£45,000 Settlement
Mrs K, from Middlesex, was 36 weeks pregnant with her second child when she began suffering from abdominal pain. She attended the Defendant’s hospital complaining of this pain and her baby’s heartbeat was monitored with a CTG, which confirmed everything was normal. Following this, she returned home.
An hour later, she returned to the hospital complaining of continued pain and vaginal bleeding. She was initially triaged, but then left for an hour and a half before her baby’s heartbeat was monitored again. The pain was so bad that she could not stand to have the CTG monitor attached to her abdomen and had to stand up. After another hour and a half, she was reviewed by a junior doctor who diagnosed her with pelvic girdle pain. A repeat CTG was requested, but sadly it could not determine any heartbeat and it was confirmed that Mrs K’s baby had passed away. Mrs K was induced to deliver her baby boy, and she suffered a significant psychiatric injury of depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a result of this.
As a result of these injuries, Mrs K required a great deal of care and support from her husband and was off work for some time.
Mrs K instructed Sarah Ratcliffe, of Pryers Solicitors, to investigate the treatment she received when she presented to hospital and the death of her son. The hospital Trust had also conducted their own internal investigation which reported that various errors had been made by the staff when Mrs K had presented to hospital the second time, in particular, the fact that pelvic girdle pain was the wrong diagnosis, when in fact a placental abruption, which is potentially fatal for an unborn baby, should have been considered.
Pryers Solicitors instructed experts who determined that if Mrs K had received the appropriate treatment and diagnosis, she would have undergone an emergency C-section and her baby would have survived. Our expert evidence also indicated that Mrs K would not have suffered major depression and PTSD had these errors not occurred, causing the death of her son.
Allegations were put to the hospital Trust, and they admitted they had been negligent. Following settlement discussions, Mrs K was awarded £45,000.
Sarah, of Pryers, said, “Mrs K is at last able to pay for psychiatric treatment to help ease her distress and enable her to try and move on with her life.”
