Sydney’s Northern Beaches hospital has settled outside court with a family after claims their baby was born by emergency caesarean at 25 weeks and left with lifelong disabilities.
Court documents seen by Guardian Australia reveal the baby’s mother presented to the hospital’s birthing unit in 2022, complaining of lower abdominal pain on her right side. The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, says she was sent home without being given an ultrasound or undergoing any further investigation.
When she presented to the hospital again two days later with worse symptoms, an MRI revealed she had acute appendicitis. During surgery to remove the appendix, it was found to be perforated and had a gangrenous tip, with free pus also found in the woman’s pelvis.
She was discharged from the hospital after three days without being provided with oral antibiotics, according to her claim. Also, she did not undergo CRP testing, which can detect signs of inflammation or infection, and was not assessed by the obstetrics and gynaecology registrar before her discharge.
Less than a week later she presented again at the hospital feeling feverish and experiencing pain in her right flank, and suffering from diarrhoea and nausea.
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She was transferred to Royal North Shore hospital, where she was diagnosed with sepsis and chorioamnionitis, an infection of the placenta and the amniotic fluid, and underwent an emergency caesarean.
An amended statement of claim filed for the child on 20 June this year, with the mother acting in his place, alleged Northern Beaches hospital breached the duty of care it owed the child by failing to take 22 precautions.
Those included failing to diagnose the mother with appendicitis on the day she first presented to the hospital and failing to perform the surgery to remove the appendix immediately.
After the surgery, the precautions taken should have included performing blood tests, white blood cell count, CRP testing, an assessment by the surgical team, an ultrasound examination and an MRI investigation, the statement of claim alleged.
The documents alleged the mother should not have been discharged when she was, as the hospital should have considered her perforated appendix, its gangrenous tip and the free pus and checked her inflammatory markers.
She should also have been provided with antibiotics on discharge, the statement of claim alleged.
The hospital’s failure to take those precautions caused or materially contributed to the child suffering injuries, including the consequences of being born significantly prematurely, and general bodily trauma and shock, the statement of claim alleged.
A statement of particulars filed on 24 May 2024 gave further details of the consequences of the alleged medical negligence on the part of the hospital.
The document outlined claims that the child had experienced “continuing disabilities” and “loss of enjoyment of life”, including continuing restriction on the enjoyment of and participation in normal social and recreational activities such as socialising with friends and family, domestic activities and recreational travel.
The district court declined to allow access to the hospital’s defence to the statement of claim.
The statement calculated the expenses the family would have for medications and doctors’ visits for the rest of the child’s life.
The documents also alleged the child had “suffered a general diminishment in [his] ability to earn income and … is no longer able to compete evenly on the open labour market … in the future”.
On 31 July the parties agreed to settle the matter, with the Northern Beaches hospital to pay a sum without admission of liability. The family requested that the amount not be made public.
Northern Beaches is the only hospital in New South Wales where public services are provided by a private company, Healthscope, under a complex contract.
After years of mounting debt and a string of complaints about care standards – including the death of two-year-old Joe Massa and a woman whose baby died in childbirth because an emergency caesarean was offered too late – the hospital went into receivership in May. The NSW government is trying to buy it.
NSW Health referred a request for comment on the baby’s case to Healthscope.
A Healthscope spokesperson said: “We reached an amicable resolution with the family which was approved by the court. Out of respect for the family, we will not be providing further comment on this matter.
“While adverse incidents happen at all hospitals, the team at Northern Beaches hospital (NBH) has been subjected to intense scrutiny and speculation. The fact is the hospital treats over 80,000 patients every year and the vast majority receive outstanding care,” the spokesperson said.
“Indeed, the recently published Clinical Excellence Commission (CEC) report on Northern Beaches hospital noted that the hospital is ‘staffed by a committed and professional workforce with a shared focus on delivering safe, high-quality care.’ The CEC also found that the level of serious incidents at the NBH (Harm Score 1) is broadly comparable to its peer hospitals.”
Lawyers for the family said they declined to comment.
