Claim against Oxford Hospital

A 54-year-old charity worker left partly paralysed after developing septicaemia and pneumonia in an Oxford hospital has won her fight for damages.

Rosalind Colwill, who worked in Nigeria before founding the charity Amaudo, which helps the destitute and mentally disabled, was left almost blind and with severe cognitive impairment.

Miss Colwill, of Forest Hill, south-east London, was admitted to Churchill Hospital in Headington in 2002 over malaria fears after developing a fever, London's High Court was told.

But the care she received at the "centre of excellence" for what turned out to be a minor viral infection undermined her previous "happy, active and fulfilling" life, said James Badenoch QC.

He argued an unnecessary cannula was inserted into her arm which lead to an infection and the septicaemia and pneumonia.

The judge, ruling against Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust, which denied liability, said the cannula should have been removed earlier and that poor record-keeping and a lack of communication made it difficult to find those responsible.

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