A boy has been awarded more than £250,000 in a clinical negligence claim against Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust.

Grant Hembry of Plymouth, who is now 11, was awarded the money after a medical blunder during his birth left him with shoulder dystocia, a condition that meant he was unable to use his right shoulder, arm and hand because of nerve damage.

He was awarded £270,795, including £60,000 for the pain and suffering caused by the incident, after the Trust admitted clinical negligence, reports The Herald.

A spokesman for the Trust said: "We were extremely disappointed by this [incident] and apologise for it as we strive to provide the highest possible standard of care to all of our patients."

Last month, a ten-year-old boy was awarded £7.1 million in a clinical negligence claim against Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust.

Harry Snowdon of Oxfordshire suffered brain damage as a result of complications with his birth.

A 14-year-old girl has been awarded millions in compensation after winning a medical negligence claim against the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital.

Tahlia Downes was deprived of oxygen during her birth, leaving her with severe mental and physical disabilities.

Her mother brought the medical negligence claim against the hospital on the grounds that she should have been given a Caesarean section during the birth, reports the BBC.

Norfolk and Norwich Hospital will pay the family compensation after the judge in the case ruled that it should pay 70 per cent of the full valuation of the claim.

The payout is expected to run into millions once a final figure is reached, money that will be used to provide care for Tahlia for the rest of her life.

Last month, ten-year-old Harry Snowdon of Oxfordshire was awarded £7.1 million in compensation in a similar medical negligence case against Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust, in which he was left with brain damage following difficulties with his birth.

A girl who went blind after doctors failed to spot a brain tumour has been awarded £1.5 million in compensation.

Tatum Rock, now 16, went into King George Hospital in Essex after banging her head in a fall in 1999.

She had X-rays, but was sent home when the radiologist missed a large brain tumour. Although the condition came to light four months later and she had corrective surgery, it was too late to save her sight.

An investigation revealed that had the X-ray been read properly, the victim would have had surgery immediately and her sight would most likely have been saved.

Tatum took legal action against Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust, which has now admitted liability for the misdiagnosis and agreed to the payout.

Hospital bosses apologised for the failings and wished Tatum well for her future at university.

Research from Imperial College London recently revealed that as many as one in six NHS patients are being misdiagnosed by either GPs or hospital staff.

A woman is taking legal action against a surgeon who she says ruined her life after what should have been a routine operation.

Vivienne Edwards went into the Whittington Hospital in London in September 2006 for a procedure to correct her lower back pain.

Dr Dhinh Nguyen said he could scrape away some bone and leave the patient pain-free.

However, when Ms Edwards awoke, she had severe bowel and bladder problems, nerve damage, clawed feet and numbness in her arms and legs, the London Evening Standard reports.

She realised that Dr Nguyen must have severed a nerve, but he denied that the problems had been caused by the operation.

The patient decided to sue the surgeon and Whittington Hospitals NHS Trust for clinical negligence four months ago and her solicitors believe that she could receive as much as £500,000 in compensation after complaints emerged from other patients.

"I’ve become very solitary. My life revolves around hospitals. It’s horrible. I’m only 60," Ms Edwards commented.

For clinical negligence claims to be successful, solicitors must prove that a duty of care existed between the patient and the medical professional and that he or she breached this.

A woman who was left with a memory span of ten minutes after suffering from a brain haemorrhage has received a multi-million pound payout.

Cristina Malcolm, 41, collapsed in July 2002 with a terrible headache, but was told when she sought medical advice that it was a virus.

In fact, blood had already leaked into her brain and she then went on to suffer a more serious haemorrhage.

Mrs Malcolm was taken to Newcastle General Hospital to have half a litre of blood removed from her brain, but it was too late to reverse the damage and the patient was left brain damaged.

She now needs constant care from her husband Sandy, who describes her as "like a ten-year-old with Alzheimer’s".

GP Dr James Harrison, Durham and Darlington Acute Hospitals NHS Trust and Newcastle-upon-Tyne Hospitals NHS Trust all admitted to clinical negligence and have agreed to a compensation payout of £4.46 million.

Settlements for brain damage are typically larger than those for other injuries since the money must cover the long-term care of the patient. Anyone affected by cases such as this may wish to seek legal advice.

A family has been awarded £410,000 in compensation after a woman died due to errors during a caesarean section.

