NHS millions for mum who couldn’t speak English and wasn’t told how to feed a baby

The NhS is facing a multimillion-pound compensation bill after a migrant’s baby was left brain- damaged because she could not understand her midwives.

Sinthiya Rajatheepan, 29, was unable to speak english and was not given proper instructions on how to feed baby Nilujan, now eight, a court ruled yesterday.

Sri Lankan Mrs Rajatheepan had come to the UK as a refugee in 2008 and gave birth at King George’s hospital in London a year later, the high Court heard.

But her ‘minimal command of english’ meant she was unable to understand simple instructions or raise concerns about her baby’s crying.

She was discharged on July 16, 2009, having undergone a normal caesarean. But a community midwife who visited her home in Ilford, east London, two days later found that Nilujan was ‘pale and lethargic.’

The baby had depleted energy reserves as a result of not being fed for 12 to 15 hours, the court heard. he was rushed to hospital where he suffered seizures. The ordeal left him with cerebral palsy and lifelong physical and mental disabilities.

Now, the high Court has ruled that Nilujan should receive millions in compensation from the NhS because midwives should have used an interpreter to communicate the importance of proper feeding techniques.

Mrs Rajatheepan was timid and tended to ‘simply smile’ when she caught the eye of midwives on the busy maternity ward, the court heard.

Midwives were adamant that they were used to patients with language difficulties and had properly instructed Mrs Rajatheepan about how to feed her baby. But Judge Martin McKenna said: ‘ The overwhelming weight of the evidence is that Mrs Rajatheepan had very little ability with the english language.

‘She was certainly unable to understand anything but the simplest of instructions and only then when accompanied with appropriate hand gestures.’

he added: ‘The sad reality is that Mrs Rajatheepan did not, in fact, ever get any instruction on how to feed properly. Still less did she receive any instruction on what to look out for and what to do if feeding was unsuccessful.’

The judge said that because of the language barrier, she ‘ did not and could not reasonably have been expected to have understood’ the advice she was given.

She was anxious that Nilujan was ‘crying continuously’, but the judge said: ‘ her attempts to draw attention to her concern in this regard were effectively ignored.’

The court heard midwives had given her false reassurance by ‘repeating the mantra that it is perfectly normal for newborn babies to cry’. In fact, they should have contacted an NhS ‘ language line’ for help, or call for an interpreter.

Judge McKenna added: ‘The reality is that no one ever in fact gave Mrs Rajatheepan a clear and understandable explanation of the importance of feeding.

‘Because of the language barrier, she had been unable to communicate her concerns to hospital staff.

‘ The end result was that Mrs Rajatheepan was discharged home too early and, had she been kept in hospital overnight, Nilujan would have escaped injury. In the circumstances, I would enter judgment in favour of the claimant with damages to be assessed.’

Nilujan’s NhS compensation award has yet to be assessed, but is likely to be a multi-million-pound sum, given the extent of his disabilities.

‘Found pale and lethargic’