£4+ million settlement recovered after hospital negligence causes cerebral palsy

Our client

William* suffered a severe brain injury during birth when a failure to respond to his distress meant that he was not delivered early enough. As a result of the delay in his delivery William experienced a hypoxic ischaemic brain injury, resulting in four-limbed dystonic cerebral palsy. William also suffers from intellectual impairment and has a reduced life expectancy.

Four-limbed dystonic cerebral palsy is also known as dyskinetic cerebral palsy. It is caused by a hypoxic ischaemic brain injury during birth and it will affect a child’s movements, so that they appear to be writhing, as well as having an effect on posture. Although this severe brain injury will mean that a child has serious physical disabilities, mentally there is still intelligence and comprehension (in William’s case his intellect has also been somewhat damaged).

The result

Our specialist cerebral palsy claim solicitors secured a judgment for William when he was 3 years old. At that stage the extent of William’s injuries were not yet obvious and his case was adjourned until the scope of his special needs became clear. The £4.89 million compensation payment for his severe brain injury secured by our cerebral palsy claim solicitors takes into account William’s needs, at the time of the assessment and in the future, as well as his reduced life expectancy.

The claim process

William was born in 2000, and when our cerebral palsy claim solicitors were approached by his family we began looking into the events surrounding his severe brain injury and dystonic cerebral palsy. We read through medical reports for William and his mum and began speaking to professionals, including obstetric and midwifery experts, neonatologist, a paediatric neurologist and a neuroradiologist to see whether medical negligence had been the reason for the hypoxic ischaemic brain injury that caused William’s dystonic cerebral palsy. These experts said that if a decision to deliver William by caesarean section had been taken about one hour and twenty minutes before William's delivery, he would have been delivered within thirty minutes and the hypoxic ischaemic brain injury that resulted in the dystonic cerebral palsy could have been avoided.

Our specialist cerebral palsy claim solicitors contacted the hospital setting out what we believed had happened to William to cause his severe brain injury, including how an early delivery could have avoided any hypoxic ischaemic brain injury at all.

Did the hospital admit fault?

The hospital admitted liability for causing William's dystonic cerebral palsy.

The future for William

Whilst William was too young at the time of the judgment for his dystonic cerebral palsy compensation claim to be valued, since judgment was first secured, £1.3 million in short-term interim payments has been received by the family so that they could buy home suitable home and adapt it for William's special needs, as well as to obtain care and therapeutic services. These payments also enabled William’s parents to go to an employment tribunal to ensure William could attend the school they wanted him to.

The settlement of substantial lump sum and lifetime periodical payments equivalent to a lump sum of £4.89 million now secured by our cerebral palsy claim solicitors will enable William to attend a special school and to live a supported life.

*All names have been changed for client privacy.