May 11th, 2009
A child who was left with cerebral palsy after hospital staff failed to deliver her quickly enough has been awarded millions of pounds in compensation.
Elise Frith, now six, was born at Milton Keynes Hospital, but although her mother Yelena had been suffering from abdominal pains, an emergency Caesarean was not performed until more than two hours after a problem was detected.
The child was deprived of oxygen and now has mobility and communication problems as a result of her cerebral palsy, Milton Keynes Today reports.
Milton Keynes Hospital admitted that its staff had been negligent in not taking Ms Frith in for surgery sooner and this week approved a compensation payout that, although confidential, is believed to amount to millions of pounds.
According to the charity Scope, one in every 400 children in the UK is born with cerebral palsy.
This is most commonly the result of failure of a part of the brain to develop and can be caused by a lack of oxygen in the womb, as was the case here.
Tags: Abdominal Pains, Cerebral Palsy, Charity, Communication Problems, Failure, Frith, Hospital Staff, Lack Of Oxygen, Milton Hospital, Milton Keynes, Part Of The Brain, Scope, Womb, Yelena
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February 3rd, 2009
A woman is taking legal action against the NHS trust she claims is responsible for the death of her baby.
Louise Davies, 28, was listed as a relatively high-risk patient when she fell pregnant for the second time, after suffering some problems with her first child, the Sunday Sun attests.
However, when she began to unexpectedly lose water and suffer from abdominal pains, she claims that staff at Darlington Memorial Hospital told her to go home and take a bath before returning two days later.
When she returned, Ms Davies alleges that staff were unprepared for her and did not perform a scan.
It was only when a doctor later looked for a heartbeat that none could be found and Ms Davies was told the baby had died.
She said she will now seek legal action against the County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust – which provides secondary care district general hospital services to a population of around 500,000 in County Durham and Darlington – in order to ensure that the situation does not happen to anyone else.
"Nothing could bring Callum back, but it was an incredibly traumatic experience and one that I am still struggling to come to terms with," Ms Davies commented.
Tags: Abdominal Pains, Callum, County Durham, Darlington Memorial Hospital, District General Hospital, Foundation Trust, Heartbeat, High Risk, Ms Davies, Nhs Trust, Population, Risk Patient, Second Time, Sunday Sun, Traumatic Experience, Woman
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