Boyes Turner’s cerebral palsy specialists negotiated an innovative settlement for a boy with severe dyskinetic/spastic cerebral palsy. His disability was caused by a traumatic brain injury and HIE at the time of his birth when his delivery was delayed by an unsuccessful attempt at a forceps delivery.
Correct maternity care, given the circumstances of his mother’s labour, would have been to carry out a trial of Ventouse (suction) delivery, with emergency caesarean section if the attempted Ventouse delivery failed.
This negligent mistake left our client with disability of the utmost severity, with the lowest level of motor function, and epilepsy. Despite his significant learning difficulties, he is aware of his condition but can only communicate by eye gaze. He is fed by gastrostomy and will remain totally dependent on others for all his basic needs and lifelong care.
We secured an admission of liability from the defendant hospital. We obtained judgment and interim payments totalling £900,000 which helped meet our client’s urgent needs for adapted accommodation, specialist equipment, therapies, care and case management, whilst we worked with experts to value the claim.
Our client’s severe disability, communication difficulties and retained awareness meant that his quality of life depended on access to supported education at special needs centre of excellence, Treloar’s. The defendant hospital disputed our client’s need for his Treloar’s placement but after hard-fought negotiations, we secured an innovative settlement, which met both our client’s physical and educational needs. The settlement gives him a £5 million lump sum plus lifelong, annual payments for care of up to £232,750pa. In addition, a further, dedicated PPO guarantees him annual, full funding for his placement at Treloar’s to the age of 19.
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 and would like to talk to one of our specialist solicitors, free and confidentially, to find out more about making a medical negligence claim, contact us at [email protected].
