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Written by Richard Money-Kyrle

Boyes Turner’s cerebral palsy lawyers have secured a compensation settlement of £4.6 million lump sum plus lifelong, annual payments of up to £360,000pa for a young girl with severe dystonic cerebral palsy.

Our client has severe, four-limb cerebral palsy, epilepsy and a shortened life expectation. She is gastrostomy fed, doubly incontinent and has no independent mobility or communication. She will always be dependent on others for full time care. Her hypoxic brain injury and devastating disability were caused by a series of mistakes in her mother’s maternity care.

At 32 weeks of pregnancy our client’s mother was diagnosed with  PIH (pregnancy-induced hypertension or high blood pressure) which increased her own and her unborn baby’s risk of life-threatening complications, such as IUGR and eclampsia. She should have had regular blood pressure checks and early induction of labour if needed for her own and the baby’s safety. Instead, the hospital failed to monitor or manage her blood pressure, which was found at just under 40 weeks to be dangerously high. She was treated with beta blockers and induction of labour during which her blood pressure rose and she became increasingly unwell.  CTG monitoring of the fetal heart rate was discontinued, which was negligent given the mother’s high-risk status, a ‘suspicious’ CTG trace and the presence of meconium. Despite repeated signs of fetal distress, the maternity team failed to check the baby’s heart rate by fetal scalp electrode or deliver her quickly. She was born in very poor condition, but the maternity staff had not warned the neonatal team that a baby needing resuscitation was about to be born, so there were further delays whilst a neonatal paediatrician was called to resuscitate and ventilate the baby. 

We put our client’s claim to the defendant hospital which admitted liability. We obtained judgment and secured interim payments exceeding £1 million which helped provide more suitable accommodation, case management, help with care and therapies, assistive technology and support with our client’s special educational needs. Final settlement provided our client with a  £4.6million lump sum plus lifelong annual payments of up to £360,000pa to pay for additional help with care. Our client’s and her family’s privacy are protected by an anonymity order.   

Read more about this case and others on our specialist cerebral palsy website here.

If you are caring for a child or young adult with cerebral palsy or neurological injury and would like to find out more about how we can help you make a medical negligence claim, you can talk to one of our specialist solicitors, free and confidentially, by contacting us at cerebralpalsy@boyesturner.com.