If a child has cerebral palsy or neurodevelopmental disability from a birth injury or neonatal injury caused by negligent healthcare in England or Wales, they can claim compensation. There are also limited circumstances in which a birth injury abroad may give rise to a compensation claim under English law, such as where the baby was born in an MOD military hospital. The child’s right to claim compensation for their catastrophic injury is not affected by whether the child and their family live in the UK or in another country. International cerebral palsy birth injury claims are complex and risk the child being undercompensated for the true cost of living with their disability in a foreign country. Valuation of a birth injury claim for a severely disabled child living abroad must take into account differences in the foreign state’s health, care and educational systems and local economy, as well as the potential impact of the foreign state’s laws, rules and regulations on the child’s compensation fund. In order to ensure that the injured child receives the full benefit of their compensation, international medical negligence claims involving cerebral palsy or other types of neurodevelopmental disability must be handled by specialist birth injury solicitors with proven experience and expertise in securing compensation and lifelong provision for UK-injured children with severe disability who live in foreign countries. Will I need to return to the UK to make a UK-based cerebral palsy birth injury claim for my child? The fact that you live in another country, or have moved abroad since your child’s birth or neonatal injury does not affect our ability to help you claim compensation for your child. Our birth injury solicitors have successfully pursued claims for clients living as far away as New Zealand, Australia, Canada and the USA, as well as others living in European countries. We provide the same personalised service and regular communication with our international clients as we do with those who live in the UK. You do not need to move back to the UK or spend long periods of time here whilst we investigate and pursue your child’s claim. We aim to minimise the amount of additional travel that you and your child need to undertake, whilst maximising your child’s prospects of a successful outcome to their claim. In most cases our clients can attend meetings, appointments and even court hearings remotely but occasionally, depending on the child’s condition and the individual circumstances of their case, it may be necessary for them to be seen in person by our tried and trusted experts so that the impact of their disability and their disability-related needs can be accurately assessed. This is a vital step in ensuring that your child is properly compensated. We work very closely with our client families to ensure that their child not only succeeds, but also achieves the best outcome for their claim. If UK-based medical assessments are needed, we coordinate them in the best way to fit in with the family’s plans and the best interests of the child. Once the child’s condition and needs are fully understood, further assessments to establish the cost of meeting those needs in future will usually take place closer to home. Can I make a ‘no-win-no-fee’ international cerebral palsy compensation claim for UK-based birth injury? All our international birth injury claims are funded by ‘no-win-no-fee’ conditional fee agreements (CFAs) but, unlike many law firms who charge a success fee which comes out of the child’s compensation at the end of the claim, we do not charge a success fee in claims involving severely brain-injured babies. We provide all our clients with clear and straightforward advice about their funding options. How does living abroad affect my child’s UK-based cerebral palsy claim? In all medical negligence claims under English law which relate to cerebral palsy or neurodevelopmental disability from birth or neonatal injury the claimant must prove that their disability was caused by negligent care. This stage of the claims process is the same for claimants who are living abroad as for those who live in the UK. The major difference in a cerebral palsy or brain injury claim for a child who no longer resides in the UK is in the valuation of the claim. Compensation claims for disabled children living in the UK are calculated according to the child’s injury and disability, life expectation and individual needs but are based on generally accepted assumptions about the way things happen here. In contrast, there is no generally agreed approach to the valuation of international birth injury claims, where the injury took place in England or Wales but the child and their family live elsewhere. This means that to provide an accurate valuation of the claim which ensures that the child’s needs will be properly met by their compensation, we must explore and calculate the cost of meeting every aspect of the child’s needs, such as for care, education, medical treatment, therapies, adapted housing and transport, based on how this will happen in their country (or US state) of residence. The child’s disability and lifelong needs must be assessed according to English law, whereas the costs of meeting those needs depends upon the how things work in their country of residence. We commonly find that differences in the quality, availability and cost of care, healthcare, therapies, specialist equipment and support with special educational needs, suitable accommodation, and regulations (such as those which govern the employment of carers) significantly increase the cost of meeting our client’s needs, when compared with similar provision in the UK. Local economic factors can also affect the personal injury discount rate (PIDR) (an actuarial tool used in setting the ‘multiplier’ for future losses including the costs of care) with a dramatic impact on the value of the claim. Birth injury compensation for a UK-injured child who resides in a foreign country must also be protected from the financial implications of taxation, currency exchange, inflation and local laws and regulations relating to the investment and management of compensation funds. Failure to recognise and account for these differences during the preparation and calculation of the claim can leave the injured child severely undercompensated. How do I choose the best lawyer for a UK birth injury claim for a child who now lives in another country? The best way to choose a solicitor for your child’s cerebral palsy or neurodevelopmental disability birth injury claim is to ask about their experience in international birth injury claims. Boyes Turner’s birth injury solicitors’ track record of maximum compensation settlements demonstrates our expertise and proven experience in cerebral palsy birth injury claims for children living abroad with disability caused by birth injuries in the UK. Our successful international cerebral palsy settlements include: a $45 million settlement in an HIE birth injury claim for a young woman who now resides in New Zealand, in the reported case of CNZ v Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust; a $23 million settlement for a New York resident child who suffered kernicterus brain damage from negligent treatment for neonatal jaundice at a hospital in England; a multi-million dollar settlement in a cerebral palsy claim for an overseas resident child whose brain was injured as a result of oxygen deprivation during delays in his delivery at a London hospital; a £13 million settlement in a claim for a client with permanent neurological disability from NHS maternity care, complicated by temporary relocation to Australia. We work with tried and trusted experts across both jurisdictions that are involved in your child’s claim. This enables us to ensure that your child’s birth injury or neonatal injury negligence claim against the NHS hospital or healthcare organisation in England or Wales succeeds, and that your child’s compensation makes full provision for the actual cost of meeting their needs in their country of residence. As soon as liability is established, we secure substantial interim payments (advance payments of compensation) to begin meeting the child’s needs whilst we work on the valuation of the claim. This means that most of our client families are already receiving help with care, therapies, adapted accommodation and specialist equipment for their child, long before the conclusion of the claim. Final settlements are formulated to make the best long-term provision for the child, ensuring that money will always be available to pay for their care. In most cases this involves a combination of a lump sum and guaranteed lifelong annual payments via a periodical payment order (PPO). Our clients’ funds are usually safeguarded by Court of Protection deputyship or personal injury trusts (or the equivalent in their country of residence) and their privacy protected with an anonymity order. 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.
