We are currently having our sons birth investigated for medical negligence. We have just had the first report back and the first professional instructed has said that in his opinion, there was enough evidence to suggest that my son should have been delivered 2 1/2 hrs earlier than he was. He said there was 90mins of evidence on scans and traces that should have alerted them to deliver him. .
My reason for posting, I don't want to become bitter or angry, but it is quite difficult, especially now knowing this was preventable. Has anyone else been down this road and how did you feel? At the moment I can honestly say I don't know how to feel about the new information and I don't feel any anger towards the doctor who made the decision not to deliver him. BUT it does weigh on my mind the 'what if' even more. We all feel the 'what if', my daughter has eplilepsy and I feel that for her too. But I keep playing my sons birth all over in my head, if they knew the consequences why did they wait??
Maybe you can't say much, we are keeping our case a secret from those around us as we feel people would not support our decision, so this is a great place to vent feelings.
Thank you for reading.
Maria.

(01-03-2012 07:55 PM)MariaH Wrote:  We are currently having our sons birth investigated for medical negligence. We have just had the first report back and the first professional instructed has said that in his opinion, there was enough evidence to suggest that my son should have been delivered 2 1/2 hrs earlier than he was. He said there was 90mins of evidence on scans and traces that should have alerted them to deliver him. .
My reason for posting, I don't want to become bitter or angry, but it is quite difficult, especially now knowing this was preventable. Has anyone else been down this road and how did you feel? At the moment I can honestly say I don't know how to feel about the new information and I don't feel any anger towards the doctor who made the decision not to deliver him. BUT it does weigh on my mind the 'what if' even more. We all feel the 'what if', my daughter has eplilepsy and I feel that for her too. But I keep playing my sons birth all over in my head, if they knew the consequences why did they wait??
Maybe you can't say much, we are keeping our case a secret from those around us as we feel people would not support our decision, so this is a great place to vent feelings.
Thank you for reading.
Maria.

HI Maria
I started my sons case when he was 3mths old and got last report in, in oct 2011. We now have a conference with barrister in london on tues.
Its been such a mixture of feelings throughout and i just want it over one way or another now.
Its going to be a long fight and i offer you lots of support and my thought s are with you.
josie x

We are aware that Euans birth has caused medical problems and we have considered this route a few times but always worry that the doctors would look to cover things up.
In terms of the evidence where do you think you are?

OK, in our evidence, the solicitor has done it all. Firstly she took a statement from me and then got the report from the doctor who said that my son was kept inside too long and his life was compromised by that. He won't say in the letter whether our sons CP was caused by the prolonged birth, but our solicitor has instructed other professionals, including an expert who can pinpoint the time at which the brain damage occured for this.
Daniel - what makes you think his birth was a factor in his medical problems? Doctors can no longer cover things, everything must be written down and catalogued for accountability and if its not then its negligent. As far as I know the doctors don't know we're investigating Sammys birth. The solicitor calls for their records from that dept and a caopy is sent. You as a parent have that right, but I think it costs. If you proceed with a minor then legal aid pays. We were worried they'd treat us differently or badly but so far - nothing. They don't even talk to the docotrs involved about the incidents.
I would say go for it, its helped me to put alot of ghosts to bed and to deal with the anger and emotions of knowing someone did this - not on purpose - but their actions had bad consequences and we're left here with that now. (as it seems at this stage in the game.) Even just speaking to a solicitor, they'll know if its negligence and they (for obvious reasons) will be more than happy to help!
Josie - how did it go? What was it like? Thank you for your kind words x x x

We've been thinking about this. Nobody seems to have been able to answer our questions about if things could have been done differently or not. It seems mad to me that the only way to get answers is to instruct a solicitor. In a few months we're expecting the results form genetic tests to exclude the possibility that their problems are caused by that so we'll have to decide after that.

The concerns we have are about the way people will react to us for it, at the minute we have a good relationship with the hospital for their ongoing care and regularly visit the nurses from special care who looked after them and we don't know how different thing will be if we launch a case. Also, I can't find a lot of information about how legal aid works for cases like this. If its worked out in the child's name then it would be fine, but if it is the full household income then we wouldn't be eligible and so unable to proceed.