Kate Rushton, Associate Solicitor in the clinical negligence department at Curtis Law Solicitors has recently settled a tragic case involving the still birth of Miss P’s first child at 31 weeks of pregnancy.

Miss P presented to the maternity unit after experiencing some discharge at home. She was told that her waters had broken and she was admitted. Miss P was advised that she would require two days of steroids and a course of antibiotics along with monitoring of the baby.

Miss P was given an ultrasound scan which was reassuring but blood tests revealed signs of a serious infection. However, Miss P was not reviewed and she was discharged home 48 hours later despite signs of an infection and her waters breaking. This was against NHS guidelines which state that she needed to remain an inpatient for 72 hours from admission.

The following day Miss P experienced reduced foetal movement and developed abdominal pain. She returned to the maternity unit and upon having a scan, she was informed that very sadly there was no cardiac activity and her baby had passed away.

Curtis Law Solicitors obtained Miss P’s medical records and identified the various breaches of duty of care and explored the huge psychological effect the loss had caused Miss P. A Letter of Claim was sent to the Defendant trust.

The Defendants admitted that Miss P should not have been discharged home after 48 hours. The Defendants accepted and admitted that there was a failure to heed and act upon signs and symptoms of Miss P developing sepsis. The Defendants admitted that the decision to discharge Miss P 48 hours after admission, despite her condition, meant that there was a missed opportunity to treat sepsis and facilitate an earlier delivery of her baby. They went on to say that had she remained in hospital she would have received treatment for the developing sepsis and urgent delivery of baby would have been facilitated. Crucially, they admitted that had Miss P been given an emergency caesarean section within this time frame, on the balance of probabilities, it would have led to a live birth. The Trust apologised for the substandard care Miss P received.

After considerable negotiations with the Defendants, a settlement sum of £62,000 was agreed.

Kate Rushton, who conducted the claim for Miss P said;

‘This was an extremely sensitive and sad case. Whilst it will never be possible to adequately compensate Miss P for her loss, I wanted to ensure that she received the best possible outcome for her claim and have the defendants acknowledge their failings.’

If you wish to discuss a potential clinical negligence claim with our specialist solicitors you can email us, use our online enquiry form, or call us for free on 0800 008 7450.