Judgment after delayed antibiotics for pregnant mother with GBS infection caused son's cerebral palsy

Boyes Turner’s cerebral palsy solicitors secured a liability judgment for a severely disabled teenager whose cerebral palsy was caused by hospital delays in antibiotic treatment for his mother’s group B streptococcus (GBS) infection during her pregnancy and labour. 

Our specialist cerebral palsy solicitors agreed to help the injured boy’s mother who had been advised by her previous solicitors that her son’s case could not continue after the defendant hospital had denied liability in response to their letter of claim. 

Admission of liability, apology and £250,000 interim payment

We notified the defendant NHS Trust and issued proceedings after our own investigation revealed negligent failings in the antibiotic care that our client’s mother had received which caused or materially contributed to her son’s PVL brain injury and cerebral palsy. The defendant NHS Trust admitted liability and provided our client with a formal apology. Our client’s immediate needs will be met by a £250,000 interim payment whilst we work with our experts and our client’s mother to value his claim.

Negligent failure to give antibiotics to pregnant mother with GBS infection, diabetes and PPROM

Our client’s mother tested positive for group B streptococcus (GBS) during her first pregnancy.

At nearly 31 weeks of pregnancy she attended hospital with dull abdominal pain and ‘watery loss’ since the previous evening. A CTG of the (unborn baby’s) fetal heart rate was reassuring and she was diagnosed with PPROM (premature pre-term rupture of the membranes or waters breaking abnormally early). Her type 1 diabetes, GBS infection and PPROM increased the risk of sepsis both to herself and to the baby. In these circumstances, national guidelines mandated that she should receive treatment with antibiotics, but antibiotics were not prescribed as the hospital’s own guidelines were incorrect. She remained in hospital for 5 days, during which she was monitored, received steroid injections and experienced uterine tightenings (which can be an early sign of labour). She was then sent home when there were no further signs of labour.   

She came back to the hospital in the early hours of the next morning with intermittent low abdominal pain, a history of vomiting and fever and reduced fetal movements. She was found to be in early labour with chorioamnionitis (infection affecting the membranes surrounding the unborn baby).  She was admitted to hospital for investigations, intravenous (IV) fluids, blood glucose control, pain relief and continuous CTG monitoring of the fetal heart rate. The medical plan was for antibiotics only to be given if her blood results indicated infection.

Two hours later, a doctor prescribed IV benzylpenicillin (antibiotic) for our client’s mother’s infection, but it was not administered. Over the next few hours, multiple entries in the medical records (including a consultant’s letter arranging for the mother to be transferred in labour to another hospital with a specialist neonatal unit) all incorrectly assumed that antibiotics had been started. Our client’s mother finally received IV benzylpenicillin more than 11 hours after it was prescribed, at the second hospital in the final stages of her distressed baby’s birth.

The newborn baby was admitted to the neonatal unit where he needed treatment for respiratory distress, group B streptococcus infection (GBS) and jaundice. An ultrasound scan of his brain a few weeks later showed that he had suffered bilateral cystic periventricular leukomalacia (PVL).

Untreated GBS infection leads to PVL brain injury and cerebral palsy

He has permanent, severe disability from spastic diplegic cerebral palsy, limited speech, and attends a special school. He is totally dependent on 24-hour care.

We are now working with our experts and our client’s family to assess the full impact of his brain injury and his lifelong needs arising from his cerebral palsy disability, to value the claim and prepare for settlement negotiations or an assessment of damages hearing.

Our client and his family’s privacy is protected by an anonymity order.

Testimonial

Our client’s family kindly commented:

“The support we received from Boyes Turner and our specific solicitors was exceptional. As a family, we would all highly recommend them to anyone. They were consistently knowledgeable, kind and professional throughout, always putting our son at the centre of our fight for justice.”

If your child has cerebral palsy or neurological disability as a result of medical negligence, or you have been contacted by HSSIB/MNSI or NHS Resolution, you can talk to a solicitor, free and confidentially, for advice about how to respond or make a claim by contacting us.