Ectopic Pregnancy
Negligence Claims

If you have been affected by an ectopic pregnancy misdiagnosis, we can help

Ectopic pregnancy misdiagnosis can lead to critical delays in treatment, risking life-threatening complications.

If your life, or the life of a loved one, has been affected by an ectopic pregnancy misdiagnosis, we can help. If your injuries were caused by the negligence of a doctor, nurse, midwife or other medical professional, you may be entitled to claim compensation.

You can make a No Win, No Fee compensation claim with the help and support of a specialist clinical negligence solicitor.

With over 1,000 birth and pregnancy negligence claims every year, you are not alone

NHS Resolution reported 1134 new pregnancy and birth related claims in 2022-23 (resolution.nhs.uk).

Around one in every 90 pregnancies is ectopic, according to figures published by the NHS.

Failure to detect an ectopic pregnancy in its early stages will usually lead to serious consequences. Ruptured fallopian tubes are recognised as a medical emergency and can result in potentially life-threatening internal bleeding.

If you have suffered pain and injury as a result of an ectopic pregnancy that was not diagnosed and treated in a timely manner, you may be eligible to make a medical negligence claim against the NHS Trust or private doctor or hospital responsible for the misdiagnosis.

If you decide to make an ectopic pregnancy misdiagnosis claim, your medical negligence solicitor will take you through every step of the claims process. Your solicitor will be with you until you win your claim and get the compensation you need to move forward.

Get an impartial opinion

To get impartial advice on whether you have a claim, speak to an injury claim expert on 0800 376 1001.

A brief phone consultation will tell you exactly where you stand. There is no obligation to start a claim.

How much compensation can I claim for ectopic pregnancy misdiagnosis?

Your compensation for ectopic pregnancy misdiagnosis is influenced by:

• the degree of your injury,
• the restriction caused by your injury on your daily life and employment,
• the financial costs and losses you have experienced due to your injury.

General damages are awarded for pain, suffering and loss of amenity (PSLA). Awards for general damages are set by the Judicial College (judiciary.uk) and published in their guidelines for personal injury awards.

Special damages are for financial losses and expenses you have incurred as a result of the medical negligence you suffered. In addition to paying for lost wages, special damages will cover any care costs and medical procedures you need, such as emergency surgery, psychological support and pain medication.

Read more:

A complete list of recoverable losses in a personal injury claim

How is compensation calculated if I have multiple injuries?

Average ectopic pregnancy misdiagnosis compensation payouts

The following ectopic pregnancy misdiagnosis payouts refer to the Guidelines for the Assessment of General Damages in Personal Injury Cases, 17th Edition by the Judicial College (oup.com).

These tables are used by solicitors or by the courts as a starting point when calculating your compensation.

Please note: these average figures represent general damages only, and do not include any element of special damages (e.g. lost wages).

Female reproductive injury

Am I entitled to make an ectopic pregnancy misdiagnosis claim?

You can claim for ectopic pregnancy misdiagnosis, if:

• you became ill within the last 3 years, and;
• another party was responsible, and;
• that party owed a duty of care to protect you from foreseeable risks.

Find out online if you can claim with our injury claim calculator. Or you can call 0800 376 1001 to speak to a specialist advisor. Find out in minutes if you have a claim.

How long do I have to claim ectopic pregnancy misdiagnosis compensation?

You usually have 3 years to make an ectopic pregnancy misdiagnosis claim. The timelimit starts from the date you discovered you were injured by negligent care (the date of knowledge).

How long do I have to start a claim for ectopic pregnancy misdiagnosis?

If you experience an ectopic pregnancy misdiagnosis, you have three years to start a claim from the date you first became aware of your injury, or you learned you were misdiagnosed.

Early symptoms include abdominal pain, bleeding and dizziness or fainting. If an ectopic pregnancy is missed or misdiagnosed, symptoms may only appear some months later. In such cases, the three-year countdown begins from when you first discovered the misdiagnosis.

