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Retained Placenta Medical Negligence Compensation Guide

By Marlon Cooke. Last Updated 7th October 2024. This is our updated guide to retained placenta medical negligence compensation claims. In this guide we look at placenta left in after birth negligence claims and how to claim compensation.

A retained placenta can be a serious and potentially even life-threatening condition, due to associated haemorrhaging (serious blood loss). In most births, the placenta and the associated membranes will be delivered just after the baby. The placenta will usually be delivered or removed between five and thirty minutes after the birth of the baby. If it is not, there is a potential risk of the mother suffering haemorrhaging. However, there are instances where the full placenta or all of the membranes are not delivered and some tissue is retained in the uterus.

Whilst the condition could arise even if medical staff are carrying out their duties correctly, there is the potential for a retained placenta and haemorrhaging taking place because a doctor, nurse or midwife has made an error. They may have failed to spot retained placenta symptoms or not acted with due care and attention.

Failing to diagnose a retained placenta could be life-threatening and medical staff could be held accountable for negligence. In such cases, you could be able to make a birth negligence compensation claim against the responsible party.

You can find out more about both retained placenta medical negligence compensation and how a personal injury solicitor may be able to help you in the guide below.

A woman giving birth

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A Guide To Retained Placenta Medical Negligence Compensation

Compensation claims for medical negligence which leads to a retained placenta are a type of birth injury negligence claim. Such personal injury claims could be brought against either the NHS or against private medical providers.

After the birth of a baby, the placenta also must be fully delivered. This happens during the ‘third stage of labour’ where the afterbirth comes out. After delivering the child you may not notice the placenta and afterbirth being delivered, though one in fifty women will require an assisted placenta delivery. Crucially, the medical staff present should notice whether this stage of labour has or has not happened. They should also note any retained placenta symptoms.

If the placenta is not delivered soon after the birth of the child there may be the need for surgical intervention. The midwife is responsible for ensuring the complete delivery of the afterbirth. They must identify whether the placenta and membranes have been fully delivered or are ragged. They may recommend retained placenta surgery if necessary.

The responsibilities of midwives are set by the Nursing and Midwives Council. You can download their standards guide.

If either a midwife fails to identify the retention of placental tissue or surgery negligence occurs there may be grounds to make a retained placenta medical negligence compensation claim.

What Does The Placenta Do?

The placenta is an organ that is attached to the womb lining and babies umbilical cord during pregnancy. It separates the babies and mother’s blood supply whilst also linking the baby and mother. The placenta will also carry out functions which the baby can not carry out itself.

The placenta passes nutrients and oxygen from the mother to the baby’s blood supply through the umbilical cord. It then also transports waste products from the baby to the mother to be disposed of. The placenta also produces different hormones allowing the baby to develop and grow. It also protects the baby from infection and bacteria (though not from viruses) by passing on antibodies from the mother. This provides immunity from the babies for the first three months. The placenta does not protect the fetus/baby from drugs, nicotine and alcohol.

What Causes A Retained Placenta?

There are three main causes or reasons why a placenta left in after birth incident may happen. These are;

  • The womb either does not contract enough to separate the placenta from the womb wall or stops contracting, leaving the placenta in the uterus after delivery.
  • The placenta does detach from the womb but is trapped by the cervix.
  • The placenta embeds itself into the womb. This is more likely to happen in cases of a retained placenta after a C-section from a previous pregnancy. In such cases, the placenta could grow through the womb wall.

Such instances are more likely to occur in cases where a baby is born prematurely. They can also happen in instances of a retained placenta after abortion and a retained placenta after miscarriage.

Can retained placenta pass naturally? It is possible that a retained placenta could be passed naturally. However, your midwife will determine the most appropriate course of action. If the medical staff failed to act, you may be able to make a retained placenta medical negligence compensation claim.

Diagnosing A Retained Placenta

How are the effects of placenta left in after birth negligence claims diagnosed? If the placenta is not delivered within certain timeframes, you could be diagnosed with having a retained placenta. Timeframes include:

  • Natural (or physiological) management of the third stage of labour: 1 hour.
  • Active management of the third stage of labour: 3 minutes.

If you initially were unsuccessful in trying natural management, your midwife may move you on to active management to pass the placenta. At this point, if active management also does not work, you may need to have a manual removal.

