FAILED VASECTOMY AND FAILED STERILISATION

Wrongful Birth Claims fall into two categories. The first is failed sterilisation or failed vasectomy. The second arises where parents have not been warned, as a result of incorrect screening, that a child may be born with a specific disability and if they had been warned would have terminated the pregnancy.

Failed Sterilisation occurs when a sterilisation operation has not been successful and has resulted in an unwanted pregnancy. Wrongful birth is the term the courts use to describe a claim which arises out of the birth of a child who would not have been born without negligent treatment. If conception occurs soon after the sterilisation operation than it is likely that the operation was carried out negligently. Sometimes even when an operation is properly performed it may still fail if one of the fallopian tubes re-canalises although this normally takes about a year. It is likely that patients will have been warned about the risk of this occurrence in advance of the operation however this does not excuse a negligent operative technique.

Failed Vasectomy occurs when a male sterilisation operation has not been successful and has resulted in an unwanted pregnancy. Common grounds for negligence include the failure to advise about the need to use alternative forms of contraception for several months post-vasectomy and failure of operative technique.

Compensation can be claimed for physical and emotional pain, incapacity and distress of an unwanted pregnancy and labour, and the costs of an additional re-sterilisation or vasectomy procedure. Compensation can also be claimed following a termination. Some incidental losses and expenses relating to the child’s upbringing can be claimed and considerably more can be claimed if the child has any disability. To succeed in a claim for compensation it is necessary to prove that the treatment was negligent, and secondly that if it hadn't been the pregnancy would have been terminated.

We are an independent network of specialist solicitors and we are all members of The Law Society panel of medical negligence experts. Legal aid is available for qualifying applicants to investigate and take legal proceedings to claim compensation as a result of medical negligence. Less than 1% of solicitors in the UK are franchised by the Legal Aid Board to act on behalf of medical negligence claimants and it is important that you make the right choice of solicitor at an early stage of your failed vasectomy or failed sterilisation compensation claim. For those who do not meet the legal aid criteria it may be possible to take legal proceedings for medical negligence using the no win no fee scheme. Healthcare providers including hospitals, consultants, doctors, nurses and technicians are fully insured against medical negligence which results in wrongful birth claims and it is the insurer who will pay any compensation that is awarded.

For free advice on medical negligence compensation claims from specialist solicitors then just complete the contact form and a member of The Law Society panel of medical negligence experts will telephone you to discuss your compensation claim at no charge and with no obligation.