£12 million settlement for child whose severe dyskinetic cerebral palsy was caused by negligent water birth

Boyes Turner’s cerebral palsy specialists secured a £12 million* settlement for a child who suffered a profound brain injury during the negligent management of her mother’s labour and water birth.

Our 7-year-old client has the most severe level of disability from four-limb dyskinetic cerebral palsy. She is immobile and unable to walk or talk. She is PEG fed and doubly incontinent. She has cortical visual impairment and suffers from epilepsy. She will remain totally dependent on others for all of her extensive and complex needs and will require full-time, round-the-clock care, case management and therapies including physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech and language therapy and neuropsychology for the rest of her shortened life. She also requires adapted accommodation, specialist equipment and assistive technology to enhance her quality of life and enable her to live and be cared for safely.

Helping the family to make a claim

We helped the child’s parents make a claim against the NHS trust that was responsible for her mother’s maternity care and the midwife’s failure to monitor the fetal heart rate, detect that it was abnormal and call for obstetric help. These failures delayed the delivery of the baby, who suffered a further episode of acute profound oxygen deprivation in the minutes immediately before birth. MRI scans confirmed that our client had suffered a severe hypoxic ischaemic encephalopathy (HIE) brain injury.

NHS Resolution admitted liability (responsibility) on behalf of the NHS trust for our client’s injury. You can read more about the liability settlement here.

Interim payments of £1.8 million helped make a difference during the claim

With liability admitted, we were able to obtain judgment for our client and an interim payment to start meeting her urgent needs whilst we worked with the family and our experts to value the claim. Whilst the case continued, interim payments of over £1.8million helped make a difference to the child and her family’s life, by buying and adapting a more suitable home, a wheelchair accessible vehicle and other specialist equipment, and helping pay for additional care, case management and therapies.

Settlement provides £5.35m lump sum plus £447,000 per year to pay for care

We entered into settlement negotiations with the NHS’s defence team, NHS Resolution, and secured a settlement which will provide our client with a £5.35million lump sum plus guaranteed, lifelong, annual payments quickly rising to £447,000pa to provide for her care for the rest of her life.

Our client’s compensation is protected by Court of Protection deputyship and her privacy is protected with an anonymity order. 

*capitalised equivalent

If your child has cerebral palsy or neurological disability as a result of medical negligence or you have been contacted by HSSIB/MNSI or NHS Resolution, you can talk to a solicitor, free and confidentially, for advice about how to respond or make a claim by contacting us.