Teenagers with cerebral palsy or neurodevelopmental disability can claim compensation if their disability was caused by negligent midwifery or medical care immediately before, during or soon after their birth. If you are a teenager or young adult with cerebral palsy and are looking for advice on when, if and how you should make your claim, you are already in the right place. At Boyes Turner, we welcome enquiries from young people living with cerebral palsy and have helped hundreds of teenagers and young adults claim the compensation they deserve. Is it too late for me to make a cerebral palsy claim as a teenager instead of soon after birth? As a teenager you are within your time limits for making a cerebral palsy birth injury claim. You should not be disadvantaged simply because your parents didn’t pursue a claim soon after your birth. The law reflects this by allowing injured children until their 21st birthday (when their deadline expires) to issue proceedings in a medical negligence claim. If a young adult with brain injury disability does not have mental capacity to make important decisions for themself, the limitation deadline doesn’t apply. We advise, however, that if you are a teenager or young adult considering making a birth injury claim, you should seek advice from solicitors with specialist experience in acting for teenagers in claims involving cerebral palsy or neurodevelopmental birth or neonatal injury. Occasionally, the passage of time between the birth or neonatal injury and the investigation of a claim can increase the difficulties in obtaining supporting evidence, such as where scans, CTG fetal heart monitoring traces or other documents are missing, faded or have become separated from your medical records. Witness recollections of the events and conversations that took place may also be less accurate over time. As long as we are able to obtain your mother’s and your own medical records, our expert solicitors can usually overcome these difficulties. It also takes specialist skill and experience to ensure that your own and your family’s past losses are fully compensated as part of your claim. We work closely with our young adult clients, their families and our experts to ensure that you are fully and correctly compensated, not only for your injury and future loss, but also for the losses and expenses you have already incurred, as well as the additional disability-related care that has been provided in the past by your family. Why do NHS Resolution require early notification of HIE birth injury claims? In recent years, the NHS’ defence organisation, NHS Resolution, has promoted ‘early notification’ in an attempt to manage and defend certain types of HIE birth injury claims. NHS hospitals and maternity units must report HIE birth injuries to NHS Resolution when they occur, but the only time pressure on an injured child and their family who are considering making a claim is that they start proceedings within the child’s limitation deadline. NHS Resolution cannot advise you in connection with your claim. They represent and defend the NHS organisation against your claim. We strongly advise injured patients and their families to seek independent advice from experienced claimant-specialist birth injury solicitors before they respond to NHS Resolution or MNSI, to ensure that they have the best prospect of a successful outcome to their claim. Can I make a cerebral palsy claim as a teenager if my parents didn’t claim in my early years? There are many reasons why your parents may not have made a cerebral palsy or birth injury claim in your childhood. Unless they issued court proceedings which were then discontinued or lost at trial, or your limitation deadline has expired, you retain your right to investigate and make a claim. We have secured compensation for many teenagers and young adults whose families had previously not considered, or decided against, making a claim. In our experience, some families find the prospect of making a medical negligence claim too emotionally challenging to consider in the initial months or years after a traumatic birth or their baby’s brain injury diagnosis. They may be unaware of the impact that the baby’s brain injury will have on their teenage, young adult or later life, particularly if they have not received a diagnosis of cerebral palsy, HIE or other specific neurological injury. Without supportive advice, they may be put off by (unjustified) worries about whether a claim will affect their child’s NHS care, or by (unfair) media and social pressure about the impact of compensation payments on NHS resources, or the additional stress of legal proceedings on an already stressful family life. In these circumstances, it is completely understandable that loving parents choose to focus on caring for the immediate needs of their newborn baby and growing child. Over time, however, it is also natural for the teenager to want to know more about the cause of their disability and to claim the compensation that could support them to live their fullest life. Teenage years are a time of transition and many young people find that statutory services do not provide the support that they need for their move to higher education, work or independent living. Where compensation is available, it can provide financial security and invaluable support with additional care, therapies, specialist equipment, transport, special educational needs (SEN), and adapted accommodation. Are there any benefits to making my cerebral palsy claim as a teenager? We would always recommend that families investigate a birth injury claim for their child as soon as they become aware that their child could have been harmed by negligent maternity or neonatal care, but we really enjoy working with teenagers and young adults and often find that the passage of time has helped their claim. Cerebral palsy is not progressive, but the impact of the brain injury on the child’s physical, cognitive (thinking) and behavioural function may only become evident at later stages of the child’s growth and development, such as when they fail to meet developmental milestones or struggle to learn alongside other children at school. By adolescence, the young person is more likely to already be demonstrating the full extent of their disability, making it easier to predict their long-term needs arising from their disability. Most of the compensation in a cerebral palsy or neurodevelopmental disability claim relates to the cost of meeting the child’s disability-related needs for the rest of their life, so it is important that our medical experts can make accurate predictions, based on a full understanding of the injured person’s condition, before we can correctly value and settle the claim. Successful claims for babies and younger children are often stayed (paused or adjourned) to allow the child to reach this important stage of their development. During the time between liability judgment and the child’s additional development, their needs are met by interim payments, until a final valuation can be made. In some cases this necessary period of waiting also results in a significantly higher valuation of the claim, for example where unexpected changes require more compensation to meet a greater than previously anticipated need, or health improvement increases the injured person’s projected life expectancy. Where the injured claimant is a teenager, their disability and needs are already apparent, so the claim can proceed to valuation and settlement without the wait. Can a teenager make their own cerebral palsy claim? If you are under 18 or do not have full mental capacity to make a claim, the court requires you to be represented by a ‘litigation friend’ who makes decisions on your behalf in the proceedings. This sounds very formal, but usually simply means that a parent or another adult family member makes decisions on your behalf. It is your claim, and as your solicitor we act for you and in your best interests when advising and ‘taking instructions’ from your litigation friend. Depending on your age and preferred level of involvement, we aim to include you in important discussions and decisions that are made on your behalf throughout the claim. As soon as an interim payment or a compensation settlement is expected, a Court of Protection deputy will also be appointed to help safeguard, manage and provide appropriate access to your compensation. Proposed settlements for children under the age of 18, or adults without full mental capacity to make important financial decisions for themselves, must also be approved by the court, to ensure that the settlement is in the injured person’s best interests. If you are over 18 with full mental capacity, you do not need a litigation friend or Court of Protection deputy, but you (and your family) will be guided and supported by our friendly, experienced solicitors throughout your claim. Read more about how we help our clients manage their compensation. 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.
