Child with cerebral palsy awarded

The parents of a child from Lancashire who was left with cerebral palsy due to medical mistakes during his birth have been awarded millions of pounds in clinical negligence compensation.

According to the Lancashire Telegraph, the unnamed boy suffered permanent brain damage after being starved of oxygen as he was being delivered at Queen’s Park Hospital in Blackburn and was this week given £6 million by a court.

“A financial award can never compensate you for what happened, but it does mean our son has some assurance,” his father told the newspaper. “We just hope the hospital has learned from our terrible experience.”

The solicitor who represented the family explained that the hospital’s use of the syntocinon drug to force the baby out of the uterus had restricted the supply of blood and oxygen to the child.

In September, the Southend Echo reported that a 17-year-old with quadriplegic cerebral palsy sustained as a result of her mismanaged birth had won a £4 million payout from Southend University Hospital NHS Trust.

Rosamund Rhodes-Kemp, who heads the Clinical Negligence team at Ashtons Legal, adds: “These awards are hard-won and make a huge difference to the quality of life of the children and families involved. Hopefully the proposed changes to Legal Aid will not go through as such claims would then be unlikely to get funding.”