Erb's Palsy Compensation Claims Lawyers
Erb’s Palsy (also called brachial plexus paralysis) is a condition that results in nerve damage and paralysis of the arm. It typically happens during childbirth when the birth is complicated as a result of an injury to a baby’s shoulder during delivery. Parents of a baby with Erb’s Palsy may be able to make a claim for compensation if their baby injuries are caused by clinical negligence.
At Wiseman Wingate, our team of experienced legal professionals have a strong track record of assisting parents in their claim for medical negligence compensation, while offering support, advice and compassion at every step of the process. Contact us today to discuss your claim.
What Causes Erb’s Palsy?
Erb’s Palsy injuries that give rise to clinical negligence claims arise where one has a ‘large baby’ (macrosomic foetus) there are two risks, cephalo-pelvic (large foetal head that cannot pass through the mother’s pelvis) and shoulder dystocia this happens when the baby’s head has passed through the mother’s pelvis but the baby’s shoulders fails to do so the attempt to extract the baby often caused a stretching of the brachial plexus nerves leading to a permanent injury to the baby’s arm.
Brachial plexus injuries usually occur where forceps or by vacuum extraction is used as methods of extracting the baby.
Clinical negligence claims in these situations concentrate on the question, where the difficulties experienced during delivery foreseeable? The answer to this question will depend on the antenatal investigations that were undertaken or failed to be undertaken.
Erb’s Palsy Compensation Claims – Leading Clinical Negligence Specialist Here to Help
If you believe that your child’s Erb’s Palsy was a result of medical negligence during delivery, you are entitled to claim compensation if you can prove substandard care. At Wiseman Wingate Solicitors, our team is highly experienced in successfully fighting Erb’s Palsy medical negligence compensation claims.
Types of compensation available
In very serious cases of Erb’s Palsy, the condition can mean that your child will require specialist care for the rest of their life. By claiming compensation, it can ensure your child has access to the best treatment and healthcare available to them, even if the long-term effects of the condition are currently unknown.
Claiming compensation can include costs for:
- Physiotherapy
- Hydrotherapy
- Occupational therapy
- Education needs
- Aids and equipment
- Loss of future earnings
- Travel expenses
We seek answers for whether your child’s injury could have been avoided and get to the heart of what happened so that you can obtain the maximum level of compensation owed.
Contact our Erb’s Palsy Claims Solicitors Essex & North-East London
At Wiseman Wingate, we will talk you through each step of the process and be there to advise during the litigation process so that you can do the best for your child and their quality of life. We also offer ‘No Win No Fee’ on clinical negligence claims.
In addition, all cases are dealt with by a leading clinical negligence specialist with 30 years of experience and multi-million-pound compensation awards have been achieved through some of our clinical negligence compensation claims work, with outcomes that have transformed the lives of our clients.
If you believe you have a claim for medical negligence and Erb’s Palsy injuries, speak to our experienced solicitors about your options. Contact our office in Brentwood on 01428 687717, or submit an enquiry via our online form.
Tony Wiseman - Notable Cases
Wiseman Wingate Solicitors have a busy Clinical Negligence practice acting for Claimants. Tony Wiseman is head of Clinical Negligence, is experienced covering a full range of claims encompassing injuries of the utmost severity including spinal surgery, neurosurgery, birth injury cases, delayed diagnosis of cancer, dentistry, surgery and ophthalmology.
Tony is a member of the Law Society Clinical Negligence Accreditation Panel.
The names of clients have been anonymised for confidentiality reasons.
The Claimant, who was a baby at the time, contracted Tuberculosis at the time which was misdiagnosed resulting in severe Cerebral Palsy.
A multi-million-pound settlement was achieved.
Cerebral Palsy injury suffered at birth. The claim settled for a multi-million-pound sum.
Tony specialises in “brain injury baby cases” where neurological other injuries suffered at birth and has settled many multi-million pound claims of this nature.
The client suffered Erb’s Palsy injuries at birth. The claim settled for a sum just under 1 million pounds.
The client suffered a stroke and was taken by the Ambulance Service to hospital that did not have an Acute Stroke Unit, as a consequence there was a delay in treating the Claimant’s symptoms. The effect of which was to cause the client’s final symptoms to be worse than they otherwise have been.
The claim settled for a 5 figure sum.
The client has bowel surgery resulting in an infection that caused her to suffer a significant injury.
The client was retired and the quality of life has been adversely affected due to the Defendant’s negligence.
The case settled for a 6 figure sum.
The Defendant failed to diagnose that our client had suffered a testicle torsion, as a result the client required an operation.
The case settled for a 5 figure sum.
Our client had an operation to be sterilised which failed due to the clips being placed in the wrong place.
Another operation was required, the Claimant received a 4 figure sum in settlement.
Our client suffered damage to teeth as a result of negligent dental care and received a 4 figure settlement.
Client Stories
A clinical negligence case in which the defendant denied liability at every stage
Tony Wiseman raised a clinical negligence proceeding against a hospital when a routine operation went wrong. It led to disabilities for a lady approaching retirement that almost proved fatal and have permanently altered her quality of life.
From the start, and at every stage until a settlement was reached, the defendant denied liability. Tony was clear that negligence was to blame and so fought strenuously for his client, basing the case on a delay in diagnosing and treating an anastomotic leak, which had led to further complications.
The retired lady received a significant six-figure lump sum in compensation.
The client’s story
In 2009, a retired lady, ‘Mrs K’, was admitted to hospital. She required keyhole surgery to remove a section of her bowel (laparoscopic sigmoid colectomy). Her routine operation, however, resulted in serious complications.
She was discharged three days after surgery with severe abdominal pain and needing a wheelchair as she could barely walk. She returned to her GP five days later with worsening pain, nausea, fatigue, back ache, and a raised temperature.
Mrs K’s condition deteriorated dramatically over the following days and weeks. She says, “I only went into hospital for tiny surgery on my bowel and was there for nine months. At one point, I was within a blink of dying.”
Over the time since her first admission, she suffered – among other complications – multisystem organ failure, partial paralysis, blindness in one eye caused by a blood clot and required a tracheostomy. She is now disabled and her quality of life has been completely altered.
She turned to Tony Wiseman to raise a medical negligence proceeding against the hospital.
After a long legal battle, in which the defendant denied liability at every turn, the case was settled a short period before going to trial. Mrs K received a six-figure award in compensation.
She says, “I would definitely recommend Tony Wiseman to anyone in a similar situation”.
Articles
Ever wondered if your child’s disability is due entirely or in part to injuries suffered around the time of their birth?
Have you ever wondered whether your child’s disability could have been avoided “but for” clinical negligence?
Whilst not every child with a disability has a clinical negligence claim. There are a minority that do have a claim.
Thinking about what happened around the time of birth can often be emotionally upsetting; bringing to the forefront of your mind, events you would rather not recall.
Tony Wiseman says, ‘whilst the above is true, it is equally true that talking to an experience clinical negligence solicitor with over 30 years’ experience of dealing with claims were clients have suffered brain injuries during labour or shortly after birth, can be a positive experience in that it can help resolve many of the nagging doubts a parent may have.
For those who do have a clinical negligence claim, life can be made easier for the client and their family, as it will be possible to fund a ‘support package’, for example; care, accommodation and equipment that will improve the life of all concerned.
To win a birth injury clinical negligence claim one has to show that your child suffered an avoidable lack of oxygen during the labour or that the consequences of a lack of oxygen at around the time of birth were not adequately treated in the neonatal period; the first 4 weeks of life.
Has your child had a MRI brain scan?
If there is any reference in your child’s medical notes to hypoxic ischaemic encephalopathy (HIE) then investigating the possibility of a clinical negligence claim is worth exploring.
Hypoxic ischaemic encephalopathy is damage to cells in the central nervous system (the brain and the spinal cord), from inadequate oxygen during the process of labour or in a neonatal period.
HIE is recognised as causing Cerebral Palsy injuries, developmental delay, mental retardation and affects the development of speech.
HIE occurs in 2 – 9 of every 1,000 live births.
Whilst the majority of “term infant” with mild encephalopathy make a full recovery, 25% develop significant neurological sequelae.
For pre-term infants, the overall prognosis is worse.
Did your child suffer ‘fits’ in the period shortly after birth? Did your child require resuscitation after birth and/or spending a period of time in a Special Baby Unit?
Any of the above events, raises a suspicion that your child’s disability could be as a result of clinical negligence, it is worth discussing the circumstances of your child’s birth with us.
Not really sure; but would like to talk it through?
Why not contact Tony Wiseman, tell him about the circumstances of your child’s birth and he will provide you with his opinion as to whether the possibility of a clinical negligence claim should be investigated.
There is no charge for the consultation which can take place on the telephone.
Worried about the cost investigating a clinical negligence claim?
Don’t be, you will not have to pay for the investigation, we deal with these type of cases either under Legal Aid or No Win No Fee Agreements
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