Emmalene Bushnell

Emmalene has a special interest in obstetric and gynaecology cases and acts for both mother and baby in respect of cerebral palsy cases and women who have suffered third and fourth degree tears, and prolapse as a result of childbirth.

Emmalene has experience of the devastating effect that birth injuries can have on women and children injured at birth, in particular on their family and social relationships. She is very approachable and sensitively deals with her clients.

She also has an interest in infectious disease claims arising out of the failure to diagnose and treat tuberculosis, meningitis, Group B Streptococcus (in new-borns) and leishmaniasis (a disease spread by the bite of a sand fly).

Legal expertise

Emmalene’s recent settlements/admissions include:

Settlement for a woman who suffered injury during prolapse mesh repair surgery, without having properly consented to the procedure

Settlement of a claim for a mother following anal sphincter during the delivery of her second child in April 2002. The woman’s complaints of increased urgency were dismissed by her GP and other medical professionals. In 2009, the woman gave birth to her third child. Following childbirth, she experienced increased symptoms of urgency and faecal incontinence. Investigations by colorectal surgeons in 2012-2014 revealed that the claimant had suffered significant damage to her anal sphincter muscles. As a result, the woman, now 37 years of age has a permanent colostomy to manage her faecal incontinence.

Admission of liability, apology and settlement for a mother who suffered a fourth-degree tear (in which her internal and external anal sphincters were damaged) during the delivery of her first child at Croydon University Hospital, formerly known as the Mayday Hospital

Admission of liability, apology and compensation for a 39 year old women who suffered a ruptured uterus, postpartum haemorrhage and damage to her bladder after the birth of her second child. Unfortunately, due to the nature of her injuries she had to undergo a hysterectomy and could therefore not have any further children.

Memberships

Emmalene is a member of Action against Medical Accidents (AvMA) and Association of Personal Injury Solicitors (APIL). She is accredited as a Senior Litigator of APIL and holds the Law Society clinical negligence specialist lawyer accreditation. She is also Secretary of the APIL Clinical Negligence Special Interest Group.

Emmalene Bushnell in the news

• Rising number of foreign objects found in patients after surgery in England Guardian 4.1.23
• Record number of ‘foreign objects’ being left inside patients Independent 4.1.22
• Record number of 'foreign objects' left inside patients after surgical blunders Sky News 4.1.23