Birth trauma and obstetric negligence
If your birth didn’t go the way it should have, for you or your baby, these articles explain the injuries, the questions you’re allowed to ask, and when the care may have fallen short.
An overview
Birth trauma covers injuries to a mother or baby during pregnancy, labour or birth. Many birth injuries can’t be avoided, but some happen because warning signs were missed, a delivery wasn’t managed well, or a risk wasn’t explained.
Every situation is different. What matters is what happened, how it has affected you, and whether the care fell below what was reasonable. Even where an injury is less severe, you may still be able to recover costs such as treatment and lost income.
Pelvic floor, perineal and maternal injuries
Tears, prolapse, incontinence and other injuries to mothers during birth.
- Living With a Pelvic Floor Injury After Birth, and What a Claim Can Cover
- “It’s Normal After a Baby”: When Your Pelvic Floor Symptoms Are Dismissed
- Levator Avulsion: The Birth Injury No One Told You About
- Obstetric Levator Ani Avulsion: Patient Safety Risks & Medical Negligence Claims
- Prolapse After a Forceps Birth: When It Isn’t Just “Normal”
- “It’s Just Part of Having a Baby”: When a Severe Perineal Tear Wasn’t Your Fault
- “I Can’t Control Wind After Birth”: Understanding Fourth-Degree Tears and Your Rights
- Severe Pelvic Floor Damage and Incontinence After Childbirth: When It May Be Medical Negligence
- Obstetric Fistulas After Childbirth: Understanding the Injury, Medical Negligence, and the Path to Recovery
- Maternal Birth Injuries – What We Must Talk About
When your baby was injured
Brain injury, nerve injury and loss.
- “Why Won’t My Baby Move Their Arm?” Shoulder Dystocia, Erb’s Palsy and the Questions You’re Allowed to Ask
- Hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy, or HIE
- Understanding Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy (HIE) in Newborns: A Guide for Parents Considering Legal Action
- “I Told Them She’d Stopped Moving”: Stillbirth, Grief, and Wondering If It Could Have Been Prevented
- Reduced Foetal Movements Late in Pregnancy: What a Mother’s Intuition Knows
Complications in pregnancy and delivery
Warning signs that were missed and deliveries that went wrong.
- “They Said It Was Just a Headache”: Missed Pre-eclampsia and the Weight of Not Being Heard
- “I Kept Telling Them Something Was Wrong”: Postpartum Haemorrhage and When Care Falls Short
- Failed instrumental delivery during birth
- Birth–Related Trauma After Forceps or Vacuum Delivery: What Mothers Need to Know
- Misuse of Syntocinon and Medical Negligence: What Parents Need to Know
- Placenta Previa – all about the complication
- Understanding C-Section Rates, Safety & Legal Rights: A Lawyer’s Guide
- Birth Injuries and Medical Devices: What You Need to Know in Australia
Consent, stories and your options
What you should have been told, other women’s experiences, and what you can do now.
- “Why Didn’t Anyone Tell Me Forceps Could Do This?” Consent, Choice and Pelvic Floor Injury
- Emily’s Courageous Triumph: Overcoming an Unconsented Episiotomy
- Breaking the Silence: A Fight for Justice and Healing after Birth Trauma
- Birth trauma and compensation claims
- Midwife Charged Over Baby’s Death After Alleged Homebirth Complications: What It Means for the Maternity Care System