Teenager’s family tell of their ordeal after winning 18-year battle with health service

BY MARTIN BAGOT THE mum of a teenager given a record £20million NHS payout after being left brain damaged has told how she begged medics to save her.

The youngster was starved of oxygen while in hospital to be treated for bronchitis when she was five months old.

A High Court judge found doctors failed to properly ventilate her during a procedure on a malformed oesophagus.

The mum frantically told medics her baby had stopped breathing only to be told, “She’s fine.”

Describing what happened that day 18 years ago in February 2000, the mum said: “While she was in hospital she stopped breathing. I told them she had stopped breathing and they said, ‘No, she’s fine’. I said, ‘Look, she’s gone blue’

“They just said if she was not breathing then the machines would have gone off.

“Then about 15 seconds later the machines started going off.

“They beeped for the doctor but his battery had gone off. Then she started fitting and it was too late.”

The 19-year-old – who can’t be named for legal reasons – was awarded a £2.1million lump sum, with annual payments of £203,000 for the rest of her life.

The total settlement, valued at £19.8million, is the biggest ever NHS compensation payout.

Her mum, who is her full-time carer, said: “She’s been given a life sentence.

“She has been robbed of a normal life. She will never marry or have children. She is going to need 24-hour care for the rest of her life.

“I had my daughter snatched away from me.

“From that moment, she changed forever. That said, I wouldn’t change her for the world and don’t love her any differently.”

Justice Robert Harrison announced the settlement against Cardiff and Vale University Health Board.

The previous record settlement was £19.4million which was paid in May this year.

The Health Board did not comment.