Why you should consider starting a claim early

Dealing with the consequences of an ectopic pregnancy is challenging, and you should not feel any pressure to begin legal action until you feel ready and able to do so.

That said, medical negligence cases are often more complex than other types of injury claim, and can take longer to complete. The sooner you start your claim, the sooner your solicitor can:

• Gather necessary medical evidence
• Assess the full extent of your injury
• Secure interim payments
• Negotiate the final compensation amount

During this process, you will also be able to get answers as to why the misdiagnosis happened, and an apology for the harm the caused by the mistake.

What are the symptoms of ectopic pregnancy?

An ectopic pregnancy will give a positive result on a pregnancy test and may feel like a normal pregnancy in the early stages. However, the following symptoms are likely to be experienced between weeks 5 and 14 of an ectopic pregnancy:

• Abdominal pain, particularly on one side of the
• Abnormal bleeding
• Pain in the shoulder caused by pressure placed on the diaphragm
• Pain when emptying the bowels
• Dizziness and fainting

A patient who presents with any of these symptoms should be given blood and urine tests, a pelvic exam and an ultrasound to diagnose the condition.

Doctors are expected to be particularly vigilant when treating patients who have a history of ectopic pregnancy, as around 20 percent of women who have suffered an ectopic pregnancy will do so again during their life.

If your doctor fails to promptly diagnose your ectopic pregnancy, you may be entitled to claim compensation.

Early ectopic pregnancy diagnosis

If an ectopic pregnancy is diagnosed early enough, the pregnancy may be terminated using a drug called methotrexate. Medical termination typically delivers a better outcome for the patient as there is no need to remove the fallopian tubes and the patient's fertility is not affected in the majority of cases.

After a certain period of gestation, surgical termination is the only treatment option. Surgeons typically will endeavour remove the part of the fallopian tube where the fertilised egg is lodged and rejoin the tubes after the ends have healed, using a procedure called salpingostomy.

If the patient's health has been affected, the fallopian tube may have to be removed entirely.

Surgical termination may reduce a patient's ability to conceive. Therefore, the sooner an ectopic pregnancy is diagnosed the better the outcome for the patient both in terms of the risks of treatment and in terms of her future fertility.

You may be able to claim compensation if your fertility has been affected by late or misdiagnosis.

Making an ectopic pregnancy misdiagnosis claim

Doctors owe a duty of care to diagnose ectopic pregnancies and provide treatment in a professional and timely manner.

You may have an ectopic pregnancy misdiagnosis claim if this duty is breached and the patient suffers injury as a result. Examples include:

• Failure to diagnose the condition when symptoms are presented
• A delay in diagnosing the condition causing the women to undergo more invasive surgery than was necessary
• Misdiagnosis, for example, diagnosing a miscarriage instead of an ectopic pregnancy
• Failure to perform the correct tests
• Misinterpretation of test results such as blood tests and scans
• Surgical error such as removing the wrong fallopian tube
• Substandard post-operative monitoring and future pregnancy care.

How your solicitor proves 'breach of duty'

To make a successful claim, your injury lawyer would need to establish breach of duty on the part of the healthcare professional, also known as negligence.

Breach of duty occurs whenever a medical practitioner behaves in a manner that drops below reasonably expected standards. This will usually be decided by independent medical evidence and expert opinion concerning the facts of your case.

Ectopic pregnancy misdiagnosis and UK case law

There are a number of key UK legal cases that relate to misdiagnosis and infertility, including:

• XX v Whittington Hospital NHS Trust (2018) - The claimant in this case suffered serious complications due to a misdiagnosis, including infertility. The hospital's failure had a profound impact on the claimant's life and the court awarded significant damages in recognition of the harm the young woman suffered.

Ectopic pregnancy clinical negligence claims

Most pre-natal claims involve clinical negligence. Click the icon below to learn more about the claims process.

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Author:
Chris Salmon, Director

About the author

Chris Salmon is a co-founder and Director of Quittance Injury Claims. Chris has played key roles in the shaping and scaling of a number of legal services brands and is a regular commentator in the legal press.