Kernicterus is a rare but serious complication of untreated jaundice in newborn babies, which causes permanent injury to the baby’s brain. This dangerous condition is preventable with correct neonatal care of the newborn baby. Kernicterus brain injury claims usually arise from cerebral palsy and severe disability caused by delays in referral, diagnosis and treatment of newborn babies with jaundice by midwives, health visitors, hospital doctors or GPs.
For over 30 years, Boyes Turner’s neonatal brain injury solicitors have secured outstanding compensation settlements for children with kernicterus brain injury to meet their needs for care, adapted accommodation, therapies and specialist support throughout their lives. If your child has suffered kernicterus brain injury, you can contact us for free, confidential advice from a neonatal brain injury solicitor. Your child may be entitled to substantial compensation.
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If you think that your child may have suffered a kernicterus brain injury, or if you have been contacted by MNSI or NHS Resolution, we recommend that you contact our medical negligence team as soon as possible. We support parents through the difficult conversations, investigations, and decisions that follow a baby’s brain injury or diagnosis and help you protect your child’s entitlement to compensation.
You can contact us by telephone or by email for free, confidential advice from a neonatal brain injury claims solicitor. We will ask you to tell us briefly about your child’s neonatal care and their injury, and advise you about whether we can help you begin your claim and any time limits that apply. Your solicitor will discuss with you how your claim will be funded and advise how that works and what it will mean for you. We offer a range of funding options, but most of our clients’ claims are handled on a ‘no win no fee’ basis.
Once we have gathered the necessary evidence for your claim to proceed, we will notify the healthcare provider (usually represented by NHS Resolution) of your claim. We aim to make NHS Resolution accept full responsibility for your child’s injury as quickly as possible, so that we can obtain interim payments to help your family move to more suitable accommodation or adapt your home, and pay for the care, therapies and educational support that your child needs.
If the healthcare provider or their legal representatives at NHS Resolution deny liability, we will advise you about the best way to proceed with your claim. This may involve issuing court proceedings or inviting NHS Resolution to enter into settlement negotiations or mediation.
Partner, Medical negligence
Jaundice is a common, and often harmless, condition that affects newborn babies. Neonatal jaundice is caused by a build-up of bilirubin in the baby’s blood.
Bilirubin is a naturally occurring yellow pigment that is formed during the body’s normal process of breaking down old red blood cells. Bilirubin is processed by the liver, then moves to the bile duct and gallbladder (where it is stored) then into the small intestine as bile, where it helps digest fats before being passed out of the body as waste.
Hyperbilirubinaemia occurs when a newborn baby’s undeveloped liver can’t process all the bilirubin, leaving an abnormally high amount of bilirubin in their blood. The excess bilirubin causes the yellow discolouration which is seen in babies with jaundice.
Common signs of jaundice include:
Newborn babies with jaundice must be diagnosed and their bilirubin levels must be carefully monitored and treated to prevent the development of kernicterus.
Jaundice can also be an indication of other serious health conditions, such as:
Kernicterus is a dangerous, but preventable, complication of neonatal jaundice which causes damage to the newborn baby’s brain. Bilirubin is a yellow substance that is produced naturally in the body by red blood cells breaking down. Bilirubin is usually processed by the liver and then passed out of the body as waste. Some newborn babies cannot remove bilirubin from their blood effectively, as their liver is not fully developed.
Kernicterus occurs when the amount of bilirubin in a newborn baby’s blood is not properly monitored or controlled by timely treatment. Excess bilirubin in the blood or ‘hyperbilirubinaemia’ (or hyperbilirubinemia) requires careful monitoring and, where necessary, phototherapy or exchange transfusion treatment. If allowed to build up to dangerous levels, bilirubin that has not been processed by the liver can cause irreversible damage to the brain and spinal cord. This type of injury to the brain is sometimes called bilirubin encephalopathy. The pattern of damage and yellow staining that it causes to the brain is known as kernicterus.
Kernicterus brain injury is caused by a dangerous build-up of bilirubin in the blood as a result of incorrect monitoring and treatment of jaundice in a newborn baby’s first few days of life.
All newborn babies have an increased risk of developing neonatal jaundice, but in most cases their jaundice will resolve naturally.
Babies are more at risk of developing kernicterus where:
Kernicterus is usually preventable with correct monitoring and treatment. Most kernicterus brain injury claims arise from inadequate monitoring of babies with excess bilirubin in their blood and delayed or inadequate treatment of babies whose bilirubin levels are rising rapidly or above the treatment threshold.
Kernicterus is preventable with correct maternity and neonatal care, which includes:
With correct and timely neonatal hospital, midwifery and GP care, kernicterus should not occur.
Mild neonatal jaundice often resolves without treatment, but it must be diagnosed and carefully monitored to ensure that the bilirubin in the baby’s blood does not exceed safe (threshold) levels.
Persistent neonatal jaundice or worsening hyperbilirubinaemia should be treated with a special light treatment known as phototherapy. Some babies may also need an exchange transfusion to safely remove the excess bilirubin from their blood.
Failure to recognise neonatal jaundice, or delayed or incorrect monitoring and treatment of hyperbilirubinaemia can lead to permanent disability from kernicterus brain injury.
Kernicterus brain injury should not occur with correct care.
Negligent delays and mistakes in the diagnosis, monitoring and treatment of jaundice can lead to kernicterus brain injury and are a common cause of neonatal brain injury and cerebral palsy claims against hospitals, GPs and community midwives.
Kernicterus brain injury is preventable with correct detection, monitoring and treatment of neonatal jaundice. Kernicterus should not occur if a newborn baby has received proper neonatal care.
Medical negligence claims arising from neonatal jaundice and kernicterus brain injury often involve one or more of the following mistakes:
If your baby has suffered kernicterus brain injury, we recommend you contact us for free, confidential advice from our specialist kernicterus injury solicitors. If your baby’s brain injury was caused by medical negligence they may be entitled to substantial compensation.
Kernicterus develops from untreated jaundice. If your baby has jaundice (bilirubinaemia) which is not being monitored and/or treated, you should seek medical advice straight away.
Early signs of brain injury from kernicterus can include:
Negligent failure to diagnose, monitor or treat jaundice can result in kernicterus brain injury with severe, lifelong disability from:
For more information about cerebral palsy claims and compensation, contact us for free, confidential advice from a solicitor.
Our client was visited by community midwives, who failed to recognise that he had jaundice and take appropriate action. Without treatment, his jaundice developed into kernicterus, which caused permanent brain damage. Our client has four-limb cerebral palsy with severely impaired communication and vision, and profound deafness. He will always be totally dependent on others and needs full-time nursing care.
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I cannot thank Julie Marsh and the team at Boyes Turner enough for taking on my case, believing in me and my claim and tirelessly fighting my corner for a positive outcome. My case was handled with personal care, up most professionalism and attention throughout. I was always kept up to date with progress, felt valued and heard. I highly recommend and I am eternally grateful.
What has to be some of the most testing horrible times was dealt with in a dignified, honest, approachable and truly empathetic manner. I could not begin to do Susan justice for her handling of our case.
Totally recommend Ben who dealt with our case. He was very professional but also very approachable and his communication was excellent. He always got back to us with our many questions and never made us feel like we were wasting his time. I would really recommend this law firm.
Julie marsh and her team have been so professional during this distressing time for me and my family. From day one Julie has been so patient and understanding of my worries and questions and made this very stressful process much less so. The experts Julie instructed have explained symptoms and what to do about them which has helped me and my family massively deal with this disability. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend boyes turner they have been superb.
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