Neonatal Injury claims.

Neonatal injury claims concern harm to babies in the first hours and days after birth — a period when well-understood conditions must be watched for and treated promptly, because the newborn brain is exquisitely vulnerable.

Neonatal hypoglycaemia (low blood sugar) is a leading example. At-risk babies — premature, small, unusually large (large size can signal undiagnosed maternal diabetes), or born to diabetic mothers — should have their feeding supported and blood sugar monitored. Untreated hypoglycaemia starves the brain of fuel and causes permanent brain injury; the warning signs (jitteriness, poor feeding, drowsiness, abnormal cry) are on every postnatal checklist. Claims arise when monitoring or escalation simply did not happen.

Other recurring failings include inadequate resuscitation at delivery — delays or errors in establishing breathing and oxygenation causing hypoxic brain injury; failure to prevent or treat early-onset Group B Streptococcus infection, where maternal risk factors called for antibiotics in labour or observation of the baby; and failure to recognise and treat severe jaundice, where bilirubin levels rise unchecked and cause kernicterus — a devastating and almost entirely preventable form of brain damage.

Because these injuries are typically lifelong — cerebral palsy-type physical disability, cognitive impairment, epilepsy — awards are among the highest in law: routinely £1 million to £10 million-plus where 24-hour care is needed. Claims for a child can be brought at any time before their 21st birthday, and there is no time limit while the injured person lacks mental capacity.