65,000 Euros In Compensation To A Spanish Mother Who Lost Her Unborn Child Due To Delayed Delivery

A COURT in Spain has sentenced the insurer of the Hospital HM Nuevo Belén to pay 64,407 euros to a woman who lost her child after the health centre decided to delay for a day the delivery by Caesarean section of the pregnant mother, despite the critical state of the foetus.

In the ruling, the judge considers it proven that the hospital neglected the 33-year-old woman during her pregnancy from 28 February 2016, for which compensation has been impose on the Hospital’s insurance company W.R. Berkeley Spain.

According to the verified evidence, the woman was admitted on the morning of November 23rd to the Ciudad Lineal district centre. There she was monitored for over an hour, the examination revealed a stilted progress.

The hospital then offered the pregnant woman preparations to initiate the birth because of the unfavourable signs detected.

The woman however requested a voluntary discharge to visit her gynaecologist in order to have a second opinion on the state of the foetus.

The checks carried out prior to the death indicated that the pregnancy was developing without complications.

The woman then returned to the health centre, after another examination which revealed the fetus was alive and within normal limits, the hospital decided to delay the operation by Caesarean section to the following morning.

Hours later, a pre-birth ultrasound confirmed the worst predictions: the foetus, an unborn baby boy, had died.

The parents requested compensation of 179,407 euros for damages. The court has ruled for 65,000 euros to be paid.

The incident has led to the mother needing psychiatric treatment to deal with the loss, while the father, who has been on leave from work since February 2017, needs to take antidepressants.