Our Medical Negligence team helped Daniel Kay, a quadriplegic cerebral palsy sufferer, secure compensation from the NHS, after negligent care received during his birth left him with major brain damage.
During his delivery, Daniel experienced meconium aspiration syndrome – a condition that blocks the lungs of new born babies. The doctors knew that this had happened and placed Daniel into a neonatal unit, but did nothing to incubate or ventilate him to help him breathe.
As Daniel’s condition worsened and his vital signs dropped, the doctors still failed to respond. Instead they suggested that he was hungry and might need sedation or feeding. This is where the damage happened. Daniel suffered a major circulatory collapse and his brain was starved of oxygen for up to 20 minutes, leading to serious and lasting brain damage.
Daniel’s parents, Tony and Angela, chose not to pursue legal action at the time, and instead decided to focus on doing their best to get Daniel better and well.
However, a bit further down the line, doubts began to surface about the level of care Daniel had received during his birth. Tony and Angela made the decision to contact Irwin Mitchell to see if they could claim compensation which would go towards the high level of ongoing care Daniel needs.
After Daniel’s parents got in touch with our Medical Negligence team here at Irwin Mitchell, we began the process by applying for legal aid, which provides funding for medical negligence cases where a child has suffered a brain injury during pregnancy, childbirth or shortly afterwards, which has led to a severe disability.
Following that, we worked to obtain Daniel’s medical records, and also sought expert independent advice on the matter. It was the expert’s independent advice that was instrumental in helping settle the claim as she advised that the level of care Daniel had received during his birth had been substandard – in her words “abysmal”.
The compensation that we helped Daniel’s parents receive has been used to help convert his home into a disabled access environment and provide resources for his ongoing care to help maximise his opportunities to enjoy life. Now in his twenties Daniel plays for the England National Disabled football team as well as coaching a Birmingham league kids team.
Daniel was represented in his claim by Lindsay Tomlinson, a medical negligence lawyer specialising in birth injury cases. She said: “Daniel’s family were told by the hospital that his injuries were just one of those things, but that wasn’t the case. If they hadn’t have sought legal advice, then they would never have known that. That was obviously devastating for the family to learn but at least they got the truth and they were also able to obtain compensation for Daniel.”
If medical errors during birth caused your child’s cerebral palsy, our expert medical negligence solicitors could help you claim compensation. Visit out Cerebral Palsy Claims page for more information.
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