This website is intended for healthcare professionals
This website is intended for healthcare professionals
Senior lecturer, Mother and Infant Research Unit, University of Dundee
A recent High Court case has highlighted for midwives the importance of obtaining and confirming valid consent Mordel v Royal Berkshire NHS centred on what information had been provided and understood...
In this column I have discussed legal cases presented to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) that are concerned with whether having a home birth can be considered a human right (Symon, 2018) The...
A recent court case in London (PXW v Kingston Hospital) heard that a baby was born with cerebral palsy, allegedly because of a midwife's negligence when assessing the mother in the maternity...
A previous article in this series recounted a court case (RE and others v Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust [2017]) in which a mother successfully sued for damages because she had...
While home birth is supported as an option in the UK, in Croatia those who assist with home birth face possible criminal prosecution for ‘quackery’. Andrew Symon explains
Previous articles in this series (Symon 2010; 2012) have noted how women in some other countries, even within the European Union, do not enjoy the same legal rights and protections as women in the UK...
Many of the legal cases discussed in this column relate to circumstances surrounding the birth Less usual are claims focussing on postnatal issues—particularly breastfeeding—but such a claim has just...
A recent press release from a county attorney's office in Montana declared that there would be:
The prime function of the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) is to protect the public, and in the light of recent scandals about maternity care, such as the Morecambe Bay investigation (Kirkup,...
What happens when the losing side in a court case decides that it wants to appeal? It is an understandable inclination, especially after what is often years of protracted negotiation and debate;...
A recent court case heard a claim by a baby's mother and grandmother for damages relating to ‘nervous shock’ following a birth complicated by dystocia (RE and others v Calderdale, 2017) To claim such...
In November 2016 a London court heard a case concerning a 24-year-old whose capacity to consent was being challenged by an NHS Trust (Re CA [2016]) The woman, known as ‘CA’, who lived in supported...
A recent High Court case (Watts v The Secretary of State for Health [2016]) has raised a number of issues, including the reliance that can be put on a claimant's accounts of the events in question,...
Readers in England will be aware of the role of the NHS Litigation Authority (NHSLA), the body which manages litigation on behalf of the NHS in England. In Scotland, the equivalent is the Clinical...
As if midwives needed any more reminding of the importance of good documentation and effective communication, there comes another court case which shows up failings in this regard. This article...
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