Birth injuries make up a majority of clinical negligence compensation claims
In the last 50 years or so, birth demographics have undergone a huge amount of change – the vast majority of children today, for instance, are born in hospitals, as opposed to at home. This has made an immense difference – hospital maternity wards are obviously able to provide far better treatment. For this reason, as well as many others, child mortality rates, once disastrously high, have been steadily dropping. Nowadays, home births make up less than 3% of all births. To accompany this, there has been a paradigm shift in the way births are viewed culturally, as a serious medical procedure which requires the attention of doctors and nurses.
Along with this, there has been an increase in the level of medical expertise and technology involved in childbirth. This, as well as the sterile environment provided by a hospital, has drastically lowered the numbers of babies born with a disability, as well as those dying as a result of neglect.
In spite of all this, though (or possibly because of it), the cases that make up the highest numbers of clinical negligence cases are those that relate to childbirth: the data show that the majority of these compensation claims cases have to do with obstetrics and gynaecology.
Due to the increased levels of medical technology available to assist with childbirth, those babies who suffer from birth defects or birth illnesses now have a far greater survival rate than ever could have been hoped for in earlier times.
However, even in spite of this, these babies do still require a great deal of medical care; even when receiving the best treatments, and the best of cutting-edge medical technology, there are still many variables which can, and, sadly, frequently do, go wrong. In cases in which new parents feel that they, or, worse, their newborn children, have suffered in cases in which the negligence of medical professionals is to blame, they are often entitled to make a clinical negligence claim for compensation.
There are many cases in which children have been born with brain injuries, which can lead to serious conditions such as cerebral palsy or other similar forms of brain damage. In these cases, these babies are particularly vulnerable, and, of course, require a vast amount of additional care, from medical staff who must be able to provide the specialist care that parents are unable to. This is, if course, an ideal which can not always be achieved in reality. In cases in which clinical negligence has taken place, not only can parents’ consciences be eased, but the compensation which is provided in clinical negligence cases can go a great deal towards ensuring that these children can be provided with all the additional care that they will need throughout their lives.
If you, or any of your family members, have ever suffered in a case of clinical negligence, it is possible that you, too, could be entitled to receive clinical negligence compensation.
Get in touch with a solicitor, who will help you with your compensation claim.
Updated on 11/22/2010