June 8th, 2009
A boy who suffers from cerebral palsy after being deprived of oxygen at birth is to receive compensation of £7 million.
Luke Purver, now 12, was to be delivered by emergency Caesarean at Winchester’s Royal Hampshire County Hospital in March 1997, the Andover Advertiser reports.
However, a doctor decided to delay the procedure so that he could make a final attempt to deliver Luke using forceps.
This four-minute delay caused the baby to be deprived of oxygen and he had to be resuscitated shortly after birth.
Luke now suffers from cerebral palsy and will need 24-hour care for the rest of his life.
Through his mother Sally Miller, Luke sued Winchester and Eastleigh Healthcare NHS Trust, which has now agreed to the £7 million payout.
"This has been a long and stressful process for the whole family so I am relieved that it is finally over," said Ms Miller.
If sub-standard care during pregnancy or birth can be proved to have caused disability, compensation can be sought to cover the costs of care to ensure an improved quality of life and financial security for the lifetime of the child.
Tags: Andover Advertiser, Brain, Cerebral Palsy, Disability Compensation, Eastleigh, Final Attempt, Financial Security, Healthcare Nhs Trust, Lifetime, Minute Delay, Oxygen, Pregnancy Birth, Quality Of Life, Royal Hampshire County, Royal Hampshire County Hospital, Sally Miller, Winchester
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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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April 23rd, 2009
An NHS trust has awarded compensation of £6.3 million to the parents of a girl who was left brain damaged due to mistakes at her birth.
Ellie Matraves was born clinically dead at Lister Hospital in Herfordshire in 2002 because medical staff had not noticed that she was showing signs of distress, the high court heard.
She had to be aggressively resuscitated for several hours and developed cerebral palsy, leaving her with communication problems and a reduced developmental age, the BBC reports.
Her parents Claire and Colin Matraves took legal action against the East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust for clinical negligence.
"We feel it is important for people to understand that if it hadn’t been for the hospital’s appalling negligence, our daughter would have been born a healthy non-disabled baby girl," they said in a statement.
The trust admitted liability and has agreed to a £2.4 million lump sum payout, as well as annual payments to cover care for the rest of Ellie’s life.
According to Scope, one in 400 children in the UK suffers from cerebral palsy. Around ten per cent of cerebral palsy compensation claims are due to complications at birth.
Tags: 3m, Baby Girl, Bbc, Brain, Cerebral Palsy, Clinical Negligence, Communication Problems, Compensation Claims, Ellie, Herfordshire, Lump Sum Payout, Medical Staff, Nhs Trust, North Hertfordshire, Parents, People, Scope, Signs
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April 9th, 2009
A woman who suffered brain damage at birth is to receive compensation of more than £1 million after the hospital admitted to failings in her care.
Jackie Crothall went into hospital expecting twins in January 1988, but had started to experience difficulties, ThisisHampshire.net attests.
She was in need of an emergency Caesarean, but staff at the Royal Hampshire County Hospital in Winchester failed to recognise this.
As a result, one twin died and the other, Becky Crothall, suffered brain damage that led to cerebral palsy.
Now 21, she is unable to go out alone and cannot be left unsupervised.
Through her mother, Becky took legal action against South Central Strategic Health Authority and has now secured the payout.
Her legal representative said that the money is not a windfall, but a just settlement to pay for Becky’s future care and the assistance she has already received.
According to Scope, one in 400 children in the UK suffers from cerebral palsy. Around ten per cent of cerebral palsy compensation claims are due to complications at birth.
Tags: 1 Million, 1m, Becky, Birth Injury, Brain Damage, Cerebral Palsy, Compensation Claims, Crothall, Expecting Twins, Future Care, Injury Victim, Legal Representative, Royal Hampshire County, Royal Hampshire County Hospital, Scope, Strategic Health Authority, Winchester, Windfall, Woman
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March 27th, 2009
The standards of care at an NHS hospital have been called into question after it was revealed that it paid out more than £1 million in compensation for clinical negligence cases last financial year.
Ipswich Hospital on Heath Road paid out £1,047,262 from 2007-08, however, this did not include one individual case in which a child was paid a substantial sum for brain damage, the Ipswich Evening Star reports.
Holly Goodwyn was left with brain damage, cerebral palsy and epilepsy after her birth in 1997 and the hospital paid her damages for inadequate care in 2008, but this came under the figures for the following financial year.
Jan Rowsell, spokesperson for Ipswich Hospital, denied that the standards of care fall below what can be reasonably expected by patients.
"Patient safety is our top priority and we work very hard to ensure incidents are as rare as they possibly can be," she stressed.
This follows reports earlier this month which showed that Swindon and Marlborough NHS Trust paid £3.6 million in compensation to a family in 2007 after admitting liability for an incident in which a child was left disabled.
Tags: 1m, Brain Damage, Cerebral Palsy, Clinical Negligence, Epilepsy, Goodwyn, Holly, Inadequate Care, Ipswich Evening Star, Marlborough, Negligence Cases, Nhs Hospital, Nhs Trust, Patient Safety, Rowsell, Spokesperson, Substantial Sum, Swindon, Top Priority
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