Negligence at Lancashire hospital caused boy permanent brain damage, court rules

An 11-year-old boy suffered permanent brain damage after birth because of negligence by hospital midwives who then fabricated notes, a high court judge has ruled.

Jayden Astley’s challenges in life include deafness, motor impairments, cognitive difficulties and behavioural difficulties, his lawyers said.

After a five-day trial at the high court in Liverpool, Mr Justice Spencer ruled that staff at the Royal Preston hospital in Lancashire were negligent in their treatment of Jayden in 2012.

The brain injury was caused by prolonged umbilical cord compression that resulted in acute profound hypoxia – lack of oxygen – sustained during the management of the birth, the court found.

Midwives failed to accurately monitor Jayden’s heart rate when he was born and failed to identify his bradycardic, or slow, heart rate during delivery. The judge also found that some entries in notes were fabricated.

In his judgment Spencer said it was agreed that all permanent damage to Jayden’s brain would have been avoided if he had been delivered three minutes earlier.

Read full story

Source: The Guardian, 2 August 2023