title: A phenomenological study of the effects of clinical negligence litigation on midwives in England: the personal perspective.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  to explore how midwives' personal involvement in clinical negligence litigation affects their emotional and psychological well-being.
  
  
  METHODS
  descriptive phenomenological study using semi-structured interviews.
  
  
  METHODS
  in-depth interviews were conducted in participants' homes or at their place of work and focused on participants' experience of litigation. Participants were recruited from various regions of England.
  
  
  METHODS
  22 National Health Service (NHS) midwives who had been alleged negligent.
  
  
  RESULTS
  unfamiliarity with the legal process when writing statements, attending case conferences and being a witness in court provoked significant stress for midwives. This was exacerbated by the prolonged nature of maternity claims. Support ranged from good to inadequate. Participants who no longer worked for the defendant Trust felt unsupported. Stress could manifest as physical and mental ill-health. Some midwives internalised the allegations of negligence believing their whole career had become worthless. Previous knowledge of the legal process ameliorated the experience. Midwives also exhibited anger and resentment when litigation concluded and some took years to heal from the experience.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  midwives come from a caring and relational paradigm. When interfacing with the adversarial and contentious paradigm of tort law, midwives can abreact and suffer emotional, physical and psychological harm. Support for midwives experiencing litigation must be improved.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Understanding the effects of personal involvement in litigation is important in order to improve the quality of support for this group of midwives. It will also aid development of targeted education for undergraduate, post-graduate and in-service midwives. In the longer term it may help policy makers when considering reform of clinical negligence litigation and NHS employers to structure support mechanisms for staff involved.
authors.affiliation: University of Manchester, UK. Electronic address: j.robertson11@btinternet.com.
authors.forename: Judith H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Robertson
authors.affiliation: University of Manchester, UK. Electronic address: ann.thomson@manchester.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Ann M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Thomson
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D004739:England; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D007588:Job Satisfaction; D008318:Malpractice; D008880:Midwifery; D011247:Pregnancy; D013222:State Medicine
keywords: Litigation; Midwives; Negligence; Qualitative study