Settlement obtained for PCS member who suffered avoidable stillbirth

Sharon Allison, partner and head of medical negligence at Ashtons Legal, has obtained a settlement of £25,000 for a PCS member who suffered a stillbirth as a result of a hospital’s failure to adequately monitor the growth of her unborn baby.

Ms B was taking medication for pre-existing Postural Tachycardia Syndrome (PoTS) and epilepsy. Whilst this was acknowledged, there was a failure to consider the need for increased fetal surveillance throughout the pregnancy as a result of her medical history.

Towards the end of the pregnancy, the fetal heartbeat could not be detected and it was confirmed, tragically, that she had suffered an intrauterine fetal death. The following day Ms B had to undergo a caesarean section to deliver her stillborn child.

Had the hospital maintained appropriate fetal surveillance throughout the Ms B’s pregnancy, intervention would have occurred earlier and prevented the death of her unborn child.

Sharon comments: “These cases are beyond tragic. For many parents mourning the loss of a stillborn child, no amount of money will ever provide any restitution for the awful events that have beheld them. Often parents are left feeling lost, bewildered and psychologically damaged as a result. A large part of the work that the Ashtons Legal medical injury team do is to provide answers wherever possible, seek apologies if they are forthcoming and to try to provide damaged families with closure on what is often a life changing event. It is commendable that the trust in these circumstances did not seek to defend the claim and this allowed a quicker resolution to matters, but this is not always the case and many families end up more damaged emotionally as a result.”