HIGH COURT – GRANT FROM STREATHAM SUING WEST LAMBE
HIGH COURT – GRANT FROM STREATHAM SUING WEST LAMBETH HEALTH AUTHORITY
AFTER ONE OF HER TWINS WAS STILLBORN AT ST THOMAS’S HOSPITAL IN
LAMBETH.
CENTRAL NEWS, PRESS ROOM, CENTRAL CRIMINAL COURT, OLD BAILEY, LONDON
EC4.
TEL 01 236 0116/5777
HIGH COURT/AH
JAN 11, 1988
TWIN 1
A YOUNG MOTHER EXPECTING TWINS IS SUING THE WEST LAMBETH HEALTH
AUTHORITY AFTER ONE BABY WAS STILLBORN.
MONICA GRANT, 32, GAVE BIRTH TO TWINS IN ST THOMAS’S
HOSPITAL, LAMBETH, ON DECEMBER 6, 1980.
THE FIRST BABY WAS STILLBORN, THE SECOND JUSTIN IS NOW SEVEN,
THE HIGH COURT IN LONDON HEARD TODAY TUESDAY.
BUT BOTH COULD HAVE BEEN BORN ALIVE IF HOSPITAL STAFF HAD
OBSERVED CERTAIN SIGNS AND INDUCED THE BIRTH, SAID MISS GRANT’S
COUNSEL, MR MARK STRACHAN, QC.
HE ADDED DEPRESSION CAUSED BY THE STILLBIRTH HAS SINCE AFFECTED
MISS GRANT’S LIFE, BREAKING UP HER LONG-TERM RELATIONSHIP WITH HER
CHILDREN’S FATHER AND HARMING HER EMPLOYMENT PROSPECTS.
THE COURT HEARD MISS GRANT, THEN 25, HAD BEEN IN A HIGH RISK
CATEGORY DURING PREGNANCY AND NEEDED TO BE LOOKED AFTER WITH
PARTICULAR CARE.
HE SAID MISS GRANT, WHO WAS A CASHIER AT AUSTIN REED IN REGENT
STREET, FELL PREGNANT IN APRIL, 1980.
AS WITH HER OTHER CHILD, IT WAS A PLANNED PREGNANCY.
IN JULY, SHE FOUND OUT SHE WAS EXPECTING TWINS.
THE BIRTH WAS EXPECTED AT THE END OF DECEMBER BUT SHE WAS
ADMITTED TO ST THOMAS’S ON NOVEMBER 19 SUFFERING WEAK CONTRACTIONS.
SHE DID NOT GIVE BIRTH THEN NOR ON NOVEMBER 27 WHEN SHE WAS
AGAIN ADMITTED TO THE LABOUR WARD.
SHE WAS SUFFERING FROM HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE AND SWOLLEN LEGS AND
INDUCTION WAS CONSIDERED BUT NOT CARRIED OUT BY STAFF, SAID COUNSEL.
EVENTUALLY MISS GRANT GAVE BIRTH NORMALLY ON DECEMBER 6.
THE
FIRST TWIN WAS STILLBORN AT 2.
15PM, THE SECOND WAS BORN ALIVE 10
MINUTES LATER.
MR STRACHAN SAID BOTH BABIES COULD HAVE BEEN BORN ALIVE UP TO
12.
15PM THAT DAY.
THE BABY DIED FROM LACK OF OXYGEN DUE TO PLACENTA PROBLEMS.
HE SAID MISS GRANT WAS IN A HIGH RISK CATEGORY FOR SEVERAL
REASONS:
– SHE HAD HAD THREE TERMINATIONS FOR UNWANTED PREGNANCIES
PREVIOUSLY,
– LABOUR HAD BEEN INDUCED WHEN HER SON JULIAN, WAS BORN IN JULY,
1975, AND HE HAD BEEN SMALLER THAN EXPECTED,
– A WOMAN EXPECTING TWINS WAS MORE VULNERABLE ANYWAY,
– AND HER ECONOMIC CIRCUMSTANCES, BEING UNMARRIED AND A MEMBER
OF AN ETHNIC MINORITY ALL INCREASED THE RISK.
MR STRACHAN SAID HOSPITAL STAFF WERE NEGLIGENT FOR FAILING TO
INDUCE THE BIRTH BEFORE DECEMBER 6.
HE ALSO CLAIMED THERE WERE
INDICATIONS OF PROBLEMS WITH THE PLACENTA AND THAT STAFF FAILED TO
CARRY OUT CERTAIN CHECKS.
MISS GRANT WAS ALSO TREATED CALLOUSLY BY AN OBSTETRICIAN, SAID
COUNSEL.
THE DOCTOR TOLD HER: ‘WELL, YOU HAVE ONE HEALTHY ONE AT
LEAST,’ ADDING: ‘YOU CAN ALWAYS HAVE ANOTHER ONE, CAN’T YOU’.
MISS GRANT, OF 6 CHAMBERS HOUSE, PRINGLE GARDENS, STREATHAM,
SOUTH LONDON, CONTINUED TO HAVE SWOLLEN LEGS AND HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE
FOR THREE WEEKS AFTER THE BIRTH AND PLUNGED INTO DEPRESSION WHEN SHE
WENT TO POST NATAL IN JANUARY, 1981.
THAT HAS CONTINUED EVER SINCE.
SHE RETURNED TO HER JOB IN JUNE,
1981, BUT LEFT AFTER FOUR DAYS BECAUSE OF HER DEPRESSION AND IT
CONTINUES TO IMPAIR HER EMPLOYMENT PROSPECTS.
SHE WAS OVER-PROTECTIVE OF HER OTHER CHILDREN, JULIAN, NOW 12,
AND JUSTIN, NOW SEVEN, SAID COUNSEL.
HER 15 YEAR RELATIONSHIP WITH THE CHILDREN’S FATHER, EDMUND
ATKINSON, CAME TO AN END IN JULY, 1984, BECAUSE OF MISS GRANT’S
CONTINUED DEPRESSION.
AFTER COMING OUT OF HOSPITAL, SHE LOST INTEREST IN HIM, IN SEX
AND GOT MORE AND MORE OBSESSED ABOUT THE DEATH OF JUSTIN’S TWIN.
RECENTLY, MISS GRANT HAS BEEN SEEING A PSYCHIATRIST WHO HAS PUT
HER ON A COURSE OF PSYCHOTHERAPY AND NIGHTLY TRANQUILISERS.
SHE HAS DIFFICULTY CONCENTRATING, HAS LOST HER SELF CONFIDENCE
AND IS PRONE TO EPISODES OF GRIEF, THE COURT HEARD.
MISS GRANT IS SUING THE WEST LAMBETH HEALTH AUTHORITY FOR
DAMAGES PLUS INTEREST.
THE AUTHORITY DENIES NEGLIGENCE.
THE HEARING BEFORE MR JUSTICE JOHN LEONARD, EXPECTED TO LAST
THREE TO FIVE DAYS, CONTINUES.
ENDS
