Family sues over ‘horror’ CRH birth

THREE members of the same family are suing over the “horror and trauma” of a baby girl’s allegedly botched delivery at a maternity unit.

The seven-figure claim is being brought against the Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust by the stricken girl, her mother and her grandmother.

The family from South Yorkshire cannot be identified for legal reasons but the trust is contesting the case.

The girl, now aged five, was left with permanent brain injuries after complications developed during her delivery at the Birth Centre at Calderdale Royal Hospital, Halifax, in 2011.

Her lawyers claim she was catastrophically starved of oxygen during the final stages of delivery when her shoulders became “jammed” in the birth canal.

The child was born pale and lifeless, the family’s barrister, William Featherby QC, told London’s High Court.

And her mum and grandmother looked on in horror as the crisis developed, fearing she was dead.

All three family members are now seeking compensation from the trust, claiming the delivery was mismanaged.

“Our case is that the obstetric and midwifery care fell below an acceptable standard,” said Mr Featherby.

The baby girl was unusually large and the risk that her shoulders would become stuck should have been anticipated, he claimed.

The family were “very critical of the care this mother received on the day her baby was born”, added the QC.

“Their criticisms focus particularly on the midwife who was assigned to look after the mother during her time in the unit.”

Staff at the unit should have planned more carefully for the delivery, argued the barrister, given the known size of the baby.

A doctor should have been “on standby” during the mother’s labour and should have been summoned immediately once problems emerged.

To make things worse, the midwife at one point ordered the doctors “out of the room”, the QC alleged.

The trust denies liability in the case, disputing the family’s account of events and insisting that the birth was properly managed.

The girl’s mum has spoken of her trauma at seeing her newborn daughter “flat and not breathing” and apparently lifeless.

She still suffers flashbacks and nightmares about the horrific events of that day, the court heard.

The grandmother also suffered symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder due to her harrowing “first-hand observation of the baby’s first quarter of an hour of life”, said Mr Featherby.

The hearing before Mr Justice Gross continues.