Psychiatric injury claims and pregnancy: RE (a minor) and others v Calderdale & Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust [2017] EWHC 824

Lindsey, J. (2018) Psychiatric injury claims and pregnancy: RE (a minor) and others v Calderdale & Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust [2017] EWHC 824. Medical Law Review, 26 (1). pp. 117-124. ISSN 0967-0742 doi: 10.1093/medlaw/fwx041

Abstract/Summary

RE and others concerned a clinical negligence claim against the Defendant NHS Trust by a baby injured during childbirth, as well by her mother and grandmother for psychiatric injury found to have been caused by those events. This commentary focuses on the claim for psychiatric injury by the mother and grandmother, both of which succeeded on the basis that the childbirth was a sufficiently shocking and horrifying event. This commentary urges caution about this development based on how it represents law’s view of childbirth and the growth of claims that might result from any expansion of liability in this area.