After it was found that errors made by hospital staff during his birth led to his severe brain damage, one nine year old boy has been given a medical negligence compensation award of £6 million.
Born at the Nottingham City Hospital in December 2002, the young boy, whose name was not made known to the press to comply with legal requirements, suffered oxygen starvation at the time of his delivery, according to personal injury claims experts writing for the Nottingham Post newspaper. The nine year old was diagnosed with cerebral palsy as a result of his oxygen deprivation, a condition which has left him with severe learning difficulties and has made it difficult to feed himself and to communicate verbally.
The boy’s mother and father launched a medical negligence compensation claim on behalf of their injured son against the hospital’s administrators, the Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust. The High Court in London recently approved a settlement amount of £6 million in order to compensate both him and his family for the negligence of hospital staff that led to his debilitating injuries, with the payment going towards covering the cost of the young boy’s rehabilitation and professional care costs, as he will need fully managed around the clock care for the remainder of his life.
The Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust’s chief executive apologised unreservedly to the young boy and his family, calling the hospital error a ‘devastating’ one that has caused heart-wrenching distress to everyone involved. The nine year old’s family has selflessly lavished him with high levels of care and devotion in order to provide for his many needs, earning praise from the High Court judge during the trial proceedings.