When delivered, your doctor or midwife can examine the placenta to check if it is intact. Your doctor should be able to determine if even a small portion of the placenta is missing from what has been delivered. Though this can sometimes be difficult to spot and could cause the person to experience negative symptoms.

If your doctor or midwife thinks that there may be tissues left in your womb they may carry out an investigation, such as performing an ultrasound. They will then recommend the appropriate course of action.

Could I Make A Retained Placenta Compensation Claim?

So, when can you claim retained placenta medical negligence compensation? First, you need to establish that medical negligence occurred. For the purposes of a retained placenta claim, medical negligence means that a medical professional owed you a duty of care, and in breaching this duty, caused you avoidable harm.

When a medical professional treats you, they immediately owe you a duty of care. Different disciplines will require different steps to meet this duty of care; for example, doctors can follow the standards and guidance provided by the General Medical Council (GMC). However, no matter what their professional field is, they need to make sure that the care they provide meets a minimum standard.

If you have been harmed as a result of substandard care from a medical professional, then you may be able to claim retained placenta compensation. Contact our team today to learn more.

Retained Placenta Medical Negligence Claim Examples

In a successful claim for retained placenta medical negligence, you could receive both general and special damages. General damages is the compensation for the pain and distress you may have suffered.

An example being, if pieces of the placenta had been left behind in a C-section, and you had suffered injuries, pain or illnesses because of the retained placenta; the surgery you then receive to correct the error is something you may be to claim for if you had found it traumatic or distressing.

The example injuries we are presenting, and the compensation listed next to them, come from the Judicial College Guidelines. These amounts are not guaranteed, as every claim is different, and the first entry in this table isn’t a JCG figure.

InjuryCompensation
Severe Harm And Special DamagesUp to £250,000+
Female Reproductive Injuries a)£140,210 to £207,260
Female Reproductive Injuries b)£52,490 to £124,620
Female Reproductive Injuries c)£68,440 to £87,070
Female Reproductive Injuries d)£21,920 to £44,840
Female Reproductive Injuries e)£8,060 to £22,800
Female Reproductive Injuries f)£4,140 to £24,930
Female Reproductive Injuries g)In the region of £12,450
Severe Psychiatric Damage£66,920 to £141,240
Moderately Severe Psychiatric Damage£23,270 to £66,920

For the financial impact of the injury, you can seek special damages. You could be able to claim compensation for your:

  • Care costs
  • Treatment costs
  • Cosmetic surgery (if required)
  • Loss of earnings (if, for example, the pain from the retained placenta after a C-section had left you unable to work)

Please reach out to one of our team for information about how much you could be able to claim.

No Win No Fee Claims For Retained Placenta Medical Negligence Compensation

Whilst there are different ways in which you could fund a claim made with a medical negligence lawyer or other solicitors. One of the most popular ways of doing so is through a No Win No Fee agreement.

If you make a No Win No Fee claim you will not have to pay your solicitor upfront fees. You will also not be asked to make any ongoing payments for their day-to-day costs incurred in the pursuit of your claim. Instead, you will pay your solicitor their fee at the successful completion of the case. This is often deducted as an agreed-upon percentage of your settlement.

You could learn more about retained placenta medical negligence compensation claims by contacting our team.

Contact A Legal Expert

Legal Expert has an experienced team of medical negligence solicitors who are experienced in helping people to make different forms of birth negligence compensation claims. Our personal injury claims team could help you to claim compensation from a doctor, hospital or a midwife who is at fault for your retained placenta injuries.

If you feel that you were harmed due to the way in which you were treated by medical professionals during your pregnancy, childbirth or third stage labour you could be able to make a medical negligence claim.

Contact us on 0800 073 8804 and discuss your retained placenta medical negligence compensation claim with our specialist team. You could also send an email to our team at info@legalexpert.co.uk. Alternatively, you can see if you have a claim online by filling out the form on our website. If you’re able to make a No Win No Fee claim, you will be referred to one of our medical negligence solicitors. They will be able to provide you with further confidential help and advice and may be able to use a personal injury claims calculator to assess how much compensation you are owed.

Medical Resources And Claims Guides

In order to produce this article, we have used some of the reference materials below, as well as those which we have linked to in the article above. You can find out more about retained placenta from the NHS, and retained placenta management in these resources.

We hope our guide to placenta left in after birth negligence claims has helped you.