A midwife who was injured by a woman who had just undergone an emergency caesarean operation has won the right to claim damages against the hospital trust involved.

The midwife and an anaesthetist were attending to the woman in a recovery room. They were the only staff present. The woman was still confused after the operation and suddenly punched the midwife twice. A few moments later she tried to get up and pulled at the midwife causing to her to bang her hip against the side of the bed.

The midwife was injured in the incident and claimed damages against the hospital trust on the basis that it had failed to ensure that there was a safe system in place and because there weren’t enough staff in the recovery room to cope with such circumstances. She also maintained that cot sides should have been fitted to the beds to prevent confused patients trying get out and that the anaesthetist had been negligent because he hadn’t called for more staff after the patient’s first outburst.

The Court of Appeal has upheld the midwife’s claim because there had been a failure to make more staff available and also a failure to fit cot sides. One or both of those factors had caused the injury.