THE mother of a baby whose shoulders were too big to be born has lost her battle for compensation.

Nicola Lobb, 31, claimed she received a poor standard of medical care when her daughter, Holly, started delivery with the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck.

The High Court, sitting in Newcastle, heard how during the emergency procedure which followed, described as a midwife's nightmare, the muscles in Holly's arm were injured after her shoulder was jammed.

Holly, who weighed more than 11lb at birth, was born in November 1995, at Cameron Hospital, Hartlepool, with an injury meaning her arm will never grow.

But after hearing evidence from midwife Susan Moore and experts on obstetric procedure, Judge Christopher Walton rejected Mrs Lobb's claim.

Mrs Lobb, from Hartlepool, claimed the midwife pulled her baby too hard and not in conjunction with her contractions, therefore damaging her baby.

But Judge Walton said: "I am satisfied she did exert force at an appropriate time, that is when it was clear to her that the baby was jammed.

"It is inevitable that the court is left with a feeling of sadness."