NHS trust will not accept blame despite payment
A little boy who was left badly brain damaged after his disastrous birth at a Kent hospital won a multimillion-pound High Court damages package.
The youngster, now nine, was injured when his brain was starved of oxygen during his mother’s labour at Tunbridge Wells Hospital.
It left him completely dependent on carers, developmentally impaired and having to be fed through a tube.
After a claim was made by his parents, Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust has agreed to pay huge sums to compensate the boy.
The cash will come in the form of a £2.7 million lump sum, with index-linked and tax-free annual payments to cover the cost of his care for life.
Approving the settlement on Tuesday, Mr Justice Garnham said it was in the boy’s best inter- est to accept the payout.
“The disaster which befell this intelligent little boy has left him profoundly disabled,” he said.
He added the money would mean the youngster could be properly looked after for the rest of his life.
The court heard the NHS trust did not admit it was to blame for the injury, but agreed to pay up to avoid the need for a trial of the claim.
NHS barrister Margaret Bowron QC said a trial would have caused unnecessary stress for the boy’s parents.
The sums paid would be equal to 90% of what he would have received if the trust was found fully liable by a judge, she said.
On behalf of the trust, she paid tribute to the boy and his family.
“This boy has had huge burdens to bear in the form of severe neurological damage,” she told the court.
“That has impacted on him to an extreme extent.
“He has shown determination and resolve to achieve all he can despite those problems.”
The trust also agreed to pay the six-figure legal costs of the case.
The court ordered the boy and his family must not be identified due to his acute vulnerability.
No more details were given about the exact events leading up to the youngster’s birth.