How Much Compensation For A Retained Placenta Could I Receive?

How much compensation for a retained placenta could you get if you made a successful medical negligence claim? Prior to, during, and after giving birth, you expect to be provided with the correct standard of medical care. But what happens if the care you receive falls below this standard?

In this guide, we’ll explore everything that you need to know about making a claim for a retained placenta. First, we’ll talk about the potential different forms of compensation you could get if your claim succeeds. Then, we’ll talk about the criteria that your case needs to meet in order to be considered valid.

There are many important steps within the medical negligence claims process, and one of the most important is collecting evidence. We’ll talk about the different kinds of evidence that you could collect to strengthen your claim and how working with a solicitor could make this step easier.

Finally, our guide will cover how a solicitor from our panel could help you make a claim for medical negligence. We understand that this process might seem complex and overwhelming, but we are here to help.

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Our team of friendly advisors can answer any questions you may have about the claims process, and may be able to connect you to an expert solicitor from our panel. Get started today by:

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Browse Our Guide

  1. How Much Compensation For A Retained Placenta?
  2. Can You Claim Compensation For A Retained Placenta?
  3. What Evidence Can Help In Retained Placenta Negligence Claims?
  4. Is There A Time Limit When Making A Claim For A Retained Placenta? 
  5. Why Claim Compensation For A Retained Placenta On A No Win No Fee Basis? 
  6. Learn More About Compensation Claims

How Much Compensation For A Retained Placenta?

So, how much compensation for a retained placenta could you receive if you make a successful claim? This can be a difficult question to answer because every claim is unique, so every payout is different.

Most medical negligence payouts are made up of two heads. The first head is called general damages, and this provides compensation for the pain and suffering you’ve endured as a result of a healthcare professional failing to provide you with the correct standard of care and treatment.

This includes both physical and psychological injuries, as well as loss of amenity. For example, if you suffer severe post-traumatic distress disorder, then you may be unable to enjoy previous hobbies or bonding with your baby. This would fall under loss of amenity.

When professionals value this head of claim, they may refer to the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG). The JCG can be helpful because it contains guideline compensation amounts for various types of harm, which aren’t guaranteed but can give you an idea of what you could receive.

We have listed some of these in the table below, aside from the first entry.

InjuryCompensationNotes
Severe harm from a retained placenta plus special damagesUp to £500,000+Severe harm and consequences caused by a retained placenta, plus lost earnings and other financial losses
Female Reproductive Injuries a)£140,210 to £207,260Infertility caused by injury or disease, causing depression, pain, and scarring.
Female Reproductive Injuries b)£52,490 to £124,620Sexual dysfunction that is likely to be permanent.
Female Reproductive Injuries d)£21,920 to £44,840Infertility in a person who has children causing no sexual dysfunction.
Scarring£9,560 to £27,740A number of scares that are noticeable, or one disfiguring scar.
Scarring£2,890 to £9,560One noticeable scar, with no cosmetic deficit.
Severe PTSD£73,050 to £122,850Permanent severe symptoms leaving no ability to function at the pre-trauma level.
Moderately Severe PTSD£28,250 to £73,050With professional help there is some chance of recovery, leading to a better prognosis than the one above.

Can I Claim For The Long-Term Financial Impacts Of Medical Negligence?

A retained placenta can have severe long-term consequences, and some of these can affect your finances. For example, an infection can mean you are unable to work for a long period of time, causing lost earnings.

Financial losses like lost earnings could be recouped under special damages, which is the second head of claim. Under special damages, you could potentially claim back the cost of:

  • Prescriptions
  • Private medical treatment
  • Counselling
  • Home adjustments
  • Travel
  • Mobility aids

To claim compensation for any of these financial losses, you must be able to provide evidence of them. This could include invoices and bank statements, for example.

To get more information on medical negligence compensation, keep reading. Or, get in touch with our team today to find out if you could make a claim.

Can You Claim Compensation For A Retained Placenta?

Now that you know how much compensation for a retained placenta you could potentially receive, let’s talk about when you could make a claim.

In order to have a valid claim, you need to be able to prove that medical negligence occurred. This means:

  • A medical professional owed you a duty of care: You’re automatically owed a duty of care by any medical professional that treats you. This means that the care they provide needs to meet a minimum standard.
  • They breached this duty: If the treatment you receive falls below this minimum standard, this could be a breach of their duty of care. For example, if your doctor knew that your placenta hadn’t been birthed but took no action to rectify this.
  • You were harmed as a result: It’s not enough for a breach to occur; you also need to be harmed. For example, if you contracted sepsis as a result of your doctor failing to ensure that all of the placenta had been delivered.

Together, this forms medical negligence. To find out if you are eligible to make a medical negligence claim, we recommend speaking to one of our friendly advisors for free.

What Injuries Can Be Caused By A Retained Placenta?

There are many different kinds of harm that can be caused by a retained placenta, including:

  • Haemorrhaging and blood loss
  • Sepsis and infection
  • Scarring
  • Infertility
  • Post-traumatic stress disorder
  • Anxiety
  • Depression

Keep reading for more information surrounding medical negligence claims. Or, get in touch with our team today to find out if you could make a claim.

What Evidence Can Help In Retained Placenta Negligence Claims?

It doesn’t matter how much compensation for a retained placenta you could receive if you don’t have enough evidence to make a claim. It’s your responsibility to prove that medical negligence occurred, which you can do with evidence like:

  • Witness contact details: If you had a birthing partner, or if anyone else was in the delivery room, a professional can take their statement at a later date.
  • Medical records: Your medical records should detail what medications you were given and what treatment you received, which can help demonstrate whether your doctor or midwife acted negligently.
  • Keeping a symptoms diary: Keeping a diary of how the harm has affected you can illustrate how severely you’ve suffered.
  • The Bolam test: In some cases, your claim might be put to a panel of professionals. They’ll review the actions of whoever treated you and form a report on whether or not they acted negligently.

If you decide to make a claim with a solicitor, they can help you gather different kinds of compelling evidence. Contact our team to find out if a solicitor from our panel could help you make a medical negligence compensation claim.

A solicitor and a client discussing a medical negligence claim.

Is There A Time Limit When Making A Claim For A Retained Placenta? 

You need to start your retained placenta negligence claim within three years. This is the time limit for medical negligence claims as per the Limitation Act 1980. Under this legislation, clinical negligence claims need to be started within three years from the date of the incident or the date you connected the harm you suffered with medical negligence (date of knowledge).

However, there are some exceptions to this rule. For example, those under the age of 18 can’t make their own claims. A litigation friend can claim for medical negligence on their behalf at any time, up until their 18th birthday. From this point on, if no claim has been made, they can pursue compensation for themselves within three years.

If the person lacks the mental capacity to manage their own case, the time limit does not apply and is frozen. In this instance, a litigation friend can claim for them at any time, and the time limit will only come into play if they recover the needed capacity.

To find out if you are within the time limit to make a retained placenta medical negligence claim, contact our team today.

Why Claim Compensation For A Retained Placenta On A No Win No Fee Basis? 

Now that you know more about how much compensation for retained placenta you could get, let’s talk about how a medical negligence solicitor from our panel could help you achieve it. Our panel of solicitors are experts in medical negligence law, and can help you:

  • Negotiate a payout that covers all of your losses
  • Communicate with the Courts and the defendant
  • Collect evidence and strengthen your claim
  • Arrange an independent medical assessment

They can do all of this and more without taking an upfront or ongoing payment for their services. This is because they do their work under a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA), which is a kind of No Win No Fee contract.

Under this kind of arrangement, you don’t need to pay for their work if the claim fails. But if it’s successful, your solicitor will be due a success fee. This is taken as a small, legally-capped percentage of your compensation.

Contact Us

If you’d like to start a medical negligence claim, get in touch with our team today. They can provide a free evaluation of your case, and may be able to put you in contact with a solicitor from our panel. Get started today by:

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Learn More About Compensation Claims

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