Neonatal Failures & Birth Injury Risks: Dr Ujwal Kariholu, Consultant Neonatologist
By Dr Ujwal Kariholu, Consultant Neonatologist
Posted 26 March 2026
3 Minute Read
Neonatal care sits at the centre of some of the most complex and high-value clinical negligence claims. When things go wrong, the medico-legal implications can be profound - particularly in cases involving hypoxia, delayed intervention, or failures in early neonatal management.
In this webinar, Dr Ujwal Kariholu explores where neonatal care breaks down, and how these failures translate into litigation risk.
About the Speaker
Dr Ujwal Kariholu is a Consultant Neonatologist at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, specialising in the care of critically unwell newborns.
- Medico-legal expert witness since 2018
- Regularly instructed in birth injury and neonatal brain injury claims
- Experienced in breach, causation, and prognosis reporting
- Extensive clinical background in NICU care
Key Themes from the Webinar
This session focuses on where neonatal care most commonly fails - and how those failures are assessed in a medico-legal context.
Key insights include:
- Delayed recognition of foetal compromise remains a leading cause of severe birth injury claims
- Minutes matter in neonatal resuscitation and decision-making
- Documentation gaps (e.g. missing cord gases or placental data) can significantly weaken or complicate causation arguments
- Failures in communication and consent are often just as important as clinical errors in driving claims
- Cooling treatment timing (within 6 hours) is critical in hypoxic brain injury cases
Dr Kariholu also highlights that many claims are driven not purely by clinical error, but by process failures, poor communication, and perceived lack of transparency.
Tags:
- Birth Injury
- Birth Injury Claims
- Neonatal Hypoglycaemia
- Neonatal Injury
Expert Disciplines:
- Neonatology
About The Author
Dr Ujwal Kariholu
Consultant Neonatologist
Dr Ujwal Kariholu is a Consultant Neonatologist at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, with specialist neonatal practice since 2013. He has undertaken medico-legal work since 2018, preparing up to 12 Clinical Negligence reports per year, currently for Claimants, and has attended one trial. His reports include screening, breach of duty and causation.
His specialist expertise includes birth and brain injury, neonatal intensive care, prematurity, neonatal encephalopathy, congenital abnormalities, respiratory and neurological conditions, feeding, growth and developmental issues.
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