Although you may envision birthing a child as one of the most enjoyable and rewarding experiences, one in three Australian women would disagree. Describing their baby’s birth experience as traumatic. Birth trauma isn’t just physical but can also be psychological. It can also affect both the birthing and/or non-birthing parent.
Due to the amount of careful preparation and research required, it’s a complex area of medical negligence law. Here we explain what birth trauma and medical negligence are and explain how help through financial compensation is available.
What is birth trauma
Birth trauma can occur during the birthing experience, where there’s a wound, damage or serious injury. The injury can be physical, psychological or both and lead to short/long term negative impacts on a woman’s health and wellbeing. Birth trauma can be experienced by the mother, birthing parent/s, non-birthing parents, fathers, or the baby.
Examples of birth trauma experienced by the birthing parent
A birthing parent may experience birth trauma at any time during the perinatal period.
Examples of birth trauma may include:
Physical trauma during birth, such as perineal tears, pelvic organ prolapse, pelvic fracture, episiotomy complications, fistula or infection, wounds or surgical complications associated with a caesarean birth
Secondary physical injuries caused by a baby’s birth, such as forceps or instrument trauma
Psychological trauma at any perinatal stage, such as emotional distress or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after a traumatic birth experience, postnatal depression or anxiety, intrusive thoughts or obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
Examples of birth trauma experienced by a baby
In Australia, around 1,000 babies are injured during childbirth each year. Most injuries are only temporary, but some babies’ lives are impacted long-term, even in situations where their injury follows a life-saving intervention. A birth trauma injury to a baby could include:
Fractures (such as a broken collarbone) due to a baby’s difficult progress through the birth canal
Brain injury, if a baby is deprived of oxygen during birth. Examples might be cerebral palsy or hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy (HIE)
Bruising or swelling of the scalp following vacuum or forceps assisted delivery
Brachial plexus palsy (Erb’s palsy) which causes weakness or paralysis in parts of the arm
Meconium aspiration
Birth trauma and medical negligence
You may be entitled to birth trauma injury compensation if yours or your baby’s injuries were caused by medical negligence.
What is medical negligence
If you or your partner gives birth under the care of a medical professional, that person owes you a duty of care. This ‘duty of care’ means they have a legal obligation to take reasonable care that their actions don’t cause harm to you as their patient. For birth trauma and birth injury, many injuries are unavoidable regardless of the medical care provided. But on some occasions, there may be grounds for a medical negligence case if:
Your medical professional (this could be an obstetrician or midwife) owed a duty of care to you and your baby
There is a breach of the duty of care
Because of the breach, you or your baby suffers an injury
How Shine Lawyers’ medical negligence team can help
Every birth experience is different. But if you, your loved one or baby has experienced birth trauma, you may be eligible to receive compensation for medical negligence.
Medical negligence is a complex area of law and getting timely legal advice from an experienced medical negligence lawyer is important. With an understanding of both legal and medical aspects of medical negligence claims, Shine’s medical law team is uniquely placed to achieve excellent outcomes for our clients.
Our clients Annie and Birdie
Our Medical Negligence team is privileged to work with and bring justice to everyday Australians who have unfortunately experienced devastating birth trauma.
We are proud to have acted for Western Australian clients Annie and Birdie. Their experience involved compounding failures in antenatal care in a Western Australian health service, that lead to a devastating birth injury for Birdie, with lifelong impacts.
Annie’s antenatal care fell below the expected standard of medical care (meaning the health service failed in its duty of care to her and Birdie) and unfolded with the following:
Annie’s first pregnancy had two major risk factors, relevant to and impacting her antenatal care
There were several missed opportunities in her antenatal care, to elevate Annie’s care to obstetric-led rather than midwife-led
These missed opportunities led to Annie’s labouring through a misdiagnosed footling breach until a cord prolapse occurred (an obstetric emergency)
Annie’s daughter Birdie was born (in March 2015) via emergency caesarean section
The cord prolapse deprived Birdie of critical blood supply and oxygen prior to her emergency caesarean birth
Birdie required full resuscitation and chest compressions on birth and was transferred from the regional health facility to a dedicated children’s hospital in Perth
Due to the alleged medically negligent antenatal care Annie received leading to the cord prolapse, Birdie suffered an intrapartum hypoxic ischemic insult – a type of brain damage
This led to a diagnosis of hypoxic ischaemic encephalopathy (HIE) and cerebral palsy
Birdie was left with mixed dystonic / spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy and consequential global development delay
Had Annie’s antenatal care been provided to an appropriate standard of care, her risk factors would have led to significantly different treatment, including ultrasounds to identify Birdie’s footling breach presentation. Had this been identified, it is highly probable that Birdie would have been born (via elective or earlier emergency caesarean section) in good condition, with no HIE.
How Shine helped Annie and Birdie
Annie and her husband approached Shine for help, shortly after Birdie’s birth. After carefully listening to their story, our medical negligence team determined Annie’s antenatal care caused Birdie’s birth injury, and that they were entitled to birth trauma compensation.
Birdie’s future care needs are complex and have left heavily dependent on others for all aspects of her care for the rest of her life. Her life expectancy has been assessed at approximately 65 years.
Shine’s passionate tenacity in fighting for justice for Annie and Birdie involved examinations by medical and allied health specialists across several years.
Determined to obtain the birth trauma compensation Birdie deserved, Shine sought an expert medical opinion from appropriately qualified obstetricians, including a maternal-fetal medicine specialist.
The final expert medical opinion, received in March 2023, was shortly followed by financial settlement between Annie and Birdie, and the Western Australian health service. With the life-changing settlement, Annie, Birdie and their family were able to:
Move into a new, fully accessible home, suitable for Birdie’s high care needs (closer to their wider family in New Zealand)
Have financial peace of mind, knowing that Birdie’s extensive care needs across her lifetime, would be met
In Annie’s words to her lawyer, Practice Leader and Senior Associate Cassie Green:
"Thank you so much for everything you have done during the last and intensely stressful ending to Birdie’s case. You helped us navigate something that already felt horrendously daunting and made it manageable.
To have you and your crew in our corner to fight and to push for us when I sometimes couldn’t face it meant a lot.
And for Birdie and our family this outcome is truly a life changer. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts."
Shine Lawyers can help
If you or a loved one has experienced birth trauma or birth injury, support is available. You may be entitled to financial compensation to help with future care needs, like Birdie and Annie. Contact our experienced and compassionate medical negligence team at Shine Lawyers or use our free online booking tool to see if you’re eligible for a claim.
And you may find helpful resources available through the Australasian Birth Trauma Association website, particularly during birth trauma awareness week.