Joanne Lockham, 45, had been admitted to Stoke Mandeville Hospital at Aylesbury in October 2007 and staff made the decision to give her a caesarean when her baby’s heartbeat dropped.

The patient was put under a general anaesthetic, but doctors mistakenly inserted the oxygen tube into her oesophagus and not her windpipe. She was deprived of oxygen for half an hour and her heart stopped a minute after the baby was born.

Ms Lockham’s life support was turned off two days later.

Her husband Peter decided to sue Buckinghamshire Hospitals NHS Trust after it admitted liability for the death and for "serious failings" in Ms Lockham’s care.

Mr Justice Burnett has now approved a compensation settlement of £410,000 for the loss and to cover the long-term care needs of the baby.

According to Babycentre.co.uk, approximately one in four pregnant women gives birth by caesarean every year.

Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust has paid £150,000 compensation to the family of a man who died after staff failed to diagnose a serious heart condition.

David Whittaker, 61, died after suffering a torn artery, a condition known as aortic dissection.

However, staff at Queen’s Medical Centre failed to spot this when he went to the hospital after complaining of chest pains.

Staff carried out some tests on Mr Whittaker, but did not undertake an electrocardiogram – a scan which may have identified the condition and enabled doctors to treat it appropriately.

He was discharged from hospital, but died the following day.

Mr Whittaker’s widow pursued a medical negligence claim against the trust, which admitted there had been shortcomings in his treatment and agreed a settlement, which included the six-figure compensation payout.

"[The settlement] accepts that an inappropriate failure to diagnose and treat her late husband’s aortic dissection on July 24th 2006 and that, had appropriate treatment been provided, her late husband would probably have survived," a spokesman for Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust said.

News of the payout comes just weeks after the NHS Litigation Authority revealed the NHS spent £807 million to settle compensation claims in 2008-09.

The rate of clinical errors in Cumbria’s two hospitals is among the highest in the country, it has been revealed.

Statistics released this week have shown that £5.3 million was paid out to the victims of clinical negligence by North Cumbria Acute Hospitals NHS Trust in 2008-09, the News and Star reports.

One woman who said she is not surprised by the news is Charlene Steel, whose baby suffered a brain injury because of errors at his birth at Cumberland Infirmary. She said she would travel elsewhere if she needed to use hospital services again.

This comes after figures for the UK as a whole showed that clinical negligence payouts reached £807 million last year, up by 22 per cent on the figure from 2007-08.

There were 8,885 claims brought against NHS trusts for medical blunders, it was found.

Anyone affected by errors during their hospital treatment should seek the advice of a solicitor specialising in clinical negligence claims.

A couple are seeking legal action against an NHS trust after their baby was delivered so forcefully that part of his scalp detached.

Charlene Steel and Robin Heslop – the baby’s parents – claim they had pleaded with staff at Cumberland Infirmary to perform a Caesarean section following two hours of difficult labour, the News and Star reports.

However, medics continued to try to use a ventouse cap to pull the baby out.

When baby Bobbie was born, his head was bleeding and his parents fear he may have brain damage.

"The midwife was pulling so hard the veins on her arms stuck out," commented Mr Heslop.

Ms Steel believes that doctors should have recognised the traumatic labour and should have given her a Caesarean section. They have now taken legal action against North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust for negligence.

The trust declined to comment while the case goes through the appropriate legal channels.

According to BabyCentre.co.uk, rates of Caesarean delivery in the UK vary from place to place; in some locations it is as low as 13 to 15 per cent, while in others it may be 25 to 30 per cent.

A girl who suffers from cerebral palsy after being the victim of what was later described as a "negligent birth" has been awarded a multi-million pound compensation settlement.

Abigail Thomas, now six, was born at St Mary’s Hospital in Portsmouth, but errors by medical staff meant that she was starved of oxygen.

She went on to develop quadriplegic cerebral palsy and now needs constant care to deal with her physical impairments, the Portsmouth News reports.

Through her mother Jacqueline, Abigail sued Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust for clinical negligence. It admitted liability and has now agreed to a compensation settlement of £1.3 million.

This will cover the cost of carers for Abigail, including a night-time helper to relieve her parents.

Nick Block, spokesperson for the NHS trust, said: "We hope that this settlement will provide financial security and help to lift the family’s burden."

According to Scope, there has been a slight increase in the proportion of children who have cerebral palsy in recent years – approximately one in every 400 children is affected.