SANDS Awareness Month

What is SANDS Awareness month?

Dealing with a stillbirth or neonatal death can be a life changing experience for the families involved and whilst most people will have either been personally affected by the loss of a baby or know someone who has, people generally have a limited understanding of how they are able to support someone who has suffered this type of loss.

SANDS is the UK’s leading stillbirth and neonatal death charity with two principle aims: To reduce the number of babies dying and to provide support to anyone who has been affected by the loss of a baby. SANDS provide this support by promoting and funding research into the causes of deaths and acts to raise awareness of the difficulties experienced by those who suffer the loss of a baby with a view to reducing deaths and making this a national priority.

What is a stillbirth and a neonatal death?

A stillbirth is classified as a baby who has died before birth on or after 24 weeks of the pregnancy have been completed. A neonatal death occurs if a baby dies within 28 days of their birth.

In 2019, the stillbirth rate in England reached its lowest level on record at 3.8 stillbirths per 1,000 births, whereas the neonatal mortality rate for the same period was 2.7 deaths per 1,000 live births. The Government are currently following a campaign to halve stillbirth and neonatal death rates by 2025 from the rates in 2010, which would require the stillbirth rate to be reduced to 2.6 per 1,000 births and the neonatal rate to be 1.5 deaths per 1,000 births by 2025.

In some cases, stillbirths are unavoidable, as a result of complications with the placenta, a birth defect or issues with the health of the mother. Neonatal deaths are often linked to premature births as the very early baby is more susceptible to infection and other health issues.

Sadly, there are occasions where a family suffers a stillbirth or neonatal death that was avoidable and is the result of medical negligence.

How you can help

SANDS are asking people, during their awareness month, to hold fundraising events using orange and blue bunting and lights. SANDS are promoting a ‘walk 100k in June’ and a ‘love you to the moon and back’ venture to raise a pound for every mile of the journey from the earth to the moon. You can get involved with the campaign by sharing SANDS information and posts on your social media by using the hashtags #SandsSavingBabies and #14babiesaday.

To access the SANDS campaign please visit their get involved section on their website.

How Burnetts can help

At Burnetts, we have experience of advising clients following the very difficult circumstances of the loss of their baby and have been able to assist clients with the clinical negligence and Inquest processes. Burnetts has specialist medical negligence solicitors who are accredited by the specialist AvMA and Law Society panels, including a senior solicitor who is a former midwife, who can investigate your claim and help you with securing compensation and any therapies required to assist you through an undoubtedly difficult time.

Burnetts is committed to providing an exceptional and accessible legal service to ensure that our client’s needs are met with a compassionate and caring approach to guide you through the legal process during such a challenging time.

If you would like to speak to someone within our team to discuss whether you may have a clinical negligence claim then please contact our offices on 01228 552222.