Midwifery Expert Witness Insights for Birth Injury Claims

Birth injury litigation is one of the most delicate and high-stakes areas of clinical negligence. These cases often involve catastrophic outcomes for newborns or mothers and typically hinge on whether midwifery care met the expected standards during pregnancy, labour, and delivery.

In this emotionally charged landscape, solicitors rely on the evidence of a midwifery expert witness, a senior practising midwife who can analyse clinical records, assess deviations from national guidelines, and present clear, impartial findings that hold up in court. At Apex Experts, we support legal teams across the UK by providing access to the most respected midwifery professionals, alongside a fully managed instruction process.

What Is a Midwifery Expert Witness?

A midwifery expert witness is a registered midwife with advanced clinical experience across the full maternity care pathway, including antenatal care, labour ward management, and postnatal follow-up. They are typically band 7 or 8 clinicians still in active practice and are deeply familiar with national frameworks such as:

• NICE Guidelines

• RCOG standards 

• The NMC Code 

The role of the expert is to offer an independent opinion on whether the care delivered was reasonable, evidence-based, and compliant with professional norms at the time. Their insight is essential in determining breach of duty and causation, two of the central pillars in clinical negligence law.

When Is a Midwifery Expert Witness Instructed?

Solicitors turn to midwifery experts in cases involving:

• Foetal distress mismanagement: delays in recognising decelerations or bradycardia on CTG.

• Failure to escalate: delayed or absent referral to obstetric teams in deteriorating scenarios.

• Poor CTG monitoring or interpretation: misreading of cardiotocography or gaps in continuous monitoring.

• Shoulder dystocia: delays or errors in managing this obstetric emergency.

• Postpartum haemorrhage (PPH): inadequate recognition or treatment leading to maternal harm.

• Neonatal hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy (HIE): birth-related brain injuries often linked to avoidable delays.

Cases may concern either mother or baby, and often involve analysing voluminous notes including antenatal plans, partograms, CTG traces, midwifery notes, and postnatal observations.

Legal Framework: Montgomery, Bolam and Bolitho

Midwifery expert witnesses are expected to apply three key legal standards:

• Montgomery v Lanarkshire [2015]: established that patients must be informed of material risks and alternatives, redefining consent in maternity care. Midwifery experts may assess whether risk discussions (e.g. around induction or vaginal birth after caesarean) were adequately handled.

• Bolam v Friern Hospital Management Committee [1957]: evaluates if care aligns with a responsible body of midwifery opinion.

• Bolitho v City and Hackney Health Authority [1996]: adds that the opinion relied upon must be logically defensible, not just popular or common.

Midwifery experts must not only describe what happened, but assess if what happened was appropriate, why it was or wasn’t, and what the likely outcome would have been had different actions been taken.

How Apex Experts Supports Solicitors

We understand that birth injury claims demand exceptional attention to detail, clinical understanding, and sensitive communication. Apex Experts provides:

• Midwives from both NHS and private sectors - all are actively practising and NMC-registered, with experience in high-risk maternity settings.

• Clinical opinions rooted in national guidance - including NICE, RCOG, NHS England safety alerts, and the Saving Babies’ Lives Care Bundle.

• Support from a medico-legal team: - ensuring the expert is briefed properly, deadlines are managed, and all work aligns with CPR 35 and the Civil Justice Council protocol.

Structured and Court-Compliant Reporting

Every midwifery report issued by Apex Experts includes:

• Chronology of labour events: cross-referenced with CTG traces and partograms.

• Analysis of breach and causation: clearly distinguishing between what was done, what should have been done, and the impact of any deviations.

• Discussion of consent and communication: especially important in cases post-Montgomery.

• References to national guidance: providing evidential grounding for each opinion.

All reports are peer-reviewed internally before submission, ensuring clarity, consistency, and legal robustness.

Turnaround Times and Scope of Work

We know that timely expert advice can shape the direction of a case. Apex offers:

• Initial breach and causation reports are typically delivered within 6 to 8 weeks

• Ongoing expert availability for conferences with counsel, joint statements, or court attendance

• Deferred billing is available where appropriate, subject to agreement

Our team manages every aspect from instruction and documentation through to expert liaison and secure data handling.

Why Solicitors Trust Apex for Midwifery Expertise

Solicitors working on birth injury litigation need more than just a name, they need confidence in quality, responsiveness, and reliability. That’s where Apex delivers:

• Extensive national expert panel, including midwives with managerial and specialist roles.

• Administrative excellence - we manage diaries, queries, and file transfer with zero hassle.

• Confidentiality and security - all documents transferred via encrypted systems in line with GDPR and NHS data standards.

• Trusted by top-tier firms - we are regularly instructed by claimant and defendant solicitors, NHS Resolution panel firms, and insurers.

Birth injury cases are emotionally sensitive, technically detailed, and legally complex. An experienced midwifery expert witness can make the difference between a case that stalls and one that succeeds. By offering a clinically credible, legally defensible opinion, these experts help solicitors meet the burden of proof on breach and causation with confidence.

At Apex Experts, we ensure that you have the right expert - fast - backed by a full-service team that understands both the clinical and legal demands of maternity litigation.

Need a Midwifery Expert Witness?

Contact Apex Experts today to instruct a midwifery expert witness for your birth injury case.

Email us at info@apexexperts.co.uk, give us a call on 0203 633 2213 or visit our contact us page.