A 2016 NHS report states in the UK, 4.3 babies in every 1,000 experience a serious, and permanent, birth injury that will have devastating consequences on the rest of their lives. While these incidents are thankfully rare, affected families will suffer emotionally, physically, and financially. Our leading birth injury claims solicitors offer in excess of 25 years’ experience to help families get the justice that they need.
Birth injury claims are a complex area of law that require a specialist solicitor with extensive knowledge and expertise in maternity care issues. We have helped families secure £multi-million compensation offering a depth of experience in the following:
Birth injury claims arise where negligent medical care during pregnancy, labour or delivery has caused avoidable harm to a baby or mother. Compensation can help provide access to specialist care, rehabilitation, therapies and long-term financial support, while ensuring those responsible are held to account.
To start a birth injury compensation claim, or simply to find out more, please get in touch by calling 01253 766 559 or completing this form.
Sadly, birth injuries can deprive a child of motor abilities, cognitive skills, coordination, balance, motor posture, vision, hearing, speech function, and more. The consequences for the whole family are profound. Our birth injury claims solicitors understand the extensive care needs of a child following an avoidable birth injury, and the associated costs of meeting their needs, both now and in the future. Our specialist team of medical negligence solicitors are recognised by Legal 500 as leading experts in England and Wales.
Birth injury claims refer specifically to injuries that take place before, during or just after birth. This includes injuries sustained during the pregnancy due to medical errors. The families affected are left with significant concerns about the future of their child and the anxiety of how they will meet their child’s lifelong needs.
Common medical failings leading to permanent birth injuries include:
We are determined to help families who proceed to make a birth injury claim receive the answers and compensation that they need and are entitled to. That is why our experts have developed meticulous investigative skills to collect and review the medical evidence we need to progress your case to a successful conclusion. If we believe that you have a claim, our birth injury claims solicitors will leave no stone unturned to prepare a robust argument to secure the right level of compensation for your family.
Our team is compassionate and sensitive. We understand the challenges faced by families in your situation and are committed to improving your child’s quality of life, both now, and in the future. We have a strong track record of securing £multi-million settlements for clients. We believe in a pastoral care approach to give each one of our clients the support that they need to meet their child’s complex needs. To hear more about how our team’s commitment can help your family, you can listen to how we helped Hannah, a young girl who suffered a birth injury leaving her with permanent complex needs.
We do not want our birth injury claims solicitors’ fees to be an obstacle for families seeking justice so we operate on a no win no fee basis to support our clients. We also help clients secure interim payments in advance of the final settlement. There is no time limit on pursuing birth injury claims caused by medical negligence where the child has lost mental capacity as a result. In instances where mental capacity has not been affected, a claim can be started up to three years after the child’s 18th birthday.
Diane Rostron is a specialist complex birth injury law firm representing families affected by maternity negligence. The team collaborates with leading independent medical experts and barristers to forensically investigate the chain of events resulting in a permanent brain injury, or the loss of a baby to stillbirth or in the initial weeks after birth.
Offering in excess of 30 years’ experience, Diane Rostron has a strong history of securing £multi-million brain damage claims and substantial settlements when a baby has died following suspected medical errors.
The empathetic team of parents support families through the legal process and beyond the conclusion of a claim. The experts understand the complex lifelong care needs of a child when hospital failings have caused irreversible brain damage, including cerebral palsy cases.
The team understands the devastation and trauma suffered by parents who have lost their baby, or whose child has been catastrophically brain damaged due to preventable medical negligence – including historic incidents when other law firms have not successfully concluded a claim. Diane Rostron secures answers and justice when families have been let down by their hospital.
To start a claim, please get in touch with our medical negligence solicitors by calling 01253 766 559.
For updates and to read our comments, read our news and blogs or follow us on Facebook or Twitter.
After you get in touch with us, we will listen to you and discuss your situation, including the healthcare advice you were given, and any evidence of negligent treatment.
We will need to apply for your medical records from various places, including the place you had treatment, other hospitals, and your GP practice.
We will then provide an honest assessment of whether we think you have a claim worth further investigation. We will explain the claims process and the fees involved.
We will start collecting evidence to support your claim. This typically includes applying for any further medical records, other documents from the hospital, obtaining witness statements and independent medical experts’ reports.
Once the facts of the case are clear, we will contact the NHS Trust or healthcare provider to inform them a claim is being investigated. The Letter of Claim (LOC) will set out the details of the alleged medical negligence and the injuries caused.
The Defendant is required to respond to our Letter of Claim (LOC) within four months. At this stage, they will either accept full, or partial, liability and may offer a financial settlement, or deny responsibility.
If the Defendant denies responsibility, or does not offer a sufficient settlement amount, we can then issue court proceedings on your behalf to take the claim further. The Defendant will be given 28 days to respond, and the court will then set a hearing date, usually around 18 months from when proceedings are initiated.
It is important to note that while issuing court proceedings is an essential step, it is rare that you will need to attend a hearing as most claims that reach this stage can be resolved with a pre-trial settlement.
The Court will then set a timetable for the exchange of evidence in the case. We will exchange any witness statement taken from you, and receive the witness statements (if any), of the clinicians involved in your care.
There will then be an exchange of medical expert evidence. Each party can obtain independent medical expert reports in each relevant discipline. For example, in a birth injury claim, both parties would have commissioned reports from independent obstetricians. We disclose the report we have obtained on your behalf and the Defendant has to disclose the report they have obtained.
The independent experts then have a meeting, separate to each party’s legal representatives, to narrow the issues for the Judge in the event the case goes to a trial. After this meeting, the medical experts have to produce a jointly written statement to provide to the Judge.
It is usual procedure to attend some form of pre-trial settlement resolution with the Defendant, either in the form of a settlement meeting, or a mediation. We have a very strong track record of negotiating pre-trial settlements and will explore every potential avenue to do so if your claim reaches this stage.
If your claim settles at this stage and involves a vulnerable party, such as a child or an adult with a brain injury, an approval hearing will be held by a High Court Judge to approve the settlement reached.
If your claim cannot be resolved outside a court hearing, we can offer experienced, and highly skilled, advocacy to secure the best possible outcome for your family.
Most claims are resolved in full through the above process. However, very complex claims, including birth injury claims, require an additional step to assess the quantification (value) of the claim.
For birth injury claims, additional independent medical experts will be required to assess issues such as life expectancy and care needs, and the process above will be repeated for the stage of quantification.
Our client’s first son was delivered by emergency c-section after scans showed that he was not growing as expected. He was delivered safe and well
In 2015 the government pledged to halve the number of incidents involving mothers dying during a pregnancy or in the weeks after giving birth by
Diane Rostron has been ranked amongst the top clinical negligence law firms in the North West for the eighth consecutive year in industry bible Legal
A three day inquest begins today, Monday 14th September at 10am at the Blackpool Coroner’s Court, into the death of eight day old Richard George
Complex birth injuries specialist, 30 years' expertise. Recognised by Legal 500 as leading expert.
