Birth Injuries Boy, 6, Receives £13.5 Million Award

Newborn babies are uniquely vulnerable and delays in delivery or treatment in the immediate neonatal period can have devastating consequences. That was sadly so in the case of a gravely disabled six-year-old boy whose lifelong care was thankfully secured by an eight-figure compensation package.

The boy's acute brain injury arose from a combination of delays in his delivery and in giving him a neonatal blood transfusion. Suffering from cerebral palsy and epilepsy, he is fully dependent on a 24-hour care regime. After a clinical negligence claim was launched on his behalf, the NHS trust that bore responsibility for the hospital where he was born made an early admission of liability.

Following negotiations, a final settlement was agreed whereby he will receive a £6 million lump sum, together with annual, index-linked payments to cover the costs of his care and case management for life. Those payments will start at £366,000 a year and rise to £410,000 a year when he reaches the age of 19. The overall capitalised value of the settlement was about £13.5 million.

The settlement was tailored to his particular needs in that the trust further agreed to contribute £100,000 a year towards the fees of a private special school where he is a pupil. However, that agreement would only take effect if his parents failed in their attempts to obtain local authority funding for the school placement.

Approving the settlement, the High Court described it as suitable, sensible and fair. The Court also agreed that £268,442 of the settlement sum should be paid to the boy's parents in modest recognition of the care they have lavished upon him. Despite facing daily challenges, they have looked after him with tireless devotion.