Loraine v Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Court of Appeal - Queen's Bench Division, July 18, 2008, [2008] EWHC 1565 (QB)
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Loraine v Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Court of Appeal - Queen's Bench Division, July 18, 2008, [2008] EWHC 1565 (QB)
Neutral Citation Number: [2008] EWHC 1565 (QB) (Admin)Case No: 6MA90744IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICEQUEEN'S BENCH DIVISIONLIVERPOOL DISTRICT REGISTRYRoyal Courts of JusticeStrand, London, WC2A 2LLDate: 18th July 2008Before :THE HONOURABLE MR JUSTICE PLENDER- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -Between :- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -David Allan QC and Richard Pearce (instructed by Thompsons of Newcastle) for the ClaimantMiss Margaret Bowron QC (instructed by Mr Richard Watson) for the DefendantHearing dates: 06 - 09 May, 2008- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -Judgment : The Hon. Mr Justice Plender1. The Claimant was born on 22nd August 2000. He suffers from cerebral palsy, manifested in spastic quadriplegia, general developmental delay, visual impairment and gastro-oesophageal reflux, this being the consequence of foetal asphyxia that he sustained when his mother suffered a profound placental abruption shortly before his birth. In this action he claims damages from the Defendant, which is responsible for the provision of medical services at Arrowe Park Hospital.2. The question of labour management raised by this case may be of interest to hospital administrators. The question of causation may be of interest to lawyers.The Facts3. On 21st August 2000 the Claimant's mother, Pauline Loraine, was in the thirty-eighth week of her fifth pregnancy. She and her husband went to sleep shortly before midnight. At about 02.45 on the following morning she woke up and felt a gush of liquid on her legs. On pulling back the blankets she saw a substantial quantity of liquid blood as well as some clots of blood. She felt weak and faint. She saw in the mirror that her skin appeared grey. Her husband ran downstairs to telephone for an ambulance. Shortly after 0300 an ambulance arrived. Mrs Loraine was placed on a stretcher and driven to the Arrowe Park Hospital. On the way the ambulance crew administered intravenous fluid to replace her loss of blood. At 03.35 AM she was seen in the labour ward at the hospital where the Claimant was born by emergency caesarean operation at 03.58. He was in poor condition. The Defendant admits that if he had been born before 03.38 he would have been uninjured. After the caesarean section, Mrs Loraine was found to have a cervical fibroid measuring 6 cm by 6 cm and a retroplacental clot (ie: a clot behind the placenta).4. This was by no means Mrs Loraine's first visit to the maternity unit at the Arrowe Park Hospital. 5. Her first child was born there on 17th May 1989, after a relatively uncomplicated labour augmented by Syntocinon. Labour was followed by a suspected puerperal infection, treated by amoxicillin and metronidazole. 6. Her second child as born at the Arrowe Park Hospital o...See the full content of this document
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