Understanding birth trauma and your rights
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During Birth Trauma Awareness Week 2025, we asked an expert about your rights if you’re dealing with ongoing problems from a birth injury.
Birth doesn’t always go to plan. When things go wrong during pregnancy or labour, both parents and babies can suffer physical and psychological injuries that turn what should be a special moment into something frightening and uncertain.
Kate Waterford leads the medical negligence practice at Maliganis Edwards Johnson and specialises in helping families affected by birth trauma.
With birth trauma cases growing and studies showing one in three Australian women experience some form of trauma during birth, we asked Kate about legal options when birth outcomes don’t meet expectations.
What is birth trauma?
Birth Trauma Australia defines birth trauma as an ” experience of interactions and/or events related to childbirth that cause overwhelming distressing emotions and reactions, leading to short and/or long-term negative impacts on… health and wellbeing.”
Birth trauma covers various scenarios. Physical injuries can result from complications like oxygen deprivation, delayed caesarean sections, improper use of forceps or vacuum extraction, failure to respond quickly enough to emergency situations, or failure to properly monitor the mother or baby during labour.
Birth trauma can also refer to psychological and emotional harm experienced by parents who felt unsupported, ignored, severely distressed or mistreated during childbirth.
“While birth is often portrayed as joyful, some parents unfortunately suffer avoidable physical and psychological trauma during pregnancy or labour,” Kate explains.
“People who have experienced trauma sometimes haven’t even told their partner or friends the extent of what they’ve been through, and how it’s affected them.”
Claims for compensation
Kate has worked with numerous families dealing with birth trauma over the years. She’s handled compensation claims for individuals with various physical and psychological injuries, represented partners affected by witnessing difficult births, and assisted families who suffered the tragic loss of a child. She also represents families where infants are injured due to medical error, including cases involving cerebral palsy, brain injuries, brachial plexus injuries, and spinal cord injuries.
“Depending on the circumstances, these events can often lead to strong claims for compensation against the doctors, hospitals or other health professionals responsible for the injury,” she says.
“It’s important for parents to understand that they have options to look into poor birth outcomes. Sometimes, taking those steps can contribute to preventing what happened to them or their child from happening to others. A lot of the time, this type of case is developed as a way of holding an injustice to light, and having the family’s story heard. Families can also receive compensation to cover the losses arising from the injury or death.”
When to consider legal action
Knowing whether you can make a claim can be tricky. A difficult birth experience doesn’t automatically mean you have grounds for legal action, though Kate recommends seeking legal advice and guidance to work through it.
“I don’t always immediately know when someone comes to see me whether they have a good negligence claim, but we can talk, investigate, get input from medical experts, and piece it all together. We look over whether the hospital has provided a reasonable standard of care, and whether an independent medical expert will agree that the hospital or doctor failed to act reasonably. We focus in on whether there were any mistakes or oversights that caused the complications.”
Kate and MEJ examine the care provided by obstetricians, midwives, hospitals, and other medical professionals to determine whether there was a failure to provide duty of care. Where liability can be established against a defendant, the team works to secure compensation for the family’s injuries, disabilities and losses.
Depending on the circumstances of the case, that might include damages for pain, suffering, loss of enjoyment of life; out-of-pocket expenses like medical, rehabilitation and therapy costs; damages for loss of income or earning capacity; and ongoing care or domestic support needs. Some claims can also include other types of losses.
Do you need a birth injury lawyer?
As an individual, investigating a traumatic birth can be complex and challenging for a range of reasons. Having a knowledgeable birth injury lawyer like Kate to support and guide you through the process ensures your rights are protected, evidence is properly gathered, and your case is presented properly to meet all of the technical requirements.
From reviewing medical records and gaining the support of independent medical experts, to representing you in court if needed, Kate and MEJ work on a No Win, No Fee basis, meaning you pay for legal work when they succeed in securing compensation.
Kate and her team can review your medical records and identify lapses in care, obtain expert medical opinions to support your claim, handle all correspondence with insurers or defendants, and put together the evidence and arguments available in support of a claim for compensation.
Kate strongly encourages anyone considering a claim to seek legal advice as soon as possible to protect their rights and ensure their claim isn’t barred by statutory time limits. For most adults, the limitation periods are three years from injury, though there can be exceptions or longer periods available depending on the circumstances of the case. In cases involving children, the limitation period is usually six years, but parents should usually start the process of investigation and presentation of the claim as soon as they can..
“Anyone can experience birth-related trauma: people giving birth, their partner, or family members. It’s likely that you know someone who has experienced birth-related trauma, even if they haven’t spoken about it before,” she says.
“For too long, families have suffered in silence, but there’s power in sharing our stories and using our voices so other people don’t need to walk this journey alone.”
