Sarah Elliott recently secured settlement of £50,000.00 on behalf of a client who suffered a epileptic seizures immediately following delivery of her baby, as a result of a failure to monitor and treat her rising blood pressure and pre-eclampsia.
Our client attended at hospital for the delivery of her baby at term + 10 days. She had had a normal pregnancy with stable blood pressure readings until 39 weeks but was advised about rising blood pressure at 39+5 and term+9. She was admitted and during the course of her admission, her blood pressure steadily rose and remained high. Oral medication was provided on two occasions in an attempt to reduce same, but the records showed that no examination or appropriate investigations were undertaken, and no intravenous infusion was commenced prior to delivery of the baby. As a result of the uncontrolled blood pressures, our client suffered from two seizures immediately following delivery. She was taken for an MRI scan and Posterior Reversible Encephalopathy Syndrome (PRES) was diagnosed.
Worthingtons Solicitors were instructed and after obtaining copies of our client’s records, an independent expert was retained who concluded that our client’s blood pressure was not treated appropriately in the intrapartum phase. He concluded that our client sustained hypertension for a prolonged period of time because of this failure. It was further found that there were two missed opportunities to start an intravenous infusion during labour which would have brought her blood pressure down to safe levels before delivery. It was further found that the Defendant Health and Social Care Trust did not appropriately record or manage our client’s urine output, blood pressure readings and neurological examinations during her admission. As a result, our client’s diagnosis of PRES with seizures was entirely avoidable.
As a result of the aforementioned incident, our client suffered with headaches, seizures, altered mental state, visual loss and the stress and anxiety of being separated from her newborn in the immediate post-delivery period. Our client was medicated for a period of 6 months on anti-epileptic medications, rendering her unable to drive and she become withdrawn from her usual every day activities as a result. In addition, it was found that our client had suffered a psychiatric reaction to the incident in question.
High Court proceedings were commenced and contested but the matter was ultimately resolved before the case progressed to hearing. Our client accepted an offer of settlement of £50,000 in damages for compensation on the avoidable injury, loss and damage suffered.
Worthingtons Solicitors have a team of Solicitors with extensive experience in handling medical negligence cases involving all aspects of medical care. If you believe that a hospital or doctor may have been negligent in providing advice or medical treatment to you which has resulted in injury, we will gladly provide advice on all aspects of medical negligence claims in Northern Ireland.
Contact Sarah Elliott at our Newtownards office on 028 9181 1538 or Claire McDaid at our Belfast office on 028 9043 4015 for advice and guidance on this process.
028 9181 1538 
