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Vitamin K deficiency bleeding or VKDB is a dangerous but preventable condition which can cause permanent injury to a baby’s brain and lifelong, severe disability.
In the UK, it is standard maternity practice for babies to be given vitamin K immediately after birth, as this is known to prevent VKDB. This means that VKDB brain injury and its devastating consequences are now rare. It also means that unless consent for vitamin K treatment was withheld by the baby’s fully informed parents, failure to give vitamin K to a newborn baby is negligent care.
For more than 30 years, Boyes Turner's medical negligence solicitors have guided families of severely injured children through the claims process to secure the compensation and specialist support that they need to manage their child’s disability and rebuild their lives. We support parents through the difficult conversations, investigations, and decisions that follow a baby’s brain injury or cerebral palsy diagnosis and help you protect your child’s entitlement to compensation.
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If you think that your child suffered a brain injury as a result of medical negligence around the time of birth, or if you have been contacted by MNSI or NHS Resolution, we recommend that you contact our medical negligence team as soon as possible for free, confidential advice. We will ask you to tell us briefly about your maternity care and your child’s neonatal care and their injury, advise you about your time limits and whether we can help you investigate your claim. Once our investigations confirm you have grounds for a claim, we will notify the defendant healthcare provider (usually NHS Resolution) on your behalf and invite them to respond, giving them an opportunity to admit liability (responsibility for your child’s injuries), before court proceedings are issued.
If liability is admitted, we will obtain a judgment from the court and apply for a substantial interim payment to meet your child’s immediate needs arising from their disability. Working with our Court of Protection deputyship team, we can then begin to meet the child’s urgent needs, such as for care, therapies, suitable accommodation and specialist equipment. Our special educational needs (SEN) team can help with school placements and educational support.
If NHS Resolution deny liability, we will advise you about the best way to proceed with your claim. In birth injury claims, we often need to issue court proceedings before NHS Resolution will admit liability or enter into settlement negotiations or mediation.
Visit our specialist cerebral palsy website.
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In what can only be described as a stressful process dealing with Birth Negligence for your child, Boyes Turner, specifically Richard Money Kyrle and Tara Byrne made the process as smooth, efficient, and with a high level of understanding and empathy as possible. Each part of the process was explained clearly in layman's terms so I had a clear idea of what to expect and also a timeline of how long each process would take. Both Richard and Tara were always an email or phone call away and having to divulge such past traumatic events was done with the utmost respect and empathy. My son's case has now settled and thanks to all the hard work and fighting for justice we are able to move towards a bright future.
VKDB or vitamin K deficiency bleeding is a bleeding disorder which can cause severe injury to newborn babies. The condition is sometimes called by its former name, haemorrhagic disease of the newborn or HDN. It is more commonly known as VKDB because it is caused by a lack of vitamin K.
We need vitamin K in our bodies so that our blood clots normally. This allows wounds to heal and prevents excessive bleeding. Our bodies make some vitamin K from bacteria in our intestines, and the rest comes from our diet.
Babies are born without any vitamin K. In the first few weeks of life, their bodies cannot make vitamin K because their intestines do not yet contain the necessary bacteria to produce it. If they bleed, their blood does not have enough vitamin K to form a clot. This puts them at risk of serious injury, particularly severe injury to the brain from intracranial bleeding.
To prevent babies from suffering this life-threatening condition, it is standard practise in most developed countries to give supplemental vitamin K to all newborn babies. In countries, such as the UK, where vitamin K is given as standard treatment to babies immediately after birth, VKDB is very rare. Where cases of VKDB occur, they may have been caused by negligent failure to give vitamin K, or where the parents of a breast-fed baby have refused to consent to their baby receiving vitamin K treatment.
All newborn babies are at risk of serious injury or death from vitamin K deficiency bleeding (VKDB) in the first few months of life. This is because their bodies cannot make vitamin K as they do not yet have the necessary bacteria in their intestines.
The risk of VKDB is even greater where the baby:
These risk factors are in addition to the existing serious risk that all newborn babies have of developing VKDB if they are not given vitamin K. One third of babies who have developed VKDB had none of the additional risks.
VKDB is easily preventable by standard maternity treatment in which the baby is given vitamin K, usually by a single injection, immediately after birth.
A baby with vitamin K deficiency bleeding may bleed uncontrollably because their blood cannot clot properly. Normal blood clotting is necessary to enable wounds to heal.
Bleeding from VKDB (haemorrhagic disease of the newborn) can occur in parts of the body where there has been treatment or trauma during birth, such as:
The baby may bleed from non-vital organs, such as:
The most severe injury and disability from VKDB comes from intracranial haemorrhage, where the baby suffers permanent injury from bleeding into their brain.
It is recommended that all newborn babies receive vitamin K within 24 hours of birth. Parents who are considering refusing consent for their baby to receive vitamin K should be fully informed of the benefits of vitamin K and the risk of VKDB and the harm it could do to their baby.
Medical negligence compensation claims for VKDB injuries often arise after vitamin K is not correctly administered to a newborn baby, where vitamin K treatment is delayed, or where it is withheld without the parents’ informed consent.
Medical negligence compensation claims for VKDB injury caused by negligent failure to administer vitamin K to newborn babies commonly involve permanent, severe disability from brain injury, cerebral palsy or other neurodevelopmental disability.
Our specialist neonatal brain injury solicitors can help families recover substantial compensation after their child has suffered serious brain injury from VKDB following negligent maternity and neonatal care.
Once liability is established, we secure interim payments; to help meet our clients’ urgent needs for care, therapies, suitable or adapted accommodation and specialist equipment and relieve financial hardship.
Settlements are carefully structured to ensure that money will be available to meet the child’s lifelong needs arising from their disability.
Depending on the individual client’s needs, compensation may be claimed for:
Read more about compensation for cerebral palsy and other types of birth or neonatal brain injury on our specialist cerebral palsy website.
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