It is alleged the couple suffered psychological harm, with the woman saying she experiences flashbacks from the operating table and the expression on her doctor's face.

Both the hospital and the doctor, Andrew Foote, deny the allegations of negligence.

The case is being heard this week in the ACT Supreme Court.

The court heard the couple, whose names are suppressed, married in 2007 and the next year were advised to try in-vitro fertilisation.

Eventually, after several rounds, there was success; the woman became pregnant with twins due on January 6, 2011.

However, one twin miscarried in July 2010, the court heard.

"While that was devastating," the couple's barrister Ian Roberts SC said, "they were heartened by the fact the surviving fetus was normal."

Dr Foote became the woman's obstetrician and gynaecologist.

A week before the due date, the woman saw Dr Foote, where it's alleged she made it clear she wanted to have the baby on time.

She was scheduled for another appointment on January 11.

On this occasion she brought a packed bag, Mr Roberts said.

She was nervous and anxious, the barrister said, and experiencing ongoing discomfort from the pregnancy.

He said though the woman and her husband wanted her to be induced, she was scheduled to give birth two days later.

That day, the woman, then 38, arrived at Calvary Hospital at about 4.30pm and was taken to a suite, the court heard.

She was hooked up to a machine that traced the baby's heartbeat.

Mr Roberts said there were signs the baby was "in trouble" and the midwife should have called the doctor then but did not.

There were then more signs the baby was in distress, he said.

The barrister said Dr Foote was called and came to the suite, and he told the woman she would have to have a caesarean section.

"What happened then on our case was quite extraordinary," Mr Roberts said.

The barrister said the trace "was one that required [the doctor] to get the baby out as quickly as possible."

But, it is alleged, Dr Foote did not treat the case as an emergency.

The woman was not to be operated on until about 7pm.

When Dr Foote arrived at the operating theatre he listened in on the baby's heart, the barrister said.

The barrister said the woman saw Dr Foote's face go "white" before she was placed under a general anaesthetic.

The baby was stillborn.

Mr Robert's said the allegation against the hospital is that its employee, the midwife, failed to properly interpret the baby's "pathological heartbeat early in the piece".

As against Dr Foote, the allegation is that he failed to notice the child was in fetal distress.

Mr Roberts said had the doctor called an emergency at the earliest moment, about 5.10pm, it is alleged the baby would have been born before 6pm, at which point she was still alive.

Both the hospital and Dr Foote have denied the allegations.

In medical negligence lawsuits, insurers and indemnity protection societies often indemnify doctors and make decisions for them.

In court documents, Dr Foote further says he was prevented from acting earlier because an operating theatre was unavailable.

The couple have alleged they suffered psychological harm.

It is alleged the woman suffered post-traumatic stress and major depression, and her husband also suffered major depression.

While the husband had made a reasonable recovery, both continued to be profoundly affected, Mr Roberts said.

The woman blamed herself, he said, feeling she should have demanded the baby be delivered sooner.

She had flashbacks of being on the operating table and the expression on Dr Foote's face, he said.

The court heard the couple had a son in 2013. The woman was later diagnosed with cervical cancer and had a hysterectomy this year.

Justice John Burns presides over the hearing.