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One young boy dreams of kicking a football one day. Had it not been for a hospital blunder, however, at the then North Staffordshire Hospital during his birth in April 1998, his ambitions would have probably been set much higher.
On the day his mother was brought to the hospital, she expected nothing but a straightforward labor and delivery. She had suffered no complications when she gave birth to the boy’s sister. Everyone expected the second birth to be just as smooth, claims a nurse.
However, the hairdresser mother experienced high blood pressure. This is the death knoll on a pregnancy, though; it is a fairly common complication. Many women have high blood pressure and it doesn’t lead to complications. After all, think about what the body is going through during a pregnancy. A heart is pumping blood for two individuals and the lungs are breathing for two and the stomach is eating for two.
Later it was found out that toxins from the mother’s blood had passed to the baby, and he was starved of oxygen. This left him with cerebral palsy and spastic quadriplegia.
An office specializing in birth injuries reveals that when the boy was one, he was also found to have epilepsy.
Had this boy been delivered just minutes earlier, after what had otherwise been a “normal” full-term pregnancy, he would have had no brain damage. What a tragic miscalculation.
As it was, he spent his first few weeks of life on a neonatal unit and has been in and out of the hospital since his birth. As if the birth injury of the son was not enough, his mother suffered an eclamptic fit the morning after giving birth. Her life hung in the balance.
The 42-year-old mother of two said that she and her son both nearly died because of the poor care they received. She reports that the midwives were listening to her unborn baby’s heartbeat monitoring machine only “now and again” and by the time they realized something was wrong, it was too late. Her son was irreversibly brain damaged.
Slight oversight led to a lifelong complication – an easily avoidable consequence.As many mothers who’ve been in the same situation will report, the mother of this newborn new immediately that something was not right. “I couldn’t see properly, had a banging headache and I was sick. The midwife left me on a bed for an hour when I felt ill.”
While money doesn’t relieve the family of all the heartache and difficulties that lie ahead, the £8 million hospital payout now means the boy’s future is financially stable. According to sources, which are interested in the development of this story, his family, of Clough Hall Road, Kidsgrove, had previously depended on help from charities including Caudwell’s Children, Cerebra, BDF New Life and the Family Fund Trust, and support from relatives. Donations have helped buy the Blackfriars School pupil a £20,000 electric wheelchair, two £1,000 bronco walkers, a £1,000 independent eating aid, Stairlift, special chairs and a swing. Hospitals in Brooklyn and Queens try to avoid situations like this one.
The compassion and generosity of others is not ignored in this family. They are appreciated and every item they purchase is for the success and development of their child.
As all children, this youngster has a dream. “The only thing [he] wants to do is kick a football,” his mother shares. “That is his dream.” His dreams are much easier to attain for most kids, but to him, this dream equates to becoming an astronaut or doctor or playing for the NFL for twenty years.
His parents report on a patch of ‘terrible frustration’ he went through a few years ago. He started realizing what he was missing out on and began to succumb to depression. Now, thankfully, he has grown to not let things get him down as much. “He’ll never give up.” His school mates absolutely adore him, according to reports, and he is very sociable and has a lot of friends. His parents report, “We’ve never treated Nathan any differently and he sees himself as one of the lads.”
The boy can see and hear, but his speech is limited, describes a doctor. The boy’s father, who was at his wife’s side throughout the traumatic birth and subsequent problems, said that the family can understand what he is saying, but strangers can’t.After all the medical problems and health issues, the family has had to deal with, they have also had to deal with adjusting everything in their lives to fit their youngest member. A house they previously loved no longer ‘works’ for their special needs child. The 12-year-old currently struggles with the small doorways in the home they now reside in. His first floor bedroom and lack of a downstairs bathroom at their present property pose real challenges to the child.
“It’s a struggle and it’s now getting extremely hard living in this house,” his parents comment. The family is planning to move to a home more suited to their current needs.
His parents are looking to spend up to £500,000 on a large bungalow that can accommodate two full-time care-givers. A source keeping tabs on this family’s progression shared that they’ll also spend additional funds on ramps and other much-needed aids as they see fit. “All the money is for him, for his life, because he might grow to adulthood and not be able to work. Hopefully, he will be able to but the chances are that he won’t. Apparently, he’s brilliant with computers, which is a good possibility for him.”
The family’s father is a delivery driver and readily admits that the settlement was a huge relief.
The 38-year-old told a reporter that “You’re likely to die before your children, and you want to make sure they’ll be cared for when you’re gone.” This settlement definitely helps this family tremendously. The couple is now urging other parents whose children may have suffered as a result of mistakes to keep fighting for compensation.
They were also active raising awareness for last month’s National Birth Trauma Awareness Week organized by the Birth Trauma Association.
If your child has been adversely affected by the negligence or oversight of a doctor or other hospital staff, contact a New York Birth Injury Attorney today to see what your options are in recovering compensation. Your child’s needs must be met and those responsible should be held accountable. See your New York Birth Injury Attorney for a consultation as soon as you can.
It’s obvious from stories like these that medical errors can result in permanent consequences. There are some errors in judgment that result in inoperable catastrophic conditions that affect families in several ways, from emotional pain to financial instability to changing careers and houses.