Woman wins £5m compensation after scan links her brain damage to birth blunders

 
Compensation: the woman secured £5m from the NHS
PA
21 February 2014

A woman has won more than £5 million in compensation from the NHS after her solicitor uncovered the link between the brain damage she suffered at birth and her "negligent" treatment.

The woman was deprived of oxygen when midwives at Hammersmith hospital failed to respond to her mother’s pain and her low heart-rate in the womb and delayed her delivery by 10 hours.

She secured damages only after solicitor Peter Flory commissioned an MRI scan to provide evidence of the link between her “stormy” birth, in the early 1990s, and her disability.

Mr Flory, of Price Slater Gawne, said: “It was the one bit of the jigsaw that was crucial to everything else. Her parents were overjoyed that we had finally managed to get that piece of evidence. Their feelings of relief have not ceased.”

He believes the case could pave the way for many more families with children disabled during birth to secure damages from the NHS.

Robert Francis QC, sitting as a High Court judge, this week approved the settlement between the woman and Imperial College NHS trust, which now runs Hammersmith hospital.

She will receive a £2.3 million lump sum and £112,000 a year from December 2015. The NHS expects the total payout will be more than £5 million. The bill will be picked up by the NHS Litigation Authority on the trust’s behalf.

Judge Francis approved a request to protect the woman’s identity after hearing of her vulnerable character and the fear that she may be preyed upon by distant relatives overseas.

The woman will use the money to buy a home near her parents and to pay for round-the-clock care. The court was told she was “capable of behaving in a disinhibited fashion” and was at risk of being “exploited and harassed”.

Mr Flory took over the case in 2010. His insistence on a new scan meant that Professor Faraneh Vargha-Khadem, of the Institute of Child Health, was able to establish a link between damage to the hippocampus and the developmental amnesia suffered by the woman. “We were able to make the link that all the damage had been caused after the time she should have been delivered,” he told the Standard. “Therefore, it was as a result of the negligent delivery.”

He said the woman was aware of her disability and would often become frustrated, adding: “She would certainly get lost within half a mile of her home.”

Judge Francis said the woman had been cared for by an “inspiring family”, whose dedication was “remarkable”.

Neil Block QC, for Imperial, said: “The trust has given careful consideration to the cause, and it’s hoped such events would not be possible in the future.”

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