Liability settlement for 6-year-old with cerebral palsy following birth at St George's Hospital
The girl's mother had attended St George's Hospital in London. It was alleged that she should have been assessed as high risk and received Consultant led care. Instead, she was treated on a midwifery led unit.
Following admission to hospital, there were failures in monitoring the baby's heart rate against NICE guidelines. We argued that with appropriate monitoring and assessment, the baby girl would have been delivered earlier and avoided brain damage. The defendant sought to suggest a genetic issue was the cause of her injuries and we obtained expert evidence.
Issues between the parties were narrowed following experts' meetings, at which some significant concessions were made by the defendant's experts.
Negotiations took place at a Round Table Meeting, where agreement was reached on liability in the claimant's favour at 80 per cent, despite no admissions by the defendant.
At an Approval hearing in the Royal Courts of Justice, Mr Justice Johnson commended the parties for their handling of this complicated case and approved the liability settlement on behalf of our client. The case had been listed for a 12 day trial in the High Court.
At the end of the hearing, the girl's mother said:
"I would like to recommend Arti Shah and her team of colleagues to help out anyone who has been involved with negligence with hospitals. They are very hard working and always keeps me informed of what is happening with the case and if I need to enquire about anything they will always answer me back promptly either by phone or email. They are very helpful and always there ready and waiting to help. Very pleased with what they have accomplished through the years they have been with me."
The girl, who is anonymised by the Courts, will receive an interim payment while quantum investigations are commenced, with final settlement being reached when she is older.
Contact us
For further information about cerebral palsy claims and birth injury claims, please call Arti Shah on 03304606739 or email arti.shah@fieldfisher.com.
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