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During childbirth, you expect your child to be taken care of from the beginning of pregnancy, right until the end when you give birth. Failings in care during pregnancy and childbirth can have serious consequences. If your child has been injured because of mistakes during pregnancy, labour, or delivery our birth injury solicitors can help you claim the compensation you need to care for and support your child.

What is birth injury?

Birth injury, or birth trauma, refers to harm or injury suffered by a baby around the time that they were born. If you, as the mother, have suffered during a negligently managed pregnancy or birth, you may also be able to claim compensation.

Birth injury claims often involve severely disabling conditions, such as cerebral palsy or severe neurological disability, which can be caused by mistakes in maternity or neonatal care. These claims should be handled by solicitors who are specialists in complex, high value, medical negligence litigation.

Whilst some conditions occur naturally, other types of birth-related injury, such as cerebral palsy and Erb’s palsy, can be caused by mistakes in maternity or neonatal care.  It is natural for parents of an injured child to seek an explanation as to what went wrong, whether directly from the hospital or through the legal process. When the answer is that their baby’s brain injury and disability was caused by negligent errors in their maternity or neonatal care, they are entitled to claim their child’s legal right to compensation.

How to make a birth injury claim

To make a birth injury claim, contact Boyes Turner Claims birth injury solicitors as soon as possible if your child has suffered an injury before, during, or after childbirth. We will conduct a free, confidential consultation and assess whether we think you will be able to make a claim.

For claims arising from negligent medical care, you have until at least your child’s 21st birthday to start the claim with the court by issuing a claim form. If your child does not have the capacity to manage their affairs, at present, there is no strict time limit by when a claim arising from negligent medical care must be started in court. However, the sooner the investigation is started the better as recollections are better and documents less likely to be mislaid.

If you are able to make a birth injury claim, we will take you through the litigation process funded either by a no win, no fee agreement (Conditional Fee Agreement) or by Legal Aid.

  1. Evidence will be gathered to support the claim, including medical records, photographs, hospital internal enquiry and HSIB documents, and witness statements, expert reports in the disciplines of midwifery, obstetrics, neonatology, paediatric neurology and paediatric neuroradiology will be obtained and the experts views discussed at a meeting with you, the experts and your specialist legal team.
  2. A formal letter setting out the allegations of negligence and causation is sent to the NHS Trust and the NHS Resolution or your private healthcare provider. The NHS or private healthcare provider will investigate the allegations and respond.
  3. The response may accept responsibility for your child's injury or deny liability and set out reasons for that denial. If responsibility is accepted we will issue court proceedings and obtain an immediate interim payment on account of the eventual compensation award to meet your child's immediate needs". If liability is denied we will discuss the reasons for the denial with experts and arrange for court proceedings to be issued and your child's case to proceed through the court process as a defended claim.
  4. The appropriate final compensation award can only be properly calculated once your legal team are able to assess your child's long term needs. As soon as it is possible to value your child's claim our birth injury solicitors undertake the complex valuation. Any proposed compensation settlement has to be considered and approved by a Judge before the final award of compensation is made. If an appropriate settlement cannot be agreed with the defendant the case will go to trial and a Judge will determine the final award of compensation.

To have a successful claim, we need to prove two things. firstly that the treating medical practitioners were negligent and secondly that their negligence caused your child’s injury.

Birth injury compensation claims frequently asked questions

Why choose Boyes Turner?

Our clients receive the highest standards of advice and representation and are always treated with compassion, outstanding care and understanding of the physical, emotional, psychological and financial impact that life-changing injury can have upon their lives.

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What types of maternity mistakes can lead to birth injury compensation claims?

Mistakes in maternity care can be made during pregnancy (antenatally), during labour and birth, immediately after birth (postnatally) or in the early days of the baby’s life (neonatally).

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What type of birth injury can be compensated?

Each child’s birth history and injury is unique, however our birth injury solicitors are skilled in recovering top level compensation settlements for clients.

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How much compensation can you get for a birth injury?

Birth injury compensation is rarely calculated solely on the basis of the injury.

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How is birth injury compensation paid?

We negotiate each client’s settlement carefully to ensure that it will be paid in a way which is best for the individual child and their family.

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Can you get Legal Aid for birth injury claims?

As accredited specialists in cerebral palsy and serious neurological disability claims, we have access to Legal Aid funding for eligible clients. We also offer no win, no fee agreements (Conditional Fee Agreements) and will discuss with you which funding mechanism is best for you and your child.

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How can we protect our vulnerable child from publicity after they receive their compensation?

We understand that families of injured children who receive large compensation awards worry about publicity and vulnerability to other people’s reactions.

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NHS Resolution have admitted liability – do I need my own solicitor to handle my child’s cerebral palsy claim?

The NHS is defended in medical negligence cases by NHS Resolution. NHS Resolution also appoints its own solicitors to represent the NHS in negligence claims.

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Is there a time limit for birth injury claims?

Where a child is under 18 at the date of their injury, their three-year time limit starts from their 18th birthday. If they have mental capacity to manage their own affairs when they are 18, their ‘limitation’ deadline will expire when they are 21. Many of our cerebral palsy clients come to us as teenagers or young adults. In these cases, the client’s capacity for the purposes of litigating the claim, and their time limit for bringing proceedings, will be carefully assessed with the help of our medical experts.

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Meet your specialist team

Our specialist Birth injury compensation claims team are considered leaders in the field and have a significant amount of expertise.
Susan Brown photo

Susan Brown

Partner

Julie Marsh headshot

Julie Marsh

Partner

Richard Money-Kyrle headshot

Richard Money-Kyrle

Partner

Sita Soni headshot

Sita Soni

Senior Associate - solicitor

Vanessa Wand photo

Vanessa Wand

Senior associate - solicitor

Rachel Makore headshot

Rachel Makore

Associate - solicitor

Tara Pileggi-Byrne photo

Tara Pileggi-Byrne

Associate - Solicitor

Alpa Rana headshot

Alpa Rana

Associate - solicitor

Fran Rothwell

Fran Rothwell

Associate solicitor

Ben Ireland headshot

Ben Ireland

Solicitor

Alice Carley headshot

Alice Carley

Paralegal

Audrey Elmore headshot

Audrey Elmore

Medical records coordinator

Nicky Melville headshot

Nicky Melville

Professional support assistant

Susan Brown photo
Julie Marsh headshot
Richard Money-Kyrle headshot
Sita Soni headshot
Vanessa Wand photo
Rachel Makore headshot
Tara Pileggi-Byrne photo
Alpa Rana headshot
Fran Rothwell
Ben Ireland headshot
Alice Carley headshot
Audrey Elmore headshot
Nicky Melville headshot

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Awards & accreditations

Our medical negligence and personal injury teams have been nationally recognised for over 20 years because of their expertise, empathy and commitment to securing maximum compensation for our clients.

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What our clients say

"Amazing support"

Fran has been an amazing support through a very difficult time for me and my family. Always available to speak and kept me in the loop with anything happening, she has been so kind, and I thank her so much for helping and getting my mum the justice she deserved.

Ms Alison

"Honest, approachable and truly empathetic"

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.

Boyes Turner Client

"they kept us fully informed "

I approached Boyes Turner after my claim was turned down by one of the Medical Negligence Claim company. My wife was a victim of medical negligence.

Boyes Turner have acted so efficiently on our behalf and was able to win our case. Anytime we contact them, their customer service was very good as they kept us fully informed of every level our case has developed. They are very friendly and approachable and great in their professional advise. I would strongly recommend anyone approach them for their legal and medical negligence services.

Boyes Turner Client

"Thoroughly professional, knowledgable and approachable"

Thoroughly professional, knowledgable and approachable with communication and updates as and when needed, in what can be a drawn out process, I was always comfortable asking questions and always received answers which were clear and understandable. Highly recommend

Boyes Turner Client

"Amazing professional firm"

I came to Boyes Turner desperate after searching the web for a firm to use for my sons case. He was only a few months so my mind was all over the place, but from the very first point of contact I felt a sense of relieve and belonging. I was welcomed and looked after by amazing staff who always communicated everything so well and went the extra mile to explain things and ensure I understood what was happening every step of the way (THANK YOU SUSAN BROWN). Susan was amazing I felt like I not only had a solicitor but someone who understood my emotions as a mother and always handled me with so much compassion and that was all I needed to keep me going for the 6 years of the case. Years went by in a breeze because of how professional Boyes Turner was. I am so greatful I went through it all with them and mananged to get my son a good compensation. We look forward our new life where my sons needs are priority after struggling for so long. Thank you Boyes Turner and thank you Susan Brown. My family and I are ever indebted.

Boyes Turner Client
Rated Excellent 4.8/5