. Under the headings below, we will examine both of these aspects of the claim process.

Evidence in Maternity Negligence Claims

The proof you gather will need to demonstrate that medical professionals failed to meet the correct standards, as well as the extent of the harm that this failure caused. This will help our solicitors to determine an accurate compensation figure.

Examples of evidence that can be used to prove medical negligence include:

• Any medical records from your pregnancy, as well as from any additional treatment you underwent.
• Evidence of your financial losses.
• Persons who attended any hospital appointments with you or otherwise saw the standard of care you received could provide a witness statement. Give the solicitor the right contact details for any potential witnesses so they can be interviewed during the claim.
• Report from the Bolam test, if used.

The Bolam test is sometimes used in medical negligence cases to determine if the correct standards of care were met. It involves a panel of medical professionals from the relevant field examining the care that was given to you and sharing their professional opinion.

While not applied in every instance, any findings from the test can be good evidence for your claim. 

What Is The Medical Negligence Time Limit?

Most medical negligence claims are subject to a 3 year time limit as set down by the Limitation Act 1980. While this may be counted from the date of the incident itself, in some cases it may not be apparent straight away that the harm sustained was directly related to the standard of care received.

Your 3 year limitation period may therefore be counted from the date of knowledge, when you would first have been expected to make this connection. There can also be certain exceptions to the general time limit, which are:

• Those who were under 18 when they sustained avoidable harm will have the 3 years counted from their 18th birthday. This means you’ll have until 21 to make a claim.
• The 3 years are frozen completely if a person does not have the mental capacity to claim for themselves. 

However, a suitable adult can act as a litigation friend to get the claim started right away. What this means is the litigation friend would “direct the proceedings” on behalf of the person who is unable to do so themselves.

One of our advisors can look at your claim and see if you are still within the limitation period. They can also check to see if there are any exceptions which are relevant to your circumstances or advise you on claiming on behalf of another party. Get in touch today. 

No Win No Fee Maternity Medical Negligence Solicitors

Our No Win No Fee maternity negligence solicitors are ready to help all eligible claimants, no matter their individual circumstances or the avoidable harm they have sustained. Our solicitors have collective decades of experience in dealing with a whole range of medical negligence matters and these years of proven success have taught them a great deal.

The solicitors at Legal Expert understand that every claim has its own features and every claimant will require different levels of support. Below we have set out just a few of the ways we can help you and as well as the services we can provide.

Examples include:

• Making sure you get any medical treatment, rehabilitation or other services you need by referring you to relevant specialists.
• Helping you gather supporting evidence. 
• Calculating a potential compensation figure.
• Explaining exactly what is happening with your claim and helping you break through the legal language barrier.
• Negotiating a final settlement on your behalf.

Our solicitors can offer their services to eligible claimants under a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA). This agreement will protect you from any solicitor fees both at the start of, and during the claim. You also do not have to pay a solicitor’s fee if the claim fails.

You will need to pay what is known as a success fee if your claim succeeds. You won’t have to worry about it, though, because your solicitor will take it out of your compensation before sending it to you. Furthermore, the maximum percentage that can be charged is capped by The Conditional Fee Agreements Order 2013 so most of any compensation will be yours to keep.

Contact Legal Expert

You can reach out to our team at any time with questions, concerns or to get a free assessment of your potential claim’s validity.  We operate a 24/7 advisory service so someone will always be on hand to take your call.

You can:

• Call us on 0800 073 8804.
• Contact us by completing a callback form
• Use our live chat feature by clicking the button at the bottom of your screen.

Learn More

You can read some of our other medical negligence claims guides here:

• Read our guide to birth injury claims and find out more about how compensation is calculated.
• Learn more about making cerebral palsy claims on behalf of a child.
• Find out when you could sue your healthcare provider after surgeon negligence causes you avoidable harm.

We have also provided some additional resources you might find useful:

• Read the standards for midwifery services from the Royal College of Midwives.
• The NHS has published this resource on antenatal checks and tests to inform patients of how their pregnancy is managed.
• See the advice for claimants from NHS Resolution.

Thank you for reading our guide to maternity negligence claims.