Erb's Palsy caused by delivery staff negligence
Boyes Turner's specialist medical negligence lawyers made a compensation claim on behalf of Baby F in relation to injuries sustained during the course of his birth at Royal Berkshire Hospital in 2003.
Baby F was an extremely large baby and his mother had gestational diabetes. His older sister had suffered with shoulder dystocia at birth and F’s mother therefore requested a caesarean section. However, F’s mother was induced early due to F’s increasing size and he became stuck during the delivery. As a result his right humerus was broken and he sustained damage to the nerves of his arm (Erb’s Palsy).
Had his mother’s request for a caesarean section been properly considered it would have gone ahead and any injury to the baby would have been avoided. There were also questions around the management of the delivery itself.
Fortunately Baby F made a very good recovery - the humerus healed and he regained full sensation to his arm. Despite an early letter of claim, the hospital denied liability and the case was delayed until Baby F was 5 years old so that full and appropriate tests could be carried out on his arm to assess the level of damage.
The hospital agreed to pay £10k in compensation without admission of liability.
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