Moore Blatch secure £5,500,000 for injured child
The High Court in London this week approved a settlement which totals over £5,500,000 for an eight-year old child who suffered a severe brain injury shortly after her birth.
C was delivered in hospital on 17 August 2001 and was her parents’ first child. Over the course of 19 and 20 August, after she had been transferred with her mother to a midwife-led Maternity Unit, her parents became increasingly concerned that she was not feeding properly and was unwell. They explained their concerns to the midwives but were repeatedly reassured. A dangerously low reading from a blood sugar test was wrongly attributed to a broken test machine.
When the seriousness of C’s condition was finally appreciated she was taken back to hospital by emergency ambulance. She was resuscitated but had suffered irreversible brain injury as a result of her low blood sugar levels.
Moore Blatch investigated with independent medical experts whether C’s care had fallen below proper standards and were able to establish that if there had been a proper response to her parents’ concerns her injury would probably have been avoided.
We were able to secure an admission of liability from the Defendant NHS Trust and an interim payment of damages so that C could move with her family to a more suitable house. The final settlement figure reflects the independent expert evidence on C’s lifetime need for care and support.
Anne Cassidy, a member of our specialist clinical negligence team, says:-
“We were very pleased to achieve this settlement. It is absolutely tragic that C was injured in this way but she is a happy, healthy child with a capable, loving family and a lifetime ahead of her. The legal process cannot put the clock back but it can provide the funds to make sure anyone who is injured by sub-standard medical treatment has access to the resources they need to deal with their difficulties as well as possible. By taking this action C’s parents have made her future secure.”