Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Related legal acts

Key definition

Claimant definition

What does Claimant mean? In legal practice across the UK and Ireland, the claimant is the party who starts a civil claim or seeks a court or tribunal remedy against a defendant or respondent. The term is a procedural description rather than a substantive legal status, and in England and Wales it is defined in the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR 2.3) as a person who makes a claim; since 1999 it has replaced “plaintiff” in most civil proceedings, including judicial review. In Scotland, the equivalent party is generally called the “pursuer” in the Court of Session and Sheriff Court, although “claimant” is used...

Wrongful Conception, Pregnancy and Birth: Liability, Causation and Recoverable Loss in Sterilisation and Contraception Negligence, Wrongful Birth and Disabled Child Claims

Published by a LexisNexis PI & Clinical Negligence expert

Practice notes

The law relating to wrongful conception, pregnancy and birth can be broken down into the following areas:

Unintended conception after a negligently performed sterilisation (male or female), resulting in the birth of a healthy child
Unintended conception after a negligently performed sterilisation (male or female), resulting in the birth of a disabled child
Unintended conception arising from negligent contraceptive or medical advice or treatment
Wrongful birth where the claimant mother would have ended the pregnancy had she been informed that the child was, or was likely to be, disabled
A claim by a disabled child (as opposed to a claim by the mother for her own injuries)

Claims are most often brought by the person who carried the pregnancy, rather than by any child born from it. In many cases of negligent female sterilisation, the issue is tubal occlusion where a Filshie clip has not been correctly applied to the fallopian tube. This may be because it has detached from the tube, or because it was affixed to the wrong structure. In matters concerning male sterilisation:

The vasectomy itself will typically have been carried out properly, although there may be instances where the wrong structure...

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Rachel Galloway

Kings Chambers

Rachel practises in the fields of clinical negligence, personal injury and coronial law. She is based at Kings Chambers in Manchester. Rachel undertakes all aspects of clinical negligence work. She has particular experience in obstetrics and gynaecology, surgery (including cardiothoracic surgery, orthopaedic surgery, bariatric surgery and numerous other forms of surgery), dental claims, deaths in care/nursing homes, claims involving the delayed diagnosis of cancer and claims against General Practitioners. Rachel has a particular interest in wrongful conception and wrongful birth claims. Rachel also has experience of claims in the mental health context and negligence/breach of Article 2 in the context of suicide. Further, she is frequently instructed in prison inquests on behalf of the Ministry of Justice. Rachel has extensive knowledge of Coronial Law in the medical context. She has experience in representing family members, medical professionals, private healthcare providers and the...

Web page updated on 21/05/2026

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