Compensation secured after epidural error results in Erb's Pasly

Megan (name changed to protect client confidentiality) 

Megan is a young girl who sustained an Erb’s palsy injury at her birth after her mother went into cardiac arrest during labour. The cardiac arrest caused Megan to be deprived of oxygen before she was born which triggered an obstetric emergency necessitating immediate delivery of Megan. Because of this rushed emergency delivery, Megan sustained a major brachial plexus/Erb’s palsy injury to her left arm resulting in significant weakness. She required surgery on two subsequent occasions to try and rectify the injury but was still sadly left with a significant disability likely to affect and limit how she lives in the future. 

This was a complex medical negligence claim requiring careful consideration with medical experts in the fields of Obstetrics, Anaesthesia and Orthopaedic Surgery. The expert evidence was that the Hospital had been negligent in inserting an epidural into Megan’s mother and had further failed to recognise the epidural had been incorrectly inserted which caused the cardiac arrest. The Obstetric medical expert said that if this mistake had not happened, Megan would not have been delivered in an emergency situation and, therefore, would not have sustained a serious Erb’s palsy injury. The Hospital initially defended the claim, but with perseverance and hard work we were able to succeed with the claim and obtain significant compensation for Megan for the lifelong Erb’s Palsy injury to her left arm.