Following a recent High Court hearing, a UK record payment of £19million has been awarded to a young girl who, following sub-standard levels of care immediately after she was born, suffered catastrophic brain damage.
The girl, now aged nine, was born with excessive levels of bilirubin in her blood, causing the severe and dangerous jaundice that her legal team claimed should have been dealt with immediately post-birth via a full blood transfusion. They claimed that had such a transfusion taken place, the girl would have not suffered severe and permanent injury. The hospital involved, Kings College in London, accepted 85% liability for the girl’s injuries, and the compensation awarded will consist of a £6.8millio lump sum, followed by annual, index-linked payments for the rest of her life, resulting in a total claim settlement value of £19,410,417.
High Court judge Sir Robert Francis said that “This is very near to the top end of the scale for a brain injury”, adding that “she would have led a very promising life” without the injuries and even though the girl has severe behavioural issues, that she has ‘insight’ into her own condition and that a long life expectancy is likely.
Following a impact statement from the girl’s mother, Sir Francis added that “this was a situation that no parent would ever want to deal with”
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