Boyes Turner’s birth injury lawyers obtained a £300,000 settlement for a boy who suffered a brachial plexus nerve injury as a result of negligent maternity care during his delivery.During his birth, his delivery became obstructed by shoulder dystocia, a medical emergency in which the baby’s shoulder becomes wedged behind the mother’s pubic bone. When this happens, maternity staff must act swiftly to perform a series of recognised manoeuvres to release the stuck shoulder and deliver the baby quickly and safely without damaging their brachial plexus nerves.In this case, instead of performing the appropriate manoeuvres, the medical staff pulled harder and harder on the baby’s head, stretching his brachial plexus nerves beyond repair. This left him with little or no use of his left arm – a condition known as brachial plexus nerve injury or, more commonly, Erb’s palsy. We investigated the circumstances of our client’s birth and his injury and served a detailed letter of claim on the defendant hospital, which admitted liability (fault) for our client’s injury. Once our client was old enough for his long-term prognosis to be accurately assessed, the claim settled for a compensation payment of £300,000.
