Birth trauma isn’t always physical, and the law is catching up
When we talk about birth trauma, the conversation often centres on physical injuries, like tears, complications and emergency surgeries. These are real and serious, but birth trauma can also be psychological, and its impact just as profound.
Mental health injury following childbirth is increasingly recognised, both clinically and legally. And even though the ACT has great facilities for expectant Canberrans, mistakes are made and there have been instances of negligence that have led to psychological trauma.
If your birth experience left you with lasting emotional harm, you may have more options than you realise.
What is psychological birth trauma?
Psychological birth trauma refers to the emotional and mental health consequences of a distressing or frightening birth experience. It doesn’t require a physical injury to be valid, and it doesn’t require the birth to have resulted in significant physical complications.
Trauma can arise from feeling out of control, unheard, or unsafe during labour and birth, regardless of whether the baby was born healthy.
Legal recognition of psychological harm during birth
Australian law recognises psychiatric injury as a legitimate head of damage (type of loss that can result in compensation) in personal injury and medical negligence claims. This means that where negligent care caused or contributed to a recognised psychiatric condition, compensation may be available for that harm, even in the absence of significant physical injury.
Compensation for psychological injury can include pain and suffering, the cost of ongoing treatment such as counselling or psychiatric care, and loss of income where the injury has affected your ability to work.
PTSD after childbirth
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) following childbirth is more common than many people realise. Symptoms can include intrusive memories or flashbacks of the birth, nightmares, avoidance of reminders, hypervigilance, and emotional numbness.
For some people, PTSD develops after an objectively traumatic event like an emergency, a loss or a serious complication. For others, it develops after an experience that others might minimise but that felt deeply frightening or violating at the time.
Both are valid. Both may require treatment and can have a significant negative impact on your life. Both can give rise to legal claims in some circumstances.
Anxiety, depression and other psychological injuries
Birth experiences can contribute to postnatal anxiety, depression, and other mental health conditions. Where these conditions are connected to negligent care, for example, where a traumatic outcome could have been avoided, or where a person was treated without dignity or proper consent, psychological harm may form part of a compensation claim.
Traumatic emergency births
Emergency situations during labour and birth, including emergency caesarean sections, sudden foetal distress, or serious complications, can be deeply frightening even when the medical team acts appropriately.
Where those emergencies arose or were worsened by failures in care, the psychological impact on the birthing parent may be something you can seek compensation for in order to manage.
You don’t have to minimise your experience
Many survivors of birth trauma are told, or tell themselves, that they should be grateful because the baby is healthy, or that what they experienced “wasn’t that bad.” That minimisation can be a barrier to seeking help, both clinically and legally.
If your birth experience caused you lasting harm, you deserve support, and you deserve to understand your legal rights.
Contact MEJ for a confidential conversation with our medical negligence team.