A significant injury suffered by your child before, during or shortly after their birth can leave them with lifelong health issues and the need for a lot of specialist support. While it often takes several years for the full effects of a birth injury to become clear, you should start thinking about how you will meet your child’s needs as soon as possible. This helps to ensure that you can have the right support in place when your child needs it.
Providing care for a child with complex needs can be really challenging with some parents needing to give up work to care for their children full time. For most families, claiming compensation is the only way to cover the extensive costs involved in giving a child living with a birth injury the quality of care and chance at a happy life that they deserve.
Compensation can also be vital for relieving the financial strain on your family and funding professional care support allowing you to focus on being a parent, not a carer.
This is a situation no parent wants to face, and it is normal to be confused and intimidated by the thought of pursuing compensation. The right legal advice can make your situation much clearer, helping you to make the right choices for your child and family.
To arrange a confidential consultation with our friendly, highly experienced birth injury solicitors, please call 01253 766 559 or email **@*******co.uk today.
To start a compensation claim today, or for more information simply complete the form below.
Birth injury claims are not simple or straightforward to sort out and can put a huge strain on your family. To give you the strongest chance of winning fair compensation and to make the claims process easier on your family, you need the best possible representation.
Diane Rostron and her team of experts are recognised as one of the leading medical negligence lawyers specialising in birth injury compensation claims in England and Wales. She is accredited by the Law Society for Clinical Negligence, recognising her exceptional expertise in representing people injured as a result of negligent medical care.
She is also recognised as a leading practitioner in England and Wales in Legal 500 which describes her as “committed, determined and sympathetic.”
With more than 20 years’ experience in this complex field, Diane has an exceptional track record of securing multi-million-pound settlements, including in cases where other solicitors have previously failed.
Combining a detailed understanding of birth injury claims with warmth and empathy, Diane is able to make claiming compensation feel much simpler and less stressful, while offering the steely determination and robust representation needed to secure damages in even the most fiercely defended cases.
Over the years, we have secured substantial compensation for birth injuries such as:
When you work with us, we will get to know you and your family, building a personal relationship that lasts a lifetime. We will make sure your child gets all of the support they need and that you receive the emotional and practical support you need during this difficult time for your family.
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After you get in touch with us, we will listen to you and discuss your situation, including the healthcare advice you were given, and any evidence of negligent treatment.
We will need to apply for your medical records from various places, including the place you had treatment, other hospitals, and your GP practice.
We will then provide an honest assessment of whether we think you have a claim worth further investigation. We will explain the claims process and the fees involved.
We will start collecting evidence to support your claim. This typically includes applying for any further medical records, other documents from the hospital, obtaining witness statements and independent medical experts’ reports.
Once the facts of the case are clear, we will contact the NHS Trust or healthcare provider to inform them a claim is being investigated. The Letter of Claim (LOC) will set out the details of the alleged medical negligence and the injuries caused.
The Defendant is required to respond to our Letter of Claim (LOC) within four months. At this stage, they will either accept full, or partial, liability and may offer a financial settlement, or deny responsibility.
If the Defendant denies responsibility, or does not offer a sufficient settlement amount, we can then issue court proceedings on your behalf to take the claim further. The Defendant will be given 28 days to respond, and the court will then set a hearing date, usually around 18 months from when proceedings are initiated.
It is important to note that while issuing court proceedings is an essential step, it is rare that you will need to attend a hearing as most claims that reach this stage can be resolved with a pre-trial settlement.
The Court will then set a timetable for the exchange of evidence in the case. We will exchange any witness statement taken from you, and receive the witness statements (if any), of the clinicians involved in your care.
There will then be an exchange of medical expert evidence. Each party can obtain independent medical expert reports in each relevant discipline. For example, in a birth injury claim, both parties would have commissioned reports from independent obstetricians. We disclose the report we have obtained on your behalf and the Defendant has to disclose the report they have obtained.
The independent experts then have a meeting, separate to each party’s legal representatives, to narrow the issues for the Judge in the event the case goes to a trial. After this meeting, the medical experts have to produce a jointly written statement to provide to the Judge.
It is usual procedure to attend some form of pre-trial settlement resolution with the Defendant, either in the form of a settlement meeting, or a mediation. We have a very strong track record of negotiating pre-trial settlements and will explore every potential avenue to do so if your claim reaches this stage.
If your claim settles at this stage and involves a vulnerable party, such as a child or an adult with a brain injury, an approval hearing will be held by a High Court Judge to approve the settlement reached.
If your claim cannot be resolved outside a court hearing, we can offer experienced, and highly skilled, advocacy to secure the best possible outcome for your family.
Most claims are resolved in full through the above process. However, very complex claims, including birth injury claims, require an additional step to assess the quantification (value) of the claim.
For birth injury claims, additional independent medical experts will be required to assess issues such as life expectancy and care needs, and the process above will be repeated for the stage of quantification.
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Complex birth injuries specialist, 30 years' expertise. Recognised by Legal 500 as leading expert.
dianerostron.co.uk
Significant birth injuries are deeply traumatising events that can leave lifelong effects on a baby and their family. These injuries are sometimes the outcome of avoidable medical mistakes and can ran...
