NHS to spend more to settle lawsuits over negligence during childbirth after court ruling | NHS

The NHS will have to spend more money settling childbirth negligence claims after a Supreme Court ruling which lawyers say corrects a “historic injustice”.

The court ruled on Wednesday that English children who suffer catastrophic injuries during birth can claim damages for future income they would otherwise have earned.

The “lost years” ruling means that children whose life expectancy is reduced can obtain compensation for incapacity to work.

It comes amid growing concern over the growing cost of medical negligence to the NHS in England – its liabilities have reached £60 billion – much of which is due to errors made during childbirth.

“The Supreme Court today righted a historic injustice that places the rights of injured children in neglect cases at a lower level than those of an adult,” said James Drydale, the attorney for a girl known only as CCC.

She suffered serious brain damage in Sheffield in 2015 after being deprived of oxygen due to errors by the midwife overseeing her mother’s labor. The girl suffers from cerebral palsy, cannot eat, walk or speak, and is only expected to live until the age of 29.

In 2015, the High Court awarded her parents a lump sum of £6.8 million and £350,000 a year to cover the costs of having their daughter looked after 24/7 by two carers. But he also ruled that CCC could not seek compensation for winnings she never received due to her injuries.

His family took this decision to the Supreme Court using a ‘leapfrog appeal’, meaning it went directly to the UK’s highest court. The five judges who heard their appeal upheld it by a majority of four to one.

Drydale said: “This ruling will make childbirth negligence cases more costly for the NHS to resolve. This will mean more compensation.

“There is no doubt that in the future the NHS will provide more compensation in cases where children’s lives have been cut short as a result of negligence.

“It is unacceptable that children have been prevented until now from pursuing such damages.”

The court’s decision overturns more than 40 years of legal practice since the High Court ruled, in Croke v Wiseman in 1981, that children could not claim their “lost years”.

“I welcome the excellent reasoning of the Lords Law Lords, who established that the Court of Appeal’s decision in Croke v Wiseman is inconsistent with other case law. They overturned this outdated and unfair decision,” added Drydale.

The High Court will now rule on the family’s claim to receive a further £800,000 in damages. This reflects what their daughter would have earned working and receiving a pension, based on average earnings and pension size, between the ages of 29 and 85, which is the average life expectancy for a woman in the UK.

Paul Whiteing, chief executive of patient safety charity Action Against Medical Accidents, said: “This judgment will undoubtedly add to the already significant cost of clinical negligence. But as Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee recently stated, preventing harm in the first place is the most effective way to reduce the widespread impact of clinical negligence.”

Jodi Newton, head of birth and pediatric neglect at Osbornes Law, said: “This is a monumental decision for the many children and young people who suffer serious and life-changing injuries due to medical negligence. »