Secure the best care and improve your family’s quality of life with a birth injury compensation claim that could deliver the support and financial security you need.
If you or your child suffered a birth injury, we can offer support – get in touch or call 0191 5666 500 for an informal discussion.
When a mother or baby is injured during childbirth, the effects can have a long-lasting impact on daily life. With the support of our experienced Birth Injury Solicitors, your family can access help and compensation to make living a little bit easier.
The number of UK childbirth injury claims is dropping year on year, but we believe one case of substandard care is one too many. If your world has been turned upside down by negligent care, we can provide support and refer you to specialist charities, medical experts and support groups to help navigate the physical, emotional and financial challenges you may face.
Pursuing a legal case to secure birth injury compensation could allow you to cover ongoing rehabilitation and care costs. In the most serious cases, where children may require life-long assistance, a settlement could replace lost income and pay for other long-term expenses. Wherever possible, we will always seek an interim payment to support you until your claim is finalised.
To arrange a free consultation with our Birth Injury Solicitors, please get in touch or call 0191 5666500 today. There is no obligation to start a claim and any information will be treated in the strictest confidence.
Our approach to Birth Injury Compensations Claims
We understand that birth injuries often cause emotions to run high and can have a devastating effect your whole family.
During this sensitive time, we adopt a hand-holding approach and will compassionately guide you through the birth injury compensation process, explaining all of the available options.
- A free no-obligation case discussion with our Birth Injury Solicitors
- Analyse case details and work out if you have a strong claim
- Explain ways to fund case – including No Win, No Fee & Legal Aid (for most serious cases)
- Gather evidence & ensure case is as strong as possible
- Review medical records, witness statements & medical experts
- Give you the best chance to secure maximum compensation
- Negotiate and try to agree a settlement outside of court
No Win, No Fee Birth Injury Claims Explained
What is a no win, no fee birth injury claim?
To provide affordable access to justice, many of the medical and clinical negligence cases we handle are funded by a ‘No Win No Fee’ agreement.
Also known as a Conditional Fee Agreement or CFA, this ‘No Win, No Fee’ agreement means you won’t have to pay a penny if you lose your case. So, you don’t have to weigh up whether a Birth Injury Claim is a risk worth taking.
If you win, your opponent will usually need to cover most of your legal costs, though you will need to pay a success fee from the compensation.
If your case is not successful, you won’t pay a penny. In effect, it means we share the risk with you, as we only get paid if you win.
This isn’t the only way to fund a case and all other methods will be explained before you decide whether to pursue a claim.
Arrange a free consultation with our Birth Injury Solicitors – call 0191 5666500 today!
Comprehensive cover for rehabilitation & care costs
If your child suffers from serious and ongoing complications, our birth injury solicitors will aim to secure enough compensation to make daily life easier for you and your family.
Birth Injury Compensation can be used to pay for real and practical changes.
- Professional care
- Rehabilitation
- Home adaptations
- Equipment & aids
- Medication
We can connect you with medical practitioners, support specialists and rehabilitation coordinators so they can produce a long-term care plan.
To support your child and ensure their future is financially secure, we will also aim to agree a compensation package that will allow them to be cared for in later life.
Based in Sunderland – trusted across the North East & UK
If you’d like to utilise the experience and expertise of our clinical negligence solicitors, we would love to fight for the support and rehabilitation you deserve.
From our head office in central Sunderland (just a stone’s throw from the train station), we can quickly travel to anywhere in the North East. We also represent people from across the UK, many of whom have been referred by previously successful clients.
Whatever the nature of your birth injury claim, get in touch for a no-obligation and confidential discussion either in person or via video call.
Arrange a free consultation with our Birth Injury Solicitors – call 0191 5666500 today!
Birth Injury FAQs
What is a birth injury?
According to the British Medical Association, the definition of a birth injury is any damage or injury caused to the mother or child either before, during or soon after childbirth. Injuries can range from minor to severe. They might be short-term or long-term issues.
To be successful with a birth injury compensation claim, you must be able to prove that the baby or mother suffered an avoidable injury because the medical care they received was below the required standards, widely known as medical negligence.
What are considered birth injuries?
Birth injury is a wide-ranging term which actually relates to a whole host of issues, some of which affect the baby and some that are sustained by the mother.
In essence, any kind of injury that happens to the mother or child during the process childbirth of is classed as a birth injury.
Some common types of birth injuries which affect the child include:
- Delay in delivery
- Cerebral palsy
- Erb’s palsy
- Spina bifida
- Hydrocephalus
- Shoulder dystocia
- Cord compression & prolapse
- Wrongful birth
- Neonatal death
- Stillbirth
Some common types of birth injury claims suffered by mothers include:
- Delayed Diagnosis or Treatment – preeclampsia, haemorrhage & infections
- Episiotomy Repair Complications
- Perineal Tears or Lacerations
- Aesthetic Errors
- Ruptured placenta
- Uterine rupture
- Incomplete removal of placenta following birth
Is there a time limit for claiming birth injury compensation?
For cases where the birth injury was suffered by the mother, there is a timescale of three years from the day the injury was sustained, or from when it was reasonable to know that an injury had occurred as a consequence of a mistake, to start a claim. This applies to most medical negligence compensation claims.
If you want to start a birth injury claim on behalf of a child, you can do this at any time before their 18th birthday. From the age of 18, they are allowed to make a claim until their 21st birthday. No time limit at all applies if the injured party has no mental capacity.
When claiming for a child who passed away because of a birth injury, you have three years to start the legal process from the date of death.
Should you have any questions about the time limits for making a claim, please call 0191 5666500 and chat to our birth injury solicitors in confidence.
How long will a birth injury claim take?
Unfortunately, as is the case with all medical negligence cases, there is no definite answer about the length of time it will take because each one is different and judged according to its own merits and the evidence available.
If a case is more complex, our birth injury solicitors will need to do more work and investigations to ascertain liability and quantify the settlement amount. With complex claims like this, we endeavour to guide you through the entire process and always keep you informed about any developments in your case.
What is the NHS Early Notification Scheme?
Since being established in 2017, the NHS Early Notification Scheme has had a specialist remit to proactively investigate specific brain injuries which affect children during birth.
Designed to help parents get answers quickly, the scheme helps to investigate cases promptly and we can guide you through the process as part of your birth injury claim, acting in your best interests at all times.
If required, we can also seek an apology and try to ensure lessons are learned to reduce the risk of such incidents happening again to others in the future.
Who do I make my claim against?
If you wish to pursue a Birth Injury Compensation Claim, you do not need to worry about diverting much-needed funds away from the NHS because, under UK law, each Trust is required to have adequate cover in place to pay any claims.
In our experience, most birth injury claims are made against the hospital where the birth took place. In some cases, action might be taken against the private medical practitioners responsible for the substandard care.
Should your claim be successful, the compensation would be paid by the NHS Resolution on behalf of the Trust the claim is against.
You are entitled to claim birth injury compensation if you received care from the NHS, or a private hospital or healthcare facility, including home births.
Will my case end up going to court?
For most parents who have had to deal with the impact of a birth injury, the thought of going to court is overwhelming. We fully respect and understand this position.
To avoid the stress of a potential hearing, we try to negotiate an out-of-court settlement in the majority of birth injury claims. This can often speed up the process of securing compensation and help to keep your legal costs lower.
In the rare instances where a settlement cannot be agreed and court proceedings are required, we will provide robust representation and personal support to make the process as easy and stress-free as possible for you. If a claim is settled for a child then it is still necessary to attend Court for a brief hearing so the settlement can be approved.
