HILLINGDON TRUST PAYS £2M TO DISABLED TEEN
BOY’S INJURIES OCCURRED DUE TO ‘MISMANAGEMENT’ AT BIRTH
HILLINGDON Hospitals NHS Trust has agreed a payout of more than £2 million to a 13-year-old disabled boy.
The boy, who is paralysed on his left side and has some learning difficulties, was delivered at Hillingdon Hospital in 2004.
The damages were negotiated after a High Court hearing, in which the boy’s lawyers alleged that his injuries had occurred due to “mismanagement of his mother’s labour”.
The trust will pay a £2.25m lump sum to the boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, but has not accepted any liability for his condition.
Judge Graham Wood QC told the High Court that the outcome of any trial would have been “far from clear cut” and the boy’s claim was “very hotly disputed” by the trust.
Judge Wood added that the figure would be a “substantial sum which will be life-changing for him” and said that he had “no hesitation in providing the approval sought”.
The money will go towards funding the boy’s care and the judge praised the boy’s mother for the “dedication and commitment she has shown to her son in the early years of his life”.
Christopher Melton QC, who represented the boy, said the money”’will go a very long way indeed to helping her manage the future of her son”.
David Westcott QC, who represented Hillingdon Hospital, paid tribute to the “love, care and assistance” given to the boy by his family.
The settlement comes almost exactly a year after a £1.2m payout by the trust to an eightyear-old boy who suffered a catastrophic brain injury during his birth at the hospital in 2008.