A young boy was left severely brain-damaged at birth when midwives allegedly mistook his mother’s heartbeat for her baby’s. He was recently awarded £4.6 million in compensation.
The boy’s heart had stopped beating during his mother’s labor at Lynn’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) in 2004. The High Court in London heard evidence of “wholly avoidable delays.”
The now six-year-old faces a lifetime of disability; the settlement will pay for the 24-hour care he will need for the rest of his life.
Designated pediatric hospitals have a distinct duty of care to their patients, mother and child alike. If they don’t have a dedicated anesthesiologist on staff, that may cause serious problems when an emergency arises, as often happens during live births, explained a New York Birth Injury Lawyer. That’s just how things go.
When minutes count towards the ultimate health of a child and count towards their possible life or death, an acute obstetrical emergency must have the right kind of staff on call to handle the situation. Hospitals with certain designations that specifically deal with obstetrical complications, generally have a dedicated anesthesiologist on staff, if they don’t, then they are not living up to the level of care that their patients need.
If something goes wrong because there was not an anesthesiologist on call and a baby and/or mother is seriously injured or dies, therein lies a medical malpractice birth injury lawsuit.
The justice system is not perfect. Mistakes are common. If a lawyer is the cause of a mistake, compensation is possible through a lawsuit. What about a judge’s mistakes?
An appeals court could fix judicial errors, but it won’t provide compensation. Last month a British Columbia Court of Appeals decision in a medical malpractice case exposed the need for a compensation plan for judicial errors.
A newborn baby boy suffered severe brain damage at his birth, and his mother sued B.C. Women’s Hospital and Health Care Centre and several of its employees.
The Cerebral Palsy Society claims $5 million was placed in a fund by five former directors and thus wrested from its control. The group has taken legal action to recover the money that cannot be accessed by the new board.
The chief executive of the Focus 2000 arm of Cerebral Palsy Society has been suspended while the court action takes place.
In papers filed at the High Court in Auckland two weeks ago against the CEO and former Focus 2000 directors, a NYC Birth Injury Law Office is finding several things interesting.
A 55-day case, following the longest running birth injury action in the country and described as the most complex medical negligence case ever to come before the Irish courts was finally settled.
The National Maternity Hospital has to pay €4.5m to a six-year-old boy who was severely disabled because of an injury he sustained at birth.
The hospital also has to pay the legal fees of the patient and his parents which have been estimated at around €4m.
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