Woods v Doncaster And Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust [2024] EWHC 1432 (KB) (11 June 2024)
This birth injury case relates to a claim that there was an alleged delay in delivery resulting in a permanent injury to the claimant. The negligence was alleged to have taken place between 28 Sept 1998 and 14 Oct 1998.
Comment
The case turned on its own facts and evidence (like so many clinical negligence cases). This concerned the interpretation of the CTG on 28 September 1998. The evidence was not entirely clear and was incomplete. It required detailed consideration of the available evidence in relation to a discrete issue – the CTG.
The court considered the expert evidence: “…D’s decision to let Mrs Woods go home on 28 September was not a reasonable decision….” [76]
The court considered the hypothetical facts if she had been further assessed: “…had those further investigations been performed they would have led to a decision to induce the labour on or around 29 September 1998…” [78]
The claimant proved her claim that she should have been delivered on 28 September 1998 many days before she was actually delivered. The failure to deliver her earlier resulted in a successful finding of medical negligence with compensation levels to be determined separately.
