£4.5 million award for cerebral palsy resulting from birthing injuries

In this case, the High Court awarded our client, then aged 10 years, more than £4.5 million in damages for severe athetoid cerebral palsy resulting from a period of acute asphyxia during his birth. He was in evident foetal distress during the birth and the hospital trust eventually admitted that his condition could have been avoided had he been properly delivered 10 minutes earlier than was actually the case.

The court was asked to decide the proper level of compensation. Our client is bright and intelligent, but is restricted by the severe physical disabilities affecting his mobility and communication skills. We successfully argued that his condition is such that he needs a flexible care regime that he can adapt and influence without being limited by the resources available at any given time, which the judge preferred over the rigid care plan proposed by the defendant trust.

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