Boy awarded £7.1m after hospital blunder (From Oxford Mail)
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Boy awarded £7.1m after hospital blunder
7:00am Wednesday 14th October 2009 in News By Dan Hearn
Harry Snowdon
A YOUNG boy left brain-damaged at birth following a medical blunder at Oxford’s John Radcliffe Hospital was yesterday awarded £7.1m in compensation.
Harry Snowdon, 10, from, Witney, who has a “great zest for life”, was left with no appreciation of danger, suffers violent temper tantrums and will need around-the-clock care for the rest of his life after being starved of oxygen at birth.
A hearing at London’s Royal Courts of Justice yesterday heard how his birth in February 1999 had been unnecessarily delayed despite signs of foetal distress.
His mother, Debra Snowdon, was given excessive doses of Syntocinon — a drug used to induce labour — and there had been a “general failure” to monitor her condition, the court heard.
Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust accepted liability.
The payout is one of the biggest involving the ORH Trust.
Last year, £13.3m was paid out for cases of clinical negligence involving the trust — almost double the £7.2m paid out in 2007.
Barrister Edward Faulks QC, representing Harry and his parents Debra and Mark, said the boy had a normal life expectancy, but would never work.
The court heard how — despite being a “handsome and engaging little boy with a great zest for life” — Harry was aware of the differences between himself and his peers, and his limitations.
The settlement includes a £2.3m lump sum and annual payments — starting at £75,000 and rising to £165,000 when he reaches the age of 19 — for life.
The compensation will be settled by the NHS Litigation Authority, not the ORH Trust.
Mr Justice Holroyde said Harry's disabilities were down to “the negligence of the defendants’ medical and nursing staff in the management of his birth”.
After the hearing, mother-of-two Mrs Snowdon said: “We have pursued this claim to ensure Harry is looked after and taken care of for the rest of his life.
“We are relieved the settlement has eventually been agreed and we will not have to worry about what will happen to him when we are no longer around.
“Caring for Harry is both challenging, but also extremely rewarding, but we would have liked to have had the opportunity to see him grow up as a normal boy.
“We sincerely hope the health service will start to take note of their mistakes and instead of paying out millions in negligence claims, ensure sufficient numbers of suitably trained staff are available to stop these types of accidents occurring in the future.”
Trust spokesman Laura Carpenter said: “The trust is deeply sorry for any distress caused to Harry and his family following his injury and hopes the settlement will assist Harry in achieving his full potential.
“The trust would like to wish him and his family well for the future.”
The trust declined to say whether the medical staff involved in Harry’s case would face disciplinary action.
dhearn@oxfordmail.co.uk
Comments(5)
Oxon123
says...
9:24am Wed 14 Oct 09
X Large Doner w/Chili wrote:This isn't just "A Kid" that needs taking care of, it is for the rest of his life.. He will NEVER lead a "Normal" life. Harry is a wonderful little boy and deserves every penny from the ORH. He didn't ask to be starved of oxygen and neither did Mark and Debra ask for their child to go through this. Yes the soldiers need our support "But they have chosen to be where they are as their professions" that is the difference.. This family DID NOT have the choice but the ORH did in 1999 and FAILED!!!! Congratulations to The Snowdon family and all the best for the future.
Ok the kid needs to be taken care of, but £7 million of our money for a mistake, that is just not right. This ensures that the parents can live the life of riley whilst taking care of the kid, these sort of payouts need to be stopped, at a time when our soldiers are giving their lives for our country and relatives get a few quid in compensation. Debby you should be ashamed of yourself, and be prepared to give a vast sum of that money back to the people who need it as well, £7 million you do not need that much
newcy
says...
10:30am Wed 14 Oct 09
His mother, Debra Snowdon, was given excessive doses of Syntocinon — a drug used to induce labour — and there had been a “general failure” to monitor her condition,"
My son was born at the JR last year - and this story rings only too true. We have been very fortunate - he was an emergency caesarean due to foetal distress (after a wait for a theatre and an on-duty anaesthetist to become available) following lots of syntocinon, and was delivered and revived quickly. He seems to have no side-effects from it all, but I wouldn't wish the stress, fear and near heartbreak of such an experience on anyone - particularly the horrible wait for your newborn child to give their first cry, or the stress of your child being in the Special Care Unit (The SCBU, I must add, were exemplary in their care).
Our luck is greatly owed to the young midwife who spotted a complication earlier in the induction, and despite a registrar initially waving it off, expressed her concern.
Despite all the machines, the monitoring during induction was poor. Staff regularly changed shifts, and one midwife refused to do more than read her magazine during her cover shift - though she should have been monitoring and topping up the drip and turning the patient.
Best wishes to the Snowdon's. The cost of providing good care for a child without complications is high enough, and round the clock care has significant long-term impact - you can't continue to go out and earn an income to support your child as you would normally, and the care requires significantly more expense over the foreseeable future. It may seem like a lot, but when you consider what it must cover, you should not begrudge it - though, as a full-time working parent on a low income I can appreciate that it may cause some feelings of injustice.
The issue is not, however, the compensation value. It is that such hospital errors seriously need to be addressed. Yes, staff are short, hours are long, funding is low, but this cannot excuse the number of simple mistakes that are made by the NHS - often things resulting from poor practice and care - yes, everyone is very busy, but every case is individual, and it is dangerous to cut corners, delay decisions etc, just to finish a bit earlier. It is the hospital causing this problem that should be addressed - and how such events can be prevented. Funding is a big problem, but it is the elephant in the room - if the main solution is not available, measures can be taken to establish other solutions.
bigaldublin
says...
11:32am Wed 14 Oct 09
Round the clock care - 3 people at £25k each (including employment on-costs) leaves a balance of 26k at the moment.
In 30 years time the nurses will be earning 46k per year assuming a prudent 2% pay award annually. That 101k won't go very far, so the initial 2.3m will have to be invested pretty wisely to make this stretch 70 years, especially as the remainder will be coming annually so the family will not be able to accrue interest until they receive the capital.
Do you still think the parents will be living the life of riley Doner? Do you still think that the parents should be ashamed of themselves?
general007
says...
2:00pm Wed 14 Oct 09
X Large Doner w/Chili says...
7:22am Wed 14 Oct 09