What Is Medical Negligence for Neonatal Death?
What is classed as a neonatal death?
Neonatal death is when a baby is born alive but passes away within the first 28 days of life. In contrast, the loss of a baby before 24 weeks is classed as a miscarriage, and a stillbirth is where a baby passes away before or during birth, 24 weeks after gestation. This is referred often as “born sleeping”.
Thankfully stillbirth rates have reduced in recent years, but neonatal deaths have plateaued. The lifelong impact of knowing a neonatal death could have been avoided remains devastating and painful for families.
Medical negligence for neonatal death refers to when a baby has died within the first 28 days of life due to failures in medical care that fall below an acceptable standard. These failures cause or contribute to the death.
Explore birth injury claims for more information.
What Are Examples of Neonatal Death Negligence?
Not all neonatal deaths are preventable, but some are brought about by medical negligence. Examples of neonatal death caused by negligence include:
- Failure to adequately monitor the baby – negligence could involve staff failing to monitor the baby properly in hospital, such as not identifying a lack of foetal heart rate monitoring or incorrectly interpreting cardiotocography (CTG) results.
- Failure to treat group B strep - antibiotics should be given before labour, should group B strep be suspected, and a failure or delay to do so could be fatal.
- Delayed or failed resuscitation after birth – if the baby is born not breathing or with low oxygen levels, immediate resuscitation is critical. Negligence may occur if equipment is not used correctly or if there is a delay in transferring the baby to a neonatal intensive care unit.
- Inadequate infection control – infections other than Group B Strep, such as sepsis and meningitis, must be identified and treated properly. Negligence may include a delayed diagnosis of infection symptoms or failure to administer antibiotics when needed.
- Poor delivery management – Labour may lead to oxygen deprivation (hypoxia) if medical professionals do not act quickly enough when signs of distress appear or fail to perform a timely C-section.
Neonatal Death Compensation Claims Process
We know that making a neonatal death compensation claim can be difficult, but we’re here to talk whenever you’re ready to. Our team of friendly medical lawyers will help you identify your eligibility. You may be able to make a neonatal death claim if your medical professional:
- Failed to identify and treat pregnancy complications, such as infections
- Made errors or delays during delivery
- Did not communicate risks or abnormalities, which may have influenced your pregnancy decisions
- Provided inadequate postnatal care
- Made medication or dosing errors
- Mismanaged a high-risk pregnancy
- Failed to refer you or your baby to specialist care
Once you know you are eligible, you can submit a neonatal death claim to us. We can offer you a free, no-obligation consultation, where we will have a conversation about the following:
- Whether you have a valid neonatal compensation claim
- The extent of your suffering as a result of neonatal death negligence
- Any necessary details and documentation our solicitors require
- How our team will manage your neonatal death negligence claim
- The compensation you could attain
After the consultation, we will start to gather the documentation we need to support your case. We know that going through the claims process can be challenging, so please get in contact with us to discuss your situation further.
Browse our case studies in this area to see how we handle the process for our clients.
Talk to Us about Your Neonatal Death Compensation Claim Today
At Medical Solicitors, we understand that grieving such a loss is an indescribably emotional and vulnerable time; our experts are compassionate and will help you make sense of the process, leading you every step of the way.
If you think you have been affected by neonatal death negligence, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with our professional team today. We can talk you through the claims process and help you get your neonatal death claim started. Most of our claims are conducted under conditional fee agreements, so you have nothing to lose by reaching out to us and don’t have to worry about how you will fund a claim.
