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A hospital trust has admitted it should not have left our client – a pregnant woman, lying on her back for an extended period of time and a delay in carrying out a caesarean section – both of which caused serious complications and interrupted a baby’s supply of oxygen during birth, leading to foetal distress.
After an uneventful first pregnancy, Maya entered spontaneous labour at 41+ weeks during the early hours of the morning.
Due to slow progress, Maya was reviewed in the afternoon by a consultant at the defendant trust, who noted advising Maya to have a caesarean section or a trial of Syntocinon. However, Maya cannot recall any discussion regarding this.
Around five hours later, Maya underwent a caesarean section and delivered her baby, who was handed over to the neonatal senior house officer to be resuscitated. Maya’s midwifery records show she was left lying on her back for around 15 minutes while waiting for her caesarean section. Maya also suffered a postpartum haemorrhage, losing more than three litres of blood during the procedure and while in recovery.
Due to the delay in delivery, and being left lying on her back for an extended period of time, Maya’s baby suffered grade 2 hypoxic ischaemic encephalopathy and, as a result, has been slow with her development, experiences seizures, struggles with processing information, is very unsteady on her feet and suffers from impaired fine motor control.
Due to the shortcomings in Maya’s care, we submitted a letter of claim to the defendant trust. A response from the trust accepted there was a delay in carrying out the caesarean section, admitted Maya should not have been left lying on her back in theatre, which caused foetal bradycardia and an acute profound hypoxic injury shortly before her baby’s birth, and included an apology.
We are obtaining expert evidence to quantify the claim and working with the defendant trust on negotiating a settlement.
“According to Maya’s medical records, she was advised to have a caesarean section in the afternoon. However, there is no record of further discussion and she does not recall being offered this option. A caesarean section should have been done within an hour but the delay was a breach of duty by the defendant trust. Maya arrived in the theatre around four hours later and was left lying on her back. This positioning caused serious complications for her baby, leading to foetal distress and, ultimately, injury. Had she been properly positioned, her first-born child would have been healthy, avoiding the harm caused.”
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