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A young boy was left severely brain-damaged at birth when midwives allegedly mistook his mother’s heartbeat for her baby’s. He was recently awarded £4.6 million in compensation.
The boy’s heart had stopped beating during his mother’s labor at Lynn’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) in 2004. The High Court in London heard evidence of “wholly avoidable delays.”
The now six-year-old faces a lifetime of disability; the settlement will pay for the 24-hour care he will need for the rest of his life.
A New York Birth Injury Lawyer says that according to QEH, the hospital trust disputed the claim that Shane suffered injuries as a result of negligence at his delivery, but to avoid what might have been a prolonged and expensive court case, due to the technical complexity of Shane’s treatment, the Trust agreed to pay a percentage of the claim made against it on a “without liability” basis.
The boy’s legal team of Saxlingham Thorpe, Norfolk, said the compensation had been agreed on the basis of 85 per cent liability. They claimed his injuries were caused by midwives mistaking his mother’s normal heartbeat for her baby’s abnormal one. If his birth had been brought forward by just 10 minutes, he would have escaped permanent injury. As it stands, the delay in delivery left the young child severely brain damaged, suffering from cerebral palsy. He is now wheelchair dependent with severe learning difficulties. Hospitals in Manhattan and Queens must be aware of these kinds of problems.
His mother, who sat with her husband Chris during the hearing and held Shane on her lap, said outside court she was glad the family’s long legal quest was finally over. “It has been an incredibly hard and long fought battle to ensure that justice is done but to know that our son will always be looked after is a huge relief to us all. The hospital denied for so long that they had been negligent in any way but now that fault has been established we hope that lessons will be learned so that no-one else should ever have to suffer as a result of wholly avoidable delays.”
This mother has gone on to have two more healthy boys.
When it seems that cases drag on or when evidence needs to be heard, but you feel you can’t speak loud enough to avenge your child, contact a New York Birth Injury Attorney who will ensure that the evidence is heard and all appropriate compensations are meted out.
The Office of Stephen Bilkis and Associates can offer you support and guidance as well as a free consultation when you contact us at 1-800-NY-NY-LAW. We have offices in N York City, including Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, Staten Island and The Bronx and in Nassau County, Suffolk County and Westchester County.