A 12-year-old boy from Malta has won £4.25 million compensation after a UK hospital failed to diagnose an inherited disorder when he was a baby.
The condition went undetected for a further 12 months and, as a result, Luke Attard suffered brain damage, reports the Observer.
At a High Court hearing, Dr Gwilym Hosking was accused of failing to carry a routine blood test on Luke which would have identified a rare form of a genetic disorder phenylketonuria (PKU).
Specialist staff at Great Ormond Street Hospital eventually diagnosed the condition.
According to NHS Direct, PKU is a metabolic disorder which manifests itself in an enzyme defect rendering the sufferer unable to produce the essential amino acid tyrosine.
Dr Hosking died in October 2006. In May that year, Luke’s parents reached a settlement on the basis that Dr Hosking was 90 per cent liable.
Luke now lives with his family in East Sussex. Two of his three brothers also have PKU.
Investigation after Nestle forklift truck accident
June 13th, 2008An investigation has been launched in the procedures used at the Nestle chocolate factory after a 47-year-old woman broke both her legs in an accident recently.
Nestle has made clear its intention to look into how someone working for them through an agency was able suffer such a serious accident while driving a forklift truck.
The accident is the second of its kind to occur at the site in Wigginton in the past 12 months and one employee told the York Press that they were shocked that two such incidents could be allowed to happen in such a short space of time.
In addition to Nestle’s own investigation, the Health and Safety Executive has indicated its intention to play a part in finding out what happened to the female forklift driver who is reported to have needed part of her leg amputating.
Last month, the BBC reported that a man working at a warehouse in Warwickshire needed the help of emergency services after he was trapped between a forklift truck and a pile of pallets.
