A 12-year-old girl, who was left with brain injuries - after her delivery was negligently managed at Royal Berkshire Hospital, Reading, in 2005 - has been awarded one of the largest ever clinical negligence settlements.
Clinical negligence specialist Paul Kingsley, of national law firm, Moore Blatch, acted on behalf of the young girl, IBC, who will receive £23 million over her expected lifetime.
IBC has cerebral palsy, which affects the left side of her body, leaving her with a limited ability to walk and unable to perform tasks using both hands. She has uncontrolled epilepsy and suffers from prolonged life threatening seizures. In addition to significant learning disabilities, IBC exhibits frequent challenging behaviour, which will be increasingly difficult to manage as she matures.
Whilst IBC can speak and make herself understood, she is impulsive, and has limited awareness of safety. She requires constant supervision and will remain dependent on a team of carers for the majority of her daily needs for the rest of her life.
Lawyers representing the Royal Berkshire Hospital previously admitted negligent management of the delivery with a Judge approving a “discounted liability” settlement due to the risk that she would have suffered some injury in any event.
Paul Kingsley of Moore Blatch, had previously obtained a significant interim payment which had enabled IBC and her family to move to a more appropriate and specially adapted home and introduce an interim care regime pending a definitive assessment of her long term needs. Education specialist, Erin Smart, who is also a lawyer at Moore Blatch, pursued a successful Education Tribunal Appeal to ensure that IBC also receives appropriate support at a specialist school.
Paul Kingsley, who specialises in birth injury and cerebral palsy claims at Moore Blatch, said: “I am delighted to have secured this settlement for IBC – it will provide her with financial security for the rest of her life, appropriately reflecting the very high levels of care that she will need whilst enabling her to achieve her potential and lead as normal a life as possible. The settlement has come as a great relief for her parents who have fought long and hard to ensure that their daughter receives appropriate care and support.”
IBC’s parents said: “We are deeply grateful to Paul for his dogged determination, patience and professionalism in pursuit of our daughter’s claim. His advice was unceasingly timely and well-considered - given the complexity of our daughter’s injuries and the number of experts involved in the claim this was no mean feat. He always sought to balance his professional duties with empathy for our family’s situation, even when circumstances made this trying for us all. The settlement that we achieved for our daughter was beyond our wildest expectations when we first considered bringing the claim and, despite all the tribulations along the way, we are so glad we did so. Our daughter’s financial future is secured for her long anticipated lifetime, and we’ll be eternally grateful to Paul for helping us achieve this for her.”
(Source: Moore Blatch)
