Unusual case of psychiatric injury of birthing partner

As specialist solicitors in birth and brain injury, we here in the PotterReesDolan clinical negligence team have a significant amount of experience of dealing with claims for children who have sadly suffered significant brain injury as a result of errors made during their births.

We have also acted on behalf of multiple families who have suffered the death of a child as a result of errors during labour and delivery of the child. As a result, it is not often that a case will come along which raises a new point however the recent case of RE and others v Calderdale & Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust has done just that.

In this terribly sad case, the Judge found that there had been errors in the care provided to RE’s mother during her labour and those errors lead to a delay in RE being delivered. That delay ultimately resulted in RE being deprived of oxygen and she has been left significantly disabled.

However, the key finding in this case for me was not the errors leading to RE’s injury, but the fact that the judge found that RE’s mother and grandmother, who was supporting her daughter through labour and delivery, had suffered psychiatric injuries as a result of what they had witnessed on that day and could recover compensation.

This might sound like a straightforward finding; the judge agreed that there had been errors made during the labour and therefore everyone involved should recover compensation for any injuries they suffered as a result. However, in my years of working on cases involving children being injured at birth, I have never come across a grandmother being awarded compensation as a secondary victim.

The rules for being able to recover compensation for secondary victims are longstanding and the main issue which the judge considered in this case was the need for there to be “the induction of psychiatric illness by shock, that is the sudden appreciation by sight or sound of a horrifying event which violently agitated the mind."

The judge in RE’s case agreed that errors, which were considered to be negligent, resulted in RE’s birth being delayed from 16.42 to 16.53 and also that the delay also lead to her not taking her first breath until 17.05. As a result RE’s mother and grandmother both thought she was dead and the judge found that their psychiatric injuries resulted from the condition RE had been born in. The judge therefore found that the event was sufficiently sudden, shocking and objectively horrifying to reach the conclusion that both mother and grandmother had suffered nervous shock and could claim compensation for their injuries.

I believe this case could prove to be very important in enabling family members who have supported loved ones during labour to recover compensation for any injuries they suffered as a result of witnessing errors made. I cannot imagine what a difficult position those family members would find themselves in, suffering as a result of what they witnessed and previously feeling that there was no access to justice for their own suffering and I believe that this case has the ability to change that and ensure that everyone who has suffered has the ability to recover compensation for their injuries.

Hannah Bottomley is a clinical negligence solicitor with PotterReesDolan. Should you have any queries about clinical negligence issues, particularly involving secondary victim or birth injury claims and wish to speak with Hannah or any other member of the team please contact us on 0161 237 5888 or email Hannah directly on hannahbottomley@prd.uk.com.