Sally and John Pattison went to hospital expecting their first child. Sally's bump was quite large, but she had been monitored regularly and had no reason to believe there would be any problems with the birth.
Sally was in labour for 13 hours. Towards the end of the labour it became apparent that the baby was stuck. Amy was delivered using forceps, weighing in at 12lbs.
Amy sustained severe brain damage during the birth. Three days later her parents made the agonising decision to turn off her life-support machine.
Sally and John remember Sally's body being lifted from the bed, such was the force used by the surgeon with the forceps. However, the Surgeon recorded no difficulty in getting the baby out in the medical notes. The hospital told the Pattisons that Amy must have been brain damaged before she was delivered, but the post-mortem showed that Amy was completely healthy right up to when she was delivered.
There are currently no guidelines for hospitals to follow when babies are unduly large or small. The Pattisons are calling for national guidelines to be laid down governing hospital practice when a baby is particularly small or large.
Specialist clinical negligence solicitor Muiris Lyons is representing the Pattisons in their legal claim against the hospital.
Their story has been featured in The Independent, and they appeared this week on BBC's London Tonight to highlight their case.
BackRelated news stories
- 11/08/2006: Maternity failings at Royal Cornwall Hospital result in baby death
- 05/04/2005: Calls for new guidelines to monitor size of babies in womb
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