10th July 2019 – Our client Mrs H from Canterbury gave birth to her second child in November 2013 at the Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother Hospital (QEQM) in Margate and post birth a lobe of placenta was noted in the lower uterus.
Mrs H was seen by a doctor who decided to attempt to remove the placenta by hand. The ordeal took around 15 minutes and the pain was so severe that Mrs H thought that she would die. The experience left her feeling both traumatized and violated.
Mrs H came to see us after what happened and it was clear that the case would mainly be about psychiatric injury.
Expert evidence was obtained from an Obstetrician/Gynecologist and a Consultant Psychiatrist. Both reports were positive in terms of demonstrating breach of duty and causation/injury. A feature of this case was that Mrs H and her husband had a very clear recollection of events which could not be realistically challenged.
A claim was presented to East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust and they partially admitted negligence but argued that it made no difference at all to the overall outcome.
As a result, Court proceedings were issued in February 2017 and the case was litigated almost to trial, which was due to take place in August 2019. As the Defendant’s experts failed to make much headway, as a last resort the Defendant disclosed 4 years’ of Mrs H’s social media and alleged she was exaggerating her symptoms. In addition there were threats made about punitive costs orders being requested at trial.
These aggressive tactics were firmly resisted, countered with comprehensive evidence and ultimately failed with the Defendant finally made a realistic settlement offer in the sum of £30,000 in June 2019 which was accepted.
Steve Evans the Solicitor with conduct for this case commented as follows:
“This case settled when the Defendant finally made a substantially increased offer (20 times higher than its previous offer). This suggests they had no regard for the Claimant who had clearly endured a very stressful time. They resorted to mudslinging when perhaps mediation would have been the better option (and was in fact offered to them at an early stage).
Mrs H always had a good case and suffered an extremely unusual injury.
She got by thanks to the help of her family as well as her own personal fortitude and her decision to make a claim was in the end entirely vindicated.
I am very pleased that she now has the compensation to support herself and her family”.
If you or a member of your family believes you have a claim then please do not hesitate to phone us free on 0800 999 5585, request a call back or submit your case details.