to think this story cannot be true? Non English speaking mother did not know how to feed her baby causing brain damage, as the NHS did not provide a translator.

[WannaBeWonderWoman]

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5612889/Sri-Lankan-refugee-couple-set-multi-million-pound-NHS-payout.html

and if it is there must be something missing?

If there's not, this country has gone mad!

Language barrier aside, the midwives should be able to spot a hungry and unhappy baby a mile off! I know they’re stretched, but blimey, he must have been screaming his head off!

^ in hospital

Poor wee baby.

She was 21. It was her first baby. She spoke almost no English. According to the article (admittedly from the Fail) she had concerns, but either could not voice them or was ignored. The judge ruled that the instruction she got was inappropriate and inadequate for her needs.

Poor woman, poor child (now 8).

I wonder if this is to do with breastfeeding dogma. I have heard of other babies being starved in that context.

I agree. Did no one at the hospital notice she wasn't feeding the baby?

From the sounds of it they just ignored her when she tried to flag for help and that's why they're in trouble, not because they didn't speak her language as such.

Loads of women have problems with breastfeeding. Poor family.

Surely you don’t get cerebral palsy from malnutrition?!?

Also, regardless of where you’re from, you know babies drink milk. Maybe it’s something like her milk didn’t come in and this wasn’t spotted.

Or maybe the mother had learning difficulties or something and needed more support which was no given.

The facts we have been given don’t make sense.

I work in hospitals and nope, they only have to provide a translator during a C-section. Not during a normal birth or for aftercare or the hospital stay. Many times there are parents who don't understand a word I say to them but there's nothing I can do.

Gone mad in the sense we let down a vulnerable refugee who tried to access help for her baby and was ignored?

Or gone mad in how dare a vulnerable refugee expect anything from the country when she can’t even be bothered to learn English and why are we giving her money for her brain damaged child - it’s pc gone mad type of thing?

Not clear from your post.

I thought the same when I read about it to, it doesn't make sense that they wouldn't have used an interpreter

Wizzy- I think it is less to do with the mother not knowing that a baby needs food (which I assume she DID know), and more to do with breastfeeding (again, an assumption) and not being shown how to do it properly.

Really? I thought the NHS spent tens of millions on translators.

I even rang NHS direct once to get an emergency dentist for a Latvian flatmate and they provided an interpreter on the phone.

When did this change?

Not sure if I believe this.......

From the article ...

"Her attempts to draw attention to her concern in this regard were effectively ignored. ... The hospital's midwifery team should have contacted the NHS 'language line' for help, or called for an interpreter."

Terrified young mum, ignored by staff, who could have called for help and didn't. And people blame her for not learning the language of a country she'd ended up in.

Would you like more suitable papers?

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/04/13/sri-lankan-wins-lawsuit-against-nhs-midwives-fail-explain-needed/

When the community midwife visited the family at home after the birth, Nilujan was pale and lethargic, having not been fed for more than 15 hours.

His hypoglycemic state resulted in catastrophic brain injuries. Nilujan, now eight, has cerebral palsy with severely impaired physical and cognitive function.

On Friday in London, Judge McKenna ruled that Barking, Havering and Redbridge NHS Foundation Trust was liable.
He ruled midwives failed to hire an interpreter to tell her to feed her baby and the eight-year-old is now in line for multi-million-pound NHS compensation because midwives were negligent in failing to tackle the language barrier.
Judge McKenna said medics at King George's Hospital ended up "effectively ignoring" Sinthiya Rajatheepan's concerns about her crying baby.

Because she only knew a few basic words of English, she was never given proper instructions about how to feed her son.
The mother and baby were discharged home too early and, due to poor feeding, Nilujan suffered irreversible brain damage, the judge added.

I don't understand why you think this is so unlikely...?

You hear enough stories about parents who do speak English as a first language struggling to get overworked and under-resources medical personnel to take their concerns about their babies seriously and give them the attention they need. Now imagine trying that with a language barrier?

The NHS has a duty of care to people in this country and in this case they failed to discharge that duty. They didn't provide desperate and struggling new parents with a translator and they didn't spot that a new baby was starving and in distress.

As a result of that, this baby will need serious and extensive care his whole life. The payout from the NHS (who have insurance for this purpose) will help offset this.

So what exactly is your problem...?

My first baby (early) did not feed for at least first 24 hours of life. I did not know they had to (totally unprepared in many ways) and thought he might latch on when he woke up a bit more. Was left totally alone. When new shift came on, MW was horrified that he had not yet fed, he wouldn't bottle either and had to be tube fed. He became severely jaundiced which could have caused brain damage if not addressed. Wonder if something similar happened here.

The payout is the same as any other birth injury due to negligence leading to life long care requirements and reflects the amount needed to take care of him

I think its ironically hilarious that there is a widely reported court case and yet the sofa dwellers 'don't believe it'.

These threads are always designed to be anti immigrant/refugee in a 'ooh look what they scammed' sort of way. It's always so distasteful the way its dressed up as pseudo concern

what a sad story but I am not at all surprised
anyone blaming this mother should put themselves in the position of a 21 year old in an alien culture with no ability to communicate whatsoever. There are enough threads on here, god knows, showing that even without language and cultural barriers mothers struggle to feed their babies. It's not a bf/ff issue, however she chose to feed she had the right to information on how to feed the baby in a form she understood. There are too many HCPs who think that speaking loudly and waving your hands around constitutes acceptable communication with someone who does not speak English. I hope this case gets plenty of publicity so trusts realise that neglecting people's communication needs can be as damaging and expensive as any other failure of care.

What would have happened if she was still in Somalia? Surely it is mothers instinct to feed their baby, regardless of language barriers

I don’t see how it’s up to the NHS to provide interpreters, surely it should be the responsibility of the patient to bring a relative or friend who can speak English.

If she got discharged too early I can see how things could have been missed. It's baffling that someone wouldn't know that babies need feeding, I can only assume she tried to feed but she had no milk?

Do you not thi k the courts know more about it than